Turn Our Back On Iraq Like They Turned Their Backs On Us!

Oh sure, now that they are under attack, they want the US back in. But no, while we were there, they did nothing to let us know who was friend or foe… The US can’t help everyone. We should help those who help us; and draw the line against those who cheered when we lost men.

We did our best. We tried to fix your nation. But you, created havoc. You knowingly hid insurgents after they attacked us. You sheltered and condoned their actions.

So suffer bitches…

Oh, we know they are bad guys. That is why we tried to bolster your army and it was, it was trained by the best military in the world.. And what did you do? You sneaked terrorists in in uniform, to blow us up. You knew who they were… You aided and abetted them.

Wars cost money, and in case you haven’t been reading the papers, money is something we don’t have. If we spend it, it needs to be on those who by their actions are worth it…

You made your bed. Now lie in it.. You don’t need or deserve help from us.. Maybe after you see what it is like to have your sons and daughters killed, for nothing, you will have a better understanding of what we and one trillion dollars tried to do…

You could have been so great. But you wouldn’t tell us who was friend and who was foe…
Enjoy your fate. Enjoy your slogans. A lot of good they will do you when you’re dead.

Nominations for Delaware’s Person/Place/or Thing Of The Year

The Golden Flush Award /Click Image for Past Winners

Usually this is an after thought…” Oh, wow, year’s over, let’s get a person of the year”…  And then once we elect one,  we go… “holy crap… we totally forgot so and so….”

So to try to stir up some old simmering coals of memory, both mine and others, and perhaps even to (heaven forbid) get some debate going in the blog sphere, I thought I’d make an initial run on Thanksgiving Week, and then add people into the nominating category as others mention various ones I should kick myself for forgetting.

It will also force me to review the year which is something I rarely do… because face it, as a human being, I am slave of the moment….  If I did this last year, come December 14th the entire world would have been turned upside down and all the old priorities of 2012,  would in one day become trivial….

And so starting early gives me the chance to make the argument for each of those I decide to enroll with your kind recommendations included….

Julius Cephus:  Particularly this one man organized and stopped an end run around the Port of Wilmington.  The Kinder Morgan deal did not go through, and the Wilmington Port is bustling like never before…   Kinder Morgan was to strip the union of power, and drop the rates of pay, further dampening the economy of Wilmington proper.  It was also the first defeat of a Lavine-Markell development project, .. Fisker and Bloom had gone forward without a hitch.  Julius and other’s push back resulted in a General Assembly motion that stated they, not the governor, had final approval. It was the first time we were exposed to the current Governor’s manipulations.  They were to play a significant part across this year’s tapestry.

Steve Newton:  A blogger who has written infrequently, but effectively. His piece on SB 51  is what alerted us to the end run being performed by Dave Sokola on lowering the current standards being used for educating teachers.  It is brilliant.  It took an evening of reading the legislation line by line and cross referencing  it with Steve’s analysis, to understand the huge negative impact this bill would cause.  By the time this was done, the Bill had already passed the Senate unanimously without comment, and with an friendly amendment added that was voted upon without even being read.  Some public outcry was mustered within the House, both in committee and on the floor, but under the Governor’s direction, the Speaker of the House, pushed the bill to the floor before significant outcry could be mustered.  Only 4 House members were not on record for it’s passing.  Our educational schools now have to water down their teaching standards to meet the new law.  Steve also has brought the Highmark story to Delaware.  His research in the increase of medical costs in Western PA as a result of knocking out competition by unfair practices, leads one with a cold chill of what to expect in Delaware’s future.  We are already there.  As an insurer, Highmark is only paying medical claims in its own affiliated clinics.  As the new Blue Cross/Blue Shield owner, that is a huge percentage of Delaware’s residents.  None can go to any other hospital.  He has properly fingered Karen Weldham Stuart for not catching this prior to implementation.  Without Steve, this would have passed unnoticed.  The News Journal still has not once mentioned the takeover of Delaware’s health field under one owner.

