Boycott The State of Indiana

Here is a list of companies headquartered in Indiana.... Look over it (takes less than 90 seconds) and see which ones would affect you at all and then proceed to go into “boycott” mode and post something on their social media about your boycott…..

Simple, quick, effective.

For me, it came down to Delta Faucets, Three Floyds and Upland Brewing Companies, and hhgregg.

I tweeted “I’m boycotting everything Indiana” and hit @ and then typed the companies twitter accounts….

Simple, quick, effective….

And now, I have to stay away from those  companies products on my Delawarean shelves…. No real suffering since Indiana has so few companies of note within it’s borders…  That was a surprise.  But seeing the type of company Indianans keep inside their borders: hateful religious bigots, I guess it is no wonder nobody wants to live in Indiana.

Why You Can’t Make Ends Meet

You should be making $18,000 more a year right now.  And would, except for the inequality put in place  beginning with the trickle down policies of Ronald Reagan… now more appropriately called “tinkle” down economics… 

The bottom get pissed on.

The heavy line shows where you would be if the average rate of growth from across the years ’79 to ’10 were applied evenly.  The lighter line shows the reality….

99% of us are all earning an average of $18,000 less than we should be…  So how does this break down?

Average household incomes grew by 53.4 percent from 1979 to 2007. But that didn’t break down equally:

• The bottom fifth of households saw their income go up by 29.2 percent, well below the 53.4 percent average.
• Income for the middle fifth of households grew by a measly 19.7 percent.
• But how did people a little higher up, but not at the very top, do? A little better, but still below average: households between the 81st and 90th percentiles—so in the bottom half of the top fifth of the income ladder—had just 39.1 percent income growth. Again, well below that average of 53.4.
• So how far up do you have to go before you hit the average? The 91st to the 95th percentile almost got there, with 53 percent average growth. But they fell just short. Households between the 96th and 99th percentile seriously exceeded 53.4 percent, though. They had average income growth of 78.1 percent.
• That’s nothing compared to the top 1 percent, though: Their income grew by 244.7 percent, close to five times the average.

It is clear that most of the overall income gains from 1979 to 2007 bypassed the vast majority of American households. As such, their living standards are lower than they would be had these gains been shared more broadly.

Ways To Share More Broadly.

A.  Raise the Minimum Wage:  $10.10 is a start.  

B.  Organize More (and throw out ineffective current bosses) Unions. Override All State Laws Outlawing Unions.

C.  Reduce Wage Theft:  charging workers for uniforms, drinks, food, supplies. Cheating on overtime.

D. Tax the top 1% appropriately…  Include Capital Gains as income. Tax Corporations at the same rate as individuals. Raise the top marginal percents to these levels…

• Over $1 billion in income…  tax rate of 60%
• $500 million to $1 billion in income  = 55%
• $100 million to $500 million in income  = 50%
• $50 million to $100 million in income =  45%
• All the rest: no change….  

On top of this, allow all money put into capital improvements, to be deducted dollar for dollar. (Capital improvements require building things).  The rational is that if you put that money into capital improvements, you are improving this nation as much as if you were directly paying taxes to it.  Perhaps more so.

This can be done, but it must be done with a Democratic Executive, and over 60 Democrats in the Senate (or change the filibuster rules), and a fully Democratic House.  That is what has to happen for any change.  If it doesn’t happen then Americans rightly get what they deserve for being stupid.  Because we all know that Republicans are quite happy with the very fact that you ARE making $18,000 less than you should and quite happy that they are the ones receiving it, not you……. 

It wasn’t supposed to go that way. And it shouldn’t go that way….. 

 

 

 

 

 

Why 2014 Matters and What You Can Do About It

Across our landscape there are very few pivotal landslide elections.  When they happen they create a new dominant party for a long time…

I can only think of four… FDR’s first two terms and Ronald Reagan’s two terms. Both set in motion a new philosophy and new institutions to enforce the continuation of that policy long after their respective deaths…

(Clinton’s 2nd term would almost qualify but its effect was squandered on Monica Lewinsky…  Doubt that? And you  just told me you are not from the South, Great Plains, or the mountainous West.) ..