Ernest Lopez.  If Kennedy were still writing Profiles of Courage, he should include this man.  Ernest Lopez is a conservative, and voted with Libertarian values to pass the gun legislation recommended by Markell and Biden.  Reflecting the views of his district, instead of taking the threatening message sent to him down from the NRA, he voted for his district.  A very vocal minority, who is always vocal, and always in the minority, swore they would unseat him.  He disregarded their idle threat, and voted both his and his constituents conscious.  A major billboard was put up to call him out.   His vote caused the passage of us now requiring background checks at public gun sales.  Now a certifiably insane person cannot slap cash and get a gun.  It is a no-brainer, and Ernie was the only Republican with brain enough to even know what a no-brainer is….

Cathy Cloutier:  her vote allowed gays to marry.  Again, she is a Republican who said enough is enough… Tired of voting against her conscious just so Sussex County would not flip over to the Democrats, she finally did not toe the line and voted along the lines of her own constituents, all overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage.  In doing so, she went against the entire grain of her party, who firmly feel that gays are second class citizens, even though most Republicans in office are closeted gays.

Bethany Hall Long:  on the same vote, made a viable personal decision, and also voted for the legalization of gay marriage. Unlike Cathy’s vote, this was accomplished at great personal sacrifice, for all of those in her personal life, were solidly against this policy from taking effect.  In voting for what was morally right, she had to contend against those whose influence she could not escape.  She went with the correct vote, over the easy one.   As a result, Gay marriage is now legal in Delaware.

Paul Baumbach:  gave great ammunition against the fight for SB51, and later against HB 165. Both bills which will damage Delaware’s education for years to come.  He was one of the four who put up a fight on the House floor.  Paul also arranged for the meetings in Newark to discuss the new Power plant that figured in this past week’s election.

John Kowalko:  also was against SB51, HB 165, as well, being against the power plant.  In fact, John was the first person to sound the alarm over how big the power plant would be.  Without his big voice, it may have slid through unnoticed.  The power plant has defined northern Delaware politics since September.

Kim Williams;  responsible for HB 40 which investigates Charter School’s meddling into our educational systems.  She was as an acting state representative, allegedly refused entrance into a committee hearing on education, for fear she might say something damaging to the bill being rushed through….  She brought to the public’s knowledge, that the Charter School bill was drafted illegally without public input, and the charter group constructing it, was also under FOIA, to which the private group denied.  The Attorney General backed up her assertion, that the bill was formulated illegally but their decision was moot, because the bill was passed both houses anyways.  Kim Williams also in the HB 40 task force, led the group to realize that charter schools unlike public schools, do indeed filter those entering charters to weed out those who might lower their test scores….

Mark Murphy, Rodel, Sweeney, Hefferman, and the Fake Educational Reform Establishment:  I almost purposefully did not post this.  Although the first person’s name is usually followed by explicatives whenever mentioned, it is unlike Voldermort’s, still getting mentioned.  Mark Murphy was not put in his position based on his ability. He was placed there for his loyalty to the cause of  corporatizing public education.  Markell pulls the strings, Murphy figures how to get it done…  It is hard to make a puppet the most influential person of the year… So I was going to skip him… But at the last minute, remembered that every time  he or anyone of these make an op-ed, it resonates as gigantic news. The entire community rises up to counteract each op-ed, usually with the word “lies” thrown liberally about…. So, they do exert an influence.  I looped all of them together, as the group of liars in a Greek play, who stand on the stair steps and taunt the protagonists.  Well,… they are part of the play…….

Dan Short:  Sometimes villains get noticed too.  Primarily a single issue candidate, who personally supports the NRA, he actively campaigned and organized to create enough backlash so Markell’s gun laws could not get enough votes…  Without him, there is a possibility that all four of Markell’s gun control pieces of legislation would have passed both houses of Delaware’s legislature. Dan Short should be given the credit for stopping them.

John Sigler: Single handedly by his very brief tenure as the re-elected head of the Republican Party, he pointed out through his pigeon shooting, just how inept the Republican Party was at everything else.  With his leaving, all fissures cracking the Republican bedrock, were impossible to ignore.  Blogs split. The IPOD’s split. Former candidates of the same party just months earlier, now not talking to each other. The Delaware Republican Party is dead; no it is past dead.  More dead than a pigeon shot inside a box by John Sigler, former head of the Delaware Republican Party.

Nancy Willing: Her blog, the Delaware Way, is the go-to site for local information. Whether about Dover, about New Castle County, about any of New Castle County’s associations, Nancy combs all sources and puts them down in aggregate form. Heavily involved in the Power Plant controversy, The Delaware City Rail Yard controversy, Barley Mill controversy, the Woodlawan controversy, the Kinder Morgan controversy, the Charter School Controversy, the Common Core Controversy, Nancy has who is saying “what”, and links to “why”. One can expend less energy by using her blog to follow all the stuff the News Journal neglects, in a few quick empty steps.

Amy Roe:  a head of the Sierra Club, who emerged from nowhere to lead the fight against the power plant, and give quite a run against the establishment candidate.  Becoming the face the anti- power movement could coalase behind, she gave the anti power plant movement both dignity and grace.  Coming up short only 115 votes, she has awakened Newark now politically as never before…  The power plant if it goes forward, now has a strong group of Newarkeans against it.  Hopefully they will be monitoring it regularly and helping authorities keep in in compliance with all local law.

Tom Gorden; although much quieter than his first term in office, Tom Gorden is rapidly rolling back the privileges the previous Clark administration handed over to our state’s top developers. The Barley Mill plaza which had a green light, is now parked at a red. In a big sea change, though handled quietly, community groups are now no longer persona non grata in county government. It is no longer accepted as a matter of course that the Woodlawn Trust will be gobbled up by developers. If enough fight can be mustered, it can be stopped. Furthermore, with Tom there is closer coordination with the City of Wilmington, than we have experienced anytime in our lifetimes. In the county, local policing has been stepped up, particularly in neighborhoods prone to crime…

Dennis Williams: Came in with grand expectations, which looked deliverable for a while. The tide is turning and his relevance on this list, is because every day, the headline reality in Wilmington’s streets, brings his electioneering boasts back to haunt him, like a sizzling hot branding iron.  Time, Dennis, to say “Damn the torpedoes… Their punk asses are going in jail no matter which blowhard on City Council spouts off,before mine gets tossed in jail for impersonating a mayor..”

Alan Levin:  Jack Markell’s second in command, he was instrumental in defending Markell’s position on Kinder Morgan and the port, as well as the new power plant for the data center. He also had a hand in keeping Dole in Delaware, and worked to slip the power plant past a slew of unsuspecting Newark City officials.

Jack Markell: had his hand in everything.  He was behind Kinder Morgan’s takeover.  He was behind SB 51 and HB 165.  He was behind the illegal charter group, requiring HB 40. He also was the driving force for the four rational steps to gun legislation, 2 of which were passed. He was also the driving force behind the passage of gay marriage, signing the bill in the chambers just moments after its passage. He also supported the transgender bill in its travels through the labyrinth of Legislative Hall. He as behind keeping Dole in Delaware. He was behind changing an icon in Millsboro away from pickles, over to poultry. He pushed the bill to curtail Flowers. Despite your opinion over whether these were good or bad, they still showed a ubiquitous and wide reach across the state of Delaware. Seems like nothing got done that didn’t have his fingerprints all over it.

John Young: As head of Christina board, John Young led the board in standing up to Mark Murphy and Jack Markell, by refusing the RTTT funds slated for his district. Although some hired fools, (Jea Street) tried to paint Young into a corner, it served the opposite purpose and gave Young a platform. For the fist time, Common Core was getting publicly bashed. For the first time, many were finding that aligning themselves blindly to this sham of improving standards, was probably going to hurt them politically in the next couple of years. It was the fist salvo back, so the damage estimates were not high, but it did open eyes of many who had been on the sidelines of all educational issues, making them also become vocal in fighting Common Core. His blog Transparent Christina has channelled a lot of detailed information into the Delaware market, and had made Common Core an apprehension, instead of the savior it was supposed to be….