Here are maps of what we are talking about…..

The philosophy espoused by those of the heavily blue maps  lasted from 1933 to 2001.  A nice span of 68 years…   The philosophy espoused by those in the heavily red maps, overlaps a little, but most would say it is the primary driver of most policy today, which give it a lifetime stretching from 1981 to today… A lifespan so far of 33 years…

Today, we are consistently divided…..

Which kind of explains our current Federal government, now doesn’t it?  Actually it has never been more clear…

For your life to get better, we have to stop supporting equal government… Where both sides are balanced and nothing ever, gets down…  Currently in the House, there are radical new changes that will forever change America as we know it…  It can’t get passed the Senate …

Currently in the Senate, there are radical new changes that will forever change America as we know it… It can’t get passed the House….

2014 will be a pivotal year for several reasons.

A) There is no cap on how much can be spent.

B)  Voter turnout is consistently low.  So advertising will be the worst ever, meaning every vote that switches carries more weight.  Every voter who gives up in disgust, and does not vote, gives up that much more of a percentage on deciding the total vote…

C) Wealth will outspend the poor this year.  Wealth has the money;  80% of the population is unable to write a check to either political party….

D)  Both parties’ policies are streamlined into clear agendas.  One party (with money) is for policies that help the 1% do better and pay for them by hurting the 99%… The other party is for policies that help the 99% do better, and pays for them by hurting the top 1%….

E)  Because of the politics of doing business, all those media outlets in charge of telling you the news and sometimes the truth,  cannot in good conscious, tell you the truth anymore…   They simply can’t risk getting pushed off the buying spree…..

You have to choose who to help:  the rich or poor, and you have to vote,  no matter what obstacles they throw up in your way….   you must remember that those obstacles are there for a reason, and will remain there until we get either an all blue, or all red America showing up in Wikipedia on election day..  Because those obstacles are there solely to protect the losing parties advantage in an effort to keep America from going all blue…

This raising of the cap also means, that  if you are a CEO  planning an ad campaign that will be kicking off from late August through a holiday December… your ads won’t register with audiences until the day after election… Save your advertising money.   There is no way you can compete for airtime against someone who will pay any price to get his ad on the air…  Save your money…

My personal experience is that over the past two elections, the non political people I know mentally tuned out of ads… Ads no longer work.  What does work is the personal connection of  talking to real people…  There were almost no  campaign ad buys in 1932 or 1936.  And there were campaign limits on money spent in both 1980 and 1984….  Primarily both those sweeping groups of elections were decided upon word of mouth….

I used to get mad at conservative talk shows, until I realized there were only the same 5 people calling in…  Out of 3 million people…  Were they shills?  I don’t know but their voice prints were consistent.  Occasionally someone thinking the talk show was real would call in, but it was rare…

Fight apathy. This is where you come in… If you read this, you probably will look at the ads too… Your job is to interpret the ads to all you know as nothing more than  billionaires blowing smoke out of their orifices like they are lavishing in a Bangkok bordello.   These ads don’t correspond to real life.   People don’t hate their neighbor because they have an Obama or Romney sticker on their care… 99% of us say… “Oh, whatever”  ..  “Who gives a shit? Hey! Can you tell me where you bought your truck?”

The point is that all those red states are not all red deep inside… There are a lot of blues there too, at least 30% in the most red, and often in populous states, up to 49%….  Human beings living in those states have a lot more clout than some clever ad that simply makes up stuff around a table and then pretends it it true, using actors, and trying to crush the airwaves with massive volume before the fact-checkers get the messages out calling it all bunk..

It is We, The People versus They The  Billionaires.   It is a game of Monopoly in its final rounds and we only own a monopoly on the yellow squares on the back side…   Our only hope left  is that we get to shuffle the stack the Chance cards every time we vote…   And if you don’t want to go through this all over again in two more years, with more unlimited funding  in 2016, you need to make sure that despite $4 billion being spent this mid term election, it does zero good to the Koch’s or anyone else…

If we can get a Blue House, we will have a blue Senate, and we can move forward with a blue president…. it’s almost worth dying for.