Kilroy: Kilroy has always been haranguing over education. In fact he was doing such a good job I left that issue alone for years, because other issues for me, like the economy and elimination of guns from the hands of the mentally ill, were more important. But as the issue has shifted back into the limelight, Kilroy’s hard hitting is making its mark… Kilroy is blunt, and right now, that is the language that needs to happen. Blunt descriptions of what takes place in the stratosphere of he academic field…. Kilroy often breaks stories before the News Journal, especially ones embarrassing to the Murphy/Markell cartel of education. If you have read Kilroy over the past couple of years, you would already know that Common Core is not the panacea we have been promised. It is a power grab for taxpayer dollars, financed by Wall Street itself…. If you think otherwise, you haven’t been reading a balanced reading list….
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That is what I have so far. In retrospect I am surprised that education has played so much, as even I have only come to that topic lately… But if one looks over the News Journal op eds, education really did dominate the discussion in the 2nd smallest state this year….

I may have forgotten some big ones. To reiterate, that is why I am posting this early, to catch those big mistakes as they get brought to my attention….

Syria: Obama’s Address

Let us start here.  A good leader takes his people where they want to go.  A good leader does not force his people to go where they definitely don’t want to go… That is ruling.  Not leading.

A good leader convinces his people why they must do something.  He makes sure he puts in how it will benefit them.  If it doesn’t benefit them, he is ruling.  Not leading.

A good leader creates good out of evil.  There is a moral equivalency to leadership.  It can be defined shallowly at times.  Such as calling Hitler good leader based on his strategy of conquering France. But time makes such affirmations short lived.  I don’t think anyone looking over the rubble left of Germany in 1945 at that moment considered Hitler a good leader after viewing his legacy.

A good leader does not follow the rules… He decides when and where the rules apply.   Some would apply the name “great leader” to one who never wavered.  Well, such a leader would have ruined the life of a little boy whose grandmother sent along a knife to cut the cake, not knowing that knives in school were grounds for expulsion.  A lot of misdirected people in leadership positions in that particular school district, made bad decisions based on their mistaken view of what makes a good leader.  A good leader does not always follow the rules.

A good leader decides when and where the rules apply.

In Syria we have controversy.   We have one argument stating that Syria must be punished.  We have the other that says War must be reserved only for something Huge.  That “Huge” is of course undefined and fits in with “we know it when we see it.”

As the executive of the world’s largest force, militarily, economically, and morally,  our president pretty much get to decide.

Here is what a great leader would do.  He would find a way to unite the two sides into one…  He would find a way to punish Assad of Syria in a way that would scare any other despot thinking of using chemical weapons,  and do it without going to war.

That would be great leadership.

So what would scare Assad the most?   It’s hard to tell, but my guess is that his biggest fear as a man, is if his palace is overrun by Syrians, who basically tear him apart, and do his wife and children, then systematically erase any acknowledgement  that he or his dad ever existed…   That whole reign of terror becomes ridiculed, laughed at, for the rest of History.   i would guess that is how you could get to Assad.

So, we, (not just the US but the rest of the world) have to make that threat real.. We don’t have to carry it out necessarily, but we have to make it real.   How can that happen?

I think first, is that we make crossing the border out of Syria a real good move for Syrians…   Send the signal, that if you leave Syria, the world community will settle you somewhere, give you a job, and a chance to begin a life of freedom and prosperity. ideally what we are doing is a Cold War.  Over time we are saying: “See how great the Rest of the world lives?  Oh, you poor Syrians… Escape and come join us”. Where could we relocate them?  Iran could step up, Jordan,, and Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States,

This is how your hurt Assad… Turn his own people against him… No ruler can rule a group of people who don’t want to be ruled.  He can use brutality to a certain extent, but the numbers are completely on the side of the population wanting him gone.  With our intelligence capacity, he will never be safe… Every bodyguard is a potential killer..

And that, more or less, is what we should do… It is what a great leader does… He solves problems in ways where the evil get punished and the good win out.

Going to war, rewards those doing evil, and hurts the good….

It is time our President, become the great leader.  Not by  digging down and reinforcing the costly methods promoted in the past..  But to devise and implement new methods which because of their success, will be utilized far into the future….

“Puzzles The Will….”

Just read that the NSA is pressing for a Justice Dept. probe to find out who leaked the PRISM plan to the Guardian…   I’m slightly befuddled.  Why don’t they just look in their files?  They have the records.

Sussex County Council Sam Wilson Owes Sussex County $$$$$$$$$

Photo Courtesy of http://www.maorimusic.com

If Sussex County Sam Wilson used the Sussex County copier to print glamour pictures of Kim Kardashian, and distribute them to citizens of Sussex County, they deserve to be outraged.

If Sussex County Sam Wilson used the Sussex County copier to print Hitler pictures, and type over it, Segregation Today, Segregation Tomorrow, and Segregation Forever, and distribute them to citizens of Sussex County,  they deserve to be outraged.

If Sussex County Sam Wilson use the Sussex County copier to print a picture of his buttocks, type over them “I love you” and distribute them to citizens of Sussex County, they deserve to be outraged.

If Sussex County Sam Wilson even used the Sussex County copier to copy flyers that said “Free Bodie” and distribute them to the citizens of Sussex County, … they deserve to be outraged…

So is it too hard to foresee, that if Sam Wilson used the Sussex County copier to copy flyers that said call your legislator to defeat this bill, that those who wanted that bill passed, deserve to be outraged?

Perhaps if Sam had the council vote beforehand giving him permission, it might be different. Instead he chose to use County’s costly materials, to fund his personal agenda.  I believe the penality is 5 years, but I’ll need one of you to look it up to be sure……

For every copy made, without including paper, here is what Sam need to reimburse the county.  $0.03684 per copy PLUS the cost of the paper he used…..  That covers this:

• all supplies such as copy toner (except paper),
• all parts and services,
• all energy costs
• portion of maintenance and repair contract.

On top of that, add the $0.007 per copy paper 94 Bright, and……. $0.04384 becomes the total per copy.

If Sam Wilson were to make 100,000 copies, the county of Sussex should be expecting a forthcoming check in the amount of  $4384.00…

Did Sam Wilson use $4384.00 of Sussex County Taxpayer’s money to lobby for a personal bill from which he would get personal gain….

It is time to exact payment due….

Debate Debunking: Number 2

A “If you graduated in the top quarter of your airlines, we gave you a John and Abigail Adams scholarship, four years tuition free in the college of your choice in Massachusetts, it’s a public institution.”

Top quarter of your airlines?

B ” want to make sure we keep our Pell grant program growing”.

Romney once told a student questioner to “borrow money if you have to from your parents” to go to college — or to” join the military.” VP candidate Paul Ryan’s budget has called for cutting the Pell Grant program by $200 billion, which critics say could also cut a million students from the program in the next decade.

C “And the president’s right in terms of the additional oil production,”  Exactly.  Under the Obama administration we are less dependent on foreign oil.  The oil presidents made “big money” in the Middle East……  Hmmm, could there have been a reason we were so dependent when Cheney was running policy???

D “they (new jobs) are already beginning to come back because of our abundant energy.“   He just verified that Obama’s Energy Policy worked…. and is working so well, he will continue it by doing exactly the same in his term.  No excuse to fire the guy who is doing his job well……

E “the reason I want middle-income taxpayers to have lower taxes is because middle-income taxpayers have been buried over the past four years.“ Remember Romney? 47% don’t pay taxes. How do you plan to lower their taxes below zero? You planning on paying them extra now?

F “You’ve seen, as middle-income people in this country, incomes go down $4,300 a family,  even as gasoline prices have gone up $2,000. Health insurance premiums, up $2,500. Food prices up. Utility prices up.”    If these people pay no taxes, how are you going to help them?   You can’t give them a tax cut?