It’s all about word of mouth…  And be nice… Republicans aren’t  bad people anymore than Democrats, and when you talk to them realize you probably look as weird to them, a they do looking right back at you.  And trust me, if you read the news and blogs you would already  know that  the majority of Republicans are looking for something new.  They just don’t know what. And should  you need a shot of hope?  Cast your eye on these  electoral maps which are of the elections just before the ones above  when the massive tidal waves made their landfall…..

Things can change quickly when everyone individually just gets fed up that things are not going their way… At 99%, the numbers are in our favor…

But it is all about you. Now get out and  start talking. Tell the truth…  Be nice.

I wonder if we could get 2 million to show up for a march in DC against billionaires buying out our elections?  We could, but  it would take some work, but  that would be a very effective message  against an unmatched $4 billion being spent to prevent democracy.

Our message would be real, with real people.  Their’s as fake as Mr. Ed….. (that is who David Koch looks like I think; compare the chins)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why The “Delaware Way” Must Go

Not Nancy’s blog; its awesome. But I am talking about the royalty that runs this state regardless of who gets elected,  If a candidate of the people gets in, they are quickly shoved out of viability inside the workings of government and the royalty continues to run things as it wishes.

Our locally elected officials for the most part, actually do try to represent us. And they actually do  well representing us on all issues that don’t affect those who think they run things… But go against those, and you get shoved into areas you can do no damage….

Money, influence, status are all the regular clients  The “Delaware Way” used to be held up as a good thing… I once believed it was a good thing, as probably did Nancy since it was how she named her blog.   The idea was that Democrats and Republicans all got along and got things done for the good of the state, and  compared to the breakdown we see daily in Washington DC, that alone does seem to be a benefit….

However, that now seems to have changed.   By taking a snapshot of today, their image show “The Delaware Way” is now a group that wants to put in a GIGANTIC power plant 200 yards from Newark’s back yards and doesn’t give a damn how many Newark children die in the process.  “The Delaware Way” is now a group that wants to get rid of the Coastal Zone Act, so new polluting industries which can’t get a foothold in any other civilized portion of the planet, can come here and pollute like they could in a third world nation… “The Delaware Way” is now a group that couldn’t care less about segregation, about teaching our children to read or right, about helping in-poverty children learn reading and math,  as long as they can get rich off of all their charter schools.  “The Delaware Way” wants unions busted; zoning laws gone,  conservative dogma taught, and no minimum wage increase until infinity.  Today’s “Delaware Way” wants to keep our prisons full, as long as the are privatized and someone gets paid for each incarceration. Today’s “Delaware Way” wants to keep the death penalty, and levy new death penalties on regular citizens by doing nothing to curb the buying or selling of contraband illegal guns. They want to actually make selling stolen guns completely legal… They want to benefit Highmark over Christina Care. They want to charge tolls on all our highways.  They don’t want taxes on the rich increased, but lowered.  They think today’s middle class earns far too much; they want them poorer…

Their names are familiar.  On the national scale they are Tom Carper, John Carney, and Chris Coons. On the state scale they are Gov. Markell, Dave Sokola, Brian Short, Dan Short, Pete Schwartzkoph, Valerie Longhurst… Add names below if you wish….

Instead of change, these people grind down the changes of other well meaning people into dust.  A simple rule requiring all schools to put their public board meetings on line, was, since it certainly if publicly voted would have passed, shoved into a drawer to never be seen again…  Charter school legislation that will bankrupt every single public school in the state, was drawn up in secret though deemed illegal by the Attorney General’s office of the state, was railroaded through both chambers and signed by the orchestrators above, before anyone knew it was happening…  Public schools are stripped of funding, and it was never brought up to the public for debate.

What brought all this up was Connie Merlet’s letter.. published in Nancy’s blog… appropriately titled:  The Delaware Way.  And it is one tiny piece I wish to draw out…  a little statement.  a few words strung together that says, so, so much….