G  “The top 5 percent of taxpayers will continue to pay 60 percent of the income tax the nation collects. So that’ll stay the
same.”    Ahh, now we see.  They will pay 60% of 20% less.   Now we see what you are up too….  So you cut incoming revenue 20%, and the top get a tax break, and pay only 80% of what they paid under Obama, but, since it is still 60% of all the money coming into the treasury,  you are artfully telling us, they will be paying the same.  You don’t say percentage, and we think you mean dollars… Tricky, tricky, tricky.  But knowing that, at least the math now adds up.  It just doesn’t add up well for this country….  Our deficit grows another 8 Trillion.

H.  As a matter of fact, oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land, and gas production was down 9 percent. Why ? Because the president cut in half the number of licenses and permits for drilling on federal lands, and in federal waters”……“We’re actually drilling more on public lands than in the previous administration and my – the previous president was an oil man.”

Sales of Fossil Fuels Produce from Federal and Indian Land FY 2003 through FY 2011

I “In the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on federal land and federal waters in half”. “Not true, Governor Romney”.

J “Candy, I don’t have a policy of stopping wind jobs in Iowa and that – they’re not phantom jobs. They’re real jobs.” Romney is flat out against the Wind Energy Tax Credit which gives wind-energy companies 2.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour produced, shaving as much as one-third off the costs. This will bankrupt Iowa, the number two wind producer behind Texas. 7,000 jobs in Iowa alone, are directly related to wind.

K “every middle-income taxpayer no longer will pay any tax on interest, dividends or capital gains. No
tax on your savings. That makes life a lot easier.“ Seriously? How many middle income ($43-64,000)taxpayers have interest, dividends, or capital gains? Less than 3%. These are the tools of the wealthy, and wealthy only. Romney is saying we are going to lose our mortgage deduction, child tax credits, state and local taxes, and medical, but it won’t matter because we won’t be taxed on dividends and interest… s huge loss for the middle class, a huge cut for the 87% that supplies most of America’s revenue. The deficit will balloon…

L. “So when you bring those rates down, those small businesses are able to keep more money and hire more people.” As Obama said.. “Yeah, in China.” We did that in 2003, and had the worst recession since the Great Depression. We did that in the 1920’s and caused the Great Depression. Now, Clinton raised taxes and created 23 million new jobs. I like Clinton’s result instead of George Bush’s; how about you?

M. ” how about $4 trillion of deficits over the last four years, $5 trillion? That’s math that doesn’t add up.” Uhh Governor, actually it does add up. $1 Trillion for the Republican Tax Cuts; $1.3 Trillion for the two Republican Wars; $0.7 Trillion for the Republican Prescription Plan unpaid for; $1 Trillion for the Republican caused Great Recession. That is $4 Trillion. It adds up fine. Now, you dodged the question she asked…. How does your calculation of 5 + 1+ 2 = 0 ? How does that add up?

Do Something About This Economy….

Reading a recent critique of the debates, it focused on a fact. Millions of Americans are not enjoying the benefits of this economy. Romney had the lucky position to point out all that was wrong, without the responsibility of finding any solution to fix it.

His line, “bring down the rates, broaden the base.” simply has not worked. It didn’t work in Reagan’s time. It didn’t work for Bush HW. It didn’t work for Bush W. It is called: “trickle down”.

Clinton, who practiced kavipsian Economics, raised the rates, causing profits to revert back into the economy stimulating even more growth; that growth grew people’s incomes. That is the key. People will take lower wages if they know they will grow out of them. But ever since Republican Tax Rates went into effect, wage growth immediately stopped. 99% of Americans are earning exactly what they did in 2000. It’s been twelve years since wages for the 99%, increased. Higher taxes takes away all incentive for any employer to pay his people more.

Here is the funny part. To actually do something about the economy, President Obama has to eradicate the Republicans. Get rid of them. Make them a non player. Republicans and republicans alone, are the reason the economy is in such a slump.

Let’s review.