“I believe changes were well-intended when the Stars program was envisioned, but it has morphed into a system that has enabled already high-quality day cares to enjoy most of the financial benefits… In conversations with our representatives at both levels, I have realized that they really have no understanding of how that money is actually being used. “

There appears to be a government within our government… One thing is promised and passed and then turned over to be executed.  At that point those in the Delaware Way take over, enabling  those of privilege get more money, and those in need to become shafted…  The legislators, those to whom you throw your vote, for the most part mean well;  it is when it gets into the actual bureaucracy that the Delaware Way comes into play. They are the “deciders” as one cowboy once called them.

So no matter what gets passed…. it certainly doesn’t come out the way it was intended… We have a government within our government that does not bode well for the Delaware people.  Look at New Castle County under Paul Clark where without brakes of any sort, the Delaware Way had its way…. The elite do what the elite want, despite the fact they only have one vote like everyone else.

John Carney has gotten completely loopy lately.  So has Chris Coons.  Carper has been pro-elite for a long time now.  But their statements in public from these three decrying it is better that they try to get along with our equivalent of Hannibal Lecter, don’t bode well for all of us who are to be his future victims. It appears that their statements still supportive of the Delaware Way, are only meant to have on single purpose….keeping the lambs quiet before their slaughter. ….

 

Union’s Aren’t Bad: They’re Good

Every once in a while a dumb Conservative will fall off the wagon and start blabbering about how bad unions are… Since Conservatives are today’s equivalent  of yesteryear’s Communists, and since the more they talk (as did those communists), the more the real truth emerges about their horrid ideal for America, it is my sincere wish that they keep it up.

However, just to make sure that not all conversation is one way, I wanted to give everyone a pat on the back who is Union, and thank them, by reminding them just of the powerful role they play…  When facts are on the table, the only way one can really be against unions in general, is if one shoots themselves up with heroin and looses all contact with reality … Today, you really got to be “on something” if you are anti-union…. For all realistic facts point in the opposite direction…

First, let us dispel the mentality that unions force people to be in them…. Once past that rhetorical device, one realizes there are no “forced unions” and therefore there can be no “worker’s choice” involving union ownership..  Or put in layman’s terms,  both forming, and disbanding a union operation, ARE the worker’s choice… As everyone knows,  (my goodness, I hope everyone at least knows)  it takes a majority of workers to form a union. Likewise as everyone knows, it takes a majority of workers to opt out of a union, should they find that union membership really doesn’t “do it” for them.

Workers have plenty of choices.  They can choose to make their shop a union. They can choose to undo their shop as  a union.  They can individually choose to work there under existing  union shop arrangements.  They can individually choose not to work there under existing union shop arrangements.

The argument that workers cannot choose is bogus.  It is based solely on the principle that a union has to cater to the whim of every prospective employee.  In today’s corporate world, would we expect Bank of America to have to cater to the whim of every single employee?  I wish.. huh?   So the entire argument behind “right to work” laws are about the  employer’s rights and the hirer’s rights… as in their right to be able to hire someone willing to work on the cheap, instead of what was called for in the contract he signed with the union….

Worker’s rights have never changed… if they don’t like it, they have always had the right to quit.  They are not being forced to do anything.  They have worker’s choice… The union laws don’t make unions compulsory; they merely prevent free-riding, whereby workers could get the benefits of a union contract without paying for it. ..  Would a corporation like Bank of America  keep free riders on their payroll who were getting paid and doing nothing?  I wish, huh?..

Most employers do prefer the consistency of having contracts over that of having strikes which are very expensive and are not penciled into the long term plan. Even employers are supportive of having closed shops, because only that provides the consistency they need and makes planning more accurate.

However, in attempting to close down unions in America, conservatives have stirred the ire of the American people…. “No matter their warts, unions ultimately reflect their members: typical Canadians just trying to earn a decent income, support their families, and (hopefully) retire with some security, in an economy which rewards the rich and powerful more than ever before..”

Unions represent America. After all, none of us really identify with the CEO making $1,000,000 an hour.  If he doubles his salary, it does nothing for us…  if he doubles his salary and we are the ones paying for it in lower wages, that does affect us.  Unions are the only defense America people have.

Wage gains have been small, strikes are historically rare, and even much-maligned public sector contracts have been rolled back substantially. In such a lopsided context, it’s simply impossible to convince most voters that unions are really Public Enemy Number One..

All those of us making less than $1,000,000 annually, innately understand that if the only institutional voice speaking for working class priorities is silenced, then the whole social contract will become even more tattered in the years ahead. Unions, to their credit, effectively emphasized their broader social impacts in their responses to ridiculous conservative fabrications of reality.

Every attempt to destroy unions, whether in the public or private sector, is now viewed a simply the rich, trying to take what does not belong to them, to make themselves even richer at our expense….  America can see.  It sees conservatives as mean spirited harbingers of middle class poverty.  We are on it’s doorstep now.

America can see.  it can see our fathers hard negotiated benefits they thought would one day help their children, get pulled back, and back, and back.  Health benefits, pensions, insurance,  all those things their fathers chose to take in lieu of more salary, are now clutched back into the hands of those who at one point in our father’s past, had to grudgingly fork them over… .

America can see.  Conservatives are mean spirited, hateful, selfish, brutal, and self-serving.  America can see.

Their anti Union views have pissed off moderate conservatives, who do see the benefits of being able to stand up to ones boss when he is wrong.  They blatantly offend labor unions and their families, by equating their representation with that of organized crime when the actual real criminal is the CEO running the economy into the ground. …

I hope Conservatives speak up all the louder.  For every time they open their mouth, America again realizes that Conservatives do not speak for the 99% of us… They may sometimes fool us with a quick turn of phrase.  But we’ve lived with them long enough, to know, that what they propose, and who they are, and what damage they will do to both the middle class and America… was not accurately reflected upon their original application to us for employment.

It’s past time  to fire Conservatives, for lying on their application…

What’s Up With The House Farm Bill?

This….

A catfish inspection program will continue in place, despite Vietnam’s and China’s objections.

California can continue banning eggs hatched from hens in tiny battery cages…

Language aimed at curtailing a meat country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) requirement, and one aimed at restricting activities by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) was left out. These two were opposed by foreign processors.

The bill ties Commodity subsidies to historical production but allows famers to update their “base acres” once in the life of the farm bill.

It changes restrictions on the so-called “actively engaged” provision. The criteria for management has been strengthened compared to current law, a source said, but the provision appears be scaled back from the labor requirement in the earlier versions of the bills…

The altered payment limits are now capped at $125,000 per individual or $250,000 per couple, but caps within that total for PLC, ARC or marketing loan deficiency payments have been removed.

On farm subsidies, the bill offers producers a choice between a shallow loss revenue insurance long favored by Northern crop growers and price-based supports supported by those in the South. ..

The compromise discourages milk overproduction by limiting how much milk can be insured in the future and also has a provision allowing the Agriculture Department to buy up some excess production.

The bill is expected to save $23 billion over 10 years compared to existing funding.

The House bill had initially made a $39 billion cut to the food stamp programs. The cut will now stand at $8 billion across 10 years. or $800,000,000 per year…The food stamps cuts are achieved by making it more difficult to qualify for nutrition assistance by virtue of receiving home heating aid…..

The bill contains funding for a new pilot program aimed at encouraging able-bodied recipients to find work and more than $200 million more for food banks.

Breaking: Trayvon Martin Was Shot In The Back?

There is no way there was an altercation.  There is no way Trayvon was on top of Zimmerman.  

Dr. Shiping Bao, the Volusia County medical examiner who was in charge of handling slain-teenager Trayvon Martin’s body in February 2012, has come out and claimed  that, despite Zimmerman’s statements regarding their altercation, there was no feasible way for Martin to have been on top of Zimmerman when the gun was fired because the bullet entered Martin’s back. ….