Republicans fought the stimulus.
Republicans fought the car buying incentive.
Republicans fought infrastructure development.
Republicans fought giving Veterans jobs upon returning to USA after fighting for years.
Republicans fought lowering insurance rates.
Republicans fought lowering gas price legislation.
Republicans fought regulating big banks from literally stealing your money.
Republicans fought against balancing the budget.
Republicans fought against payroll increases for all Americans.
Republicans fought against lowering medical costs.
Republicans fought against a better economy.
Republicans fought against hiring more policemen.
Republicans fought against hiring more fireman.
Republicans fought against hiring more school teachers.
Republicans fought against building roads and bridges that were sorely needed.
Republicans fought against not defaulting on the US Dollar.
Republicans fought against strengthening America Abroad.
Republicans fought against stopping corporate corruption.
Republicans fought against fighting wealthy tax cheats.
Republicans fought against closing the loopholes Romney used to get rich.
Republicans fought against raising wages for all Americans.
Republicans fought against legislation that allowed workers to ask for more money without being fired.

yeah. There is a reason the economy is bad. It is called the Republican Party.

Having “No Republicans” equals massive investment back into our economy. The formula for a successful America is…..

NO REPUBLICANS EVER ELECTED AGAIN = MASSIVE AMERICA ECONOMIC GROWTH

So Obama, you are at fault according to Mitt Romney and the Conservative Cheer-leading squad… Because you didn’t get rid of Republicans… Shame on you!!!!

I guess it is up to us, to do so if we EVER want our economy back.

If not… I guess every vote for a Republican is a vote in support of Communist China…..

Free Pot And Ban Guns…..

The impetus for this came from a thread over at Delaware Liberal, discussing crime around Adams 4 Shopping Center in Wilmington, in the number one unsafe city in America…

Those of you that follow me regularly know that every once in a while I get an idea and run with it, just to see how viable it works. I did so here and you are welcome to ride along….

Is there a religion out there that centers around imbibing alcohol? If so, I haven’t heard of one… I would think things would get rather tense, after inhibitions wore off and everyone started getting sick… But there definitely are religions centered around marijuana and peyote… two natural highs…

So the thought occurred to me… What would Wilmington be like if you gave everyone free pot? Don’t even worry about the cost if the city bought it… instead of burning it in WV, the DEA could just cut in and put in on a Norfolk Southern train car… so consider it a free remedy… What would Wilmington be like?

Have you ever shot a gun while on a marijuana high? In fact, the thought of pulling out a gun never occurs to you. And with free pot, the walls especially in summer seem to be closing in, so everyone in the neighborhood, would congregate outside on the streets… And if some straight person did come in from out of town, the bullet fired would travel along in s l o w motion, and everyone would have plenty of time to limbo around it.

So you have a bad day at work… and a bad commute home… It doesn’t matter… In minutes your with neighbors smokin’ a bowl… Soon the best jokes ever told come out into the air, and everyone is bent over laughing…

The city is full of social problems… How many would having free pot solve?

Unwanted pregnancy… solved. Can’t get it up. No sex.
Robbery; pot is free, one doesn’t need drug money.
Fighting: never happens when everybody love everybody
Violence: even if started, by the time you stop laughing, it is all forgotten.
Drug Sales: who could sell crack when pot is free? Keepin’ my money dude.
Drug violence: head honchos would remain straight, but everybody working for them would be floating on moonbeams. No suburban girls driving in for pills, if pot was free. There would soon be no money coming in; the business would have to move.
Traffic accidents: pot smokers are very conscientious drivers.
Crack Houses: don’t need them; you can smoke pot openly on the street.

Since there would be no crime, police working that beat should be allowed to smoke too, It would improve bonding between police and community. The population would be overall healthier from all the natural cures that marijuana can supply…

And then there’s guns. I think if everyone is high, even the NRA would think taking guns off the street would be an enlightened idea. It would aid the community spirit. Plus, after you lit up the entire block with some good bud, all you had to do was ask nicely and all the guns would be brought down to you…. no explanations demanded…

Simply put, if you remove the guns, and dissolve the anger, and create a positive friendly environment, you fix the problem….

In fact the only foreseeable problem requiring any expenditures, is that Wilmington doesn’t have any Taco Bells in its downtown region… That would definitely have to be rectified before we begin giving out free pot…

For sure…

Bishops Need To Be Queened!

(title is a chess