One must be initially skeptical because this new revelation, is being made by one subsequently fired from his position who is now threatening to sue the state of Florida for $100 million dollars.

But, if anyone knows white supremacists, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence going in this direction.

One, the assistant medical examiner is not white.  He is Asian.  A minority himself.   It reminds one of those films where a black child witnesses a lynching and then is told, “boy, you tell no one about this, you hear?” and out of fear, willingly obliges….  

The claim this medical examiner is making is that when he questioned why the “official version” was not related to the placement of the gunshot wound, he was told to ” zip his lips. ‘Shut up. Don’t say those things.”

Since this message was released by Mr. Bao’s attorney, and specifically to a sympathetic ear with a well read reading base, one may have reasonable doubts as to their validity.

Two, recent activities by Zimmerman himself, now that his handlers have all packed their bags and departed, has given far more credibility to him having a persona who would have lovingly shot Trayvon simply to paraphrase Johnny Cash, “watch him die.”  His ex-spouse has been quoted (and retracted) as having Zimmerman state as he waved his gun in front of her and her dad, that “he’d take care of both of them just like he did Trayvon”... Unfortunately the proof is in a busted up phone in police protection and may never be recovered.  The original police chief who knew Zimmerman, has been quoted saying “Zimmerman was a nut case”.

Three.  What was on trial for Floridians and their sponsors ALEC, was the unconstitutional gun law.  The trial needed Zimmerman to be innocent, in order to keep constitutional challenges of that law at bay.  They are at bay, now, as you read this.

Bao claims that the prosecution never actually asked him the questions that were crucial to the success in the case, and that he changed his opinion  after repeatedly being warned… from the time he initially examined Martin and the time he was on the stand. Bao and his attorney say they believe he was fired for questioning the way the case was handled, and possibly for not going long with the desired narrative.  

Bao was “supposed” to follow the prosecution’s line that Trayvon was “doped up like a Jamacian” on marijuana, but instead told the truth that the minimal amount in Trayvon’s body, would in no way impair his judgment. 

Before one dismisses this accusation out of hand, one must wonder.  Why has it not been disproven already?  A exhumation would easily prove Bao to be a liar, or instead a whistle blower.   Surely there are the police photos from the coroner’s office,  or crime scene, showing a shot into the front cavity of Mr. Martin, or his back, completely unscathed.. 

This accusation,  if it was not true, would have already been completely shot down days ago.  But it hasn’t… Why not?  Are there no pictures of Trayvon Martin dispelling this notion? 

If not, then why of all cases where routine pictures are always taken, is this case, which since it’s beginning has been under suspicion of miscarrying of justice, had its pictures been lost, … or stolen?

And that, is where we are. 

All evidence now, after the trial, certainly point to Zimmerman executing Trayvon Martin while he was on his knees, back towards him, most likely begging for his life, and a) because blacks in hoodies cannot be right in that Southern Community, and b) because legitimacy of the Stand Your Ground Law  was under attack, … bigger interests than either of these two people, had to insure that all stereotypes played out as they are supposed to in storybook little Florida towns…. 

 

 

 

Why Things Are So F’d Up And What YOU Can Do About It.

You will probably hear about this later, but only if the corporate media cannot keep it under wraps.  Al Jazeera right now, is the only major news source showing up on the top 4 search engines running this Associated Press story regarding a quiet news dump made by the IRS.   First question:  Why Al Jazeera?   On to the news dump….

• The top 1 percent of U.S. earners collected 19.3 percent of household income in 2012, their largest share in Internal Revenue Service figures going back a century.
• Until last year, the top 1 percent’s share of pre-tax income had not yet surpassed the 18.7 percent it reached in 1927,
• The incomes of the top 1 percent rose 19.6 percent compared with a 1 percent increase for the remaining 99 percent.
• 95 percent of the income gains reported since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent. That compares with a 45 percent share for the top 1 percent in the economic expansion of the 1990s …
• The top 10 percent haven’t done badly, either. Last year, they captured 48.2 percent of income, another record. Their biggest previous take was 46.3 percent in 1932.

Just to see how you compare, the top 1 percent of American households had income above $394,000 last year. The top 10 percent had income exceeding $114,000.

What you can do about it?

You can promise you will never vote for anyone who will give a tax cut to the top 1%.  Ever.  This is not a party ideology thing; all three parties are guilty. This is a real thing affecting you.  Just looking above at the simple comparison between today and the nineties should readily tell everyone that our current tax rate on the top one percent is 50% too low…

It is so obvious that all our personal and national financial troubles come from all the money being sucked up by the 1%…… Stop that, or recycle a lot of it back, and America gets back on its feet as with a shot of adrenalin…

We need to shut down all talk of tax cuts for the wealthy… Any tax cut benefiting the one percent, is a very, very, very bad thing.  Facts almost hurt you when they hit you in the face; it is impossible not to see otherwise.

Which is why;  since all American news sources are owned by the top 1%,   you won’t  hear this Associated Press story on any other outlets, unless you post it yourself on your social media,  and it goes viral….

Do it.

Gay Marriage Versus Gay Sex

When you discuss single sex marriage with Conservatives you discover early on that they really don’t have a problem with single sexes marrying and living together over a lifetime in a relationship of trust; they just don’t like gay sex.

For them, as soon as sodomy laws went off the books, society went to hell…

Not every one is going to enjoy gay sex.  Just like everyone is not going to enjoy heterosexual sex. People are different. People want different things.

But Gay Marriage is not about gay sex.  Just like heterosexual marriage is not all about vaginal sex.  How do we know this? Because before Viagra, heterosexual marriages still lasted till the end of a partner’s lifetime, way long after sex was a distant memory.

Marriage has nothing to do with sex. Never has. Never will.  Marriage is about the pursuit of happiness.  It is a) about being wanted, b) about showing your love, and c) about taking care of the one you love after you’ve passed on.

Conservatives have big misconceptions when it comes to what marriage is… It is not about family.  Large numbers of heterosexual couples do not have children.  It is not about the particular God of their ancestors;  marriage stretches across all religions.  It is not about sharing lives together till the end;  that doesn’t happen very often these days. Divorce does.

And Marriage is not about wholesomeness.  I could meet someone of the opposite sex and walk into a courthouse somewhere, get married and that document would be honored anywhere in the world.  It makes no difference to anyone if I just met a perfect stranger and tied the knot on a whim.  All that matters to them is that I have a document…

For you see, because I’m heterosexual and because Conservatives even though they dispise women still don’t hate heterosexuals, as one, I can marry…. and so can you.

So in essence, the sole reason boiling down to having a sanction as to why gays cannot marry, is because if we do allow them to do so, then they are no longer subservient to us.  They are not a “caste” beneath us.   They are equal and can then heaven forbid, be free to climb up the status ladder to levels even above us. Yep. that is the only Conservative argument still standing as to why gays should not get married….

The way they say it when they’re stone-ass drunk?  You can’t get married because I’m a bitter old fart and my life sucks so you are going to have to be more miserable than I am… , so suffer bitch….

I couldn’t have characterized conservatives any better myself….

Whereas that characterization may have been perfectly fine if we lived in Idi Amin’s Uganda all the way back in the 70’s, it doesn’t represent the values within our Declaration of Independence.  Nor does it reflect the principles of our Constitution.

All men are created equal.  It does say “all”, correct?

Granted.  It took America too long to realize that people with melanin in their skin were people too.  It took America too long to realize that people with estrogen and breasts, were people too.  It has likewise taken too long for America to understand that people who like people who happen to be of the same gender as themselves,  are people too….

It is simply time, ladies and gentlemen.

(And who says they have to have sex?  You?  Who probably haven’t gotten “the good stuff”  in your marriage for… how long?)

It is simply time.

The Difference Between Success and Failure

Two big tragedies last week. Two bombs go off in Boston killing a total of 3 people, and a quirk explosion in West, Texas, demolishing a fertilizer plant and killing 14 for which we can find bodies for, and leaving 60 people still unaccounted …

One got unlimited media attention; the other a passing mention.
One shut down our 22nd largest city. The other will be investigated at some future point.

The differences are intriguing.

The Boston Massacre was a textbook case of how to find a bad guy. As Steve notes here, we’ve been planning for an event like this a long time. Homeland Security produced an army to “invade” Boston in order to find the perpetrators. They shut down transportation, and went door to door. Ironically, despite the effort and expense it was luck that gave them their men. The initial dragnet missed the one in the boat, and only when the curfew was lifted, did the boat owner find him and alert authorities.

What was Boston’s cost? Well, add up fuel for all the vehicles, armored cars, and helicopters. Add up all the overtime pay for police, fire, ambulance, and the para military troops brought in. Add the economic cost of shutting down the 22nd largest city for a day… It’s so big, I can’t even guess. We’ll have to wait for the number crunchers with receipts actually in their hands. But particularly with including the economic cost somewhere near a $billion, that means we spent a billion dollars to catch 2 people that were really caught by a) being run over by the other bomber, and b) a man stepping out for a smoke….

But we still, … cost ourselves a billion dollars….

Now. Texas. We had a combined 24,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia and ammonium nitrate. It wasn’t required to obtain a state air emissions permit because it was so old. In 2004 they were supposed to come up and get reauthorized by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “They failed to do so.”

Federal documents say the plant did not have required security and safety plans in place. the EPA fined the plant more than $2,000 in 2006 for failing to update a risk management plan. In response, the site’s operators told the EPA that the plant posed no risk of fire or explosion. The worst case, plant officials said, would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one.

The EPA also found that West Fertilizer did not have a formal maintenance program and that its employee training records were poor. In addition, the plant was found in violation of key security measures by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The agency discovered that the plant had planned to transport anhydrous ammonia without making or following a security plan. Last summer, regulators fined the plant $10,000, then settled for $5,250…. And now we find the fertilizer had 1350 times the legal amount of fertilizer material than it was allowed….

Was too much money spent by government leading up to the explosion? Or too little? Were we lulled by a litany from the Texas Republicans that companies could police themselves, and that we didn’t need to spend any money on regulations and enforcing standards? Of course we were. It all started by that guy who once owned the Texas Rangers, who said he would “cut taxes”…

Since we cut taxes we have had multiple issues. And since that time when taxes first got cut, it is easy to see our successes all come about when we, the United States Government, spends money lavishly… When we cut back, we get nothing but trouble with a capital “T”….

So our success come when we tax and spend. Our failures come when we cut taxes and fire, close down, and destroy jobs.

There comes a time when profits get so high, that hiring new people bites into them. WE have reached that point. Corporate profits have never been as high as they are today. Yet we have 15 million underemployed. The hard way to fix it, is to force businesses to hire more people they don’t want. The easy way is to tax some of that profit that certainly is not necessary for the businesses’ survival… I mean corporations have lived on less since the beginning of time, then hire an inspector who has the authority to close a Texas fertilizer plant when it flagrantly defies the law.

America needs to accept this is how it has to be.

We need things done! Eight years of Bush’s neglect plus the 2 years of having the Tea Party corral Congress, has severely damaged America! Putting America back to work, and boosting sales to corporations who benefit from all new economic activity, and using those workers to fix what is broken in America, is a win, win, win situation…..

So at what level should the assessed tax be? It appears that since incentive is a huge part of capitalization, the level of taxation needs to be below 50%. Simply put, if I invest $1 million and lose money on that, what was the point of the investment? Therefore, it appears that after a certain income level ($5 million?) taxes after all deductions should be around 40% of all income earned. If you have too much money, keeping 60% is certainly profitable. ;

Considering our current situation, a) a thriving economy, b) a current 40% tax rate on the top 1%, and c) still high unemployment, tweaking the tax law towards deductions, so that deductions only started after the first 40% got paid, might be the silver bullet that our nation needs, one which will cut the deficit, hire the unemployed, and use both to rebuild America.

We need more money, and we have to get it. Period. All future American successes depend upon it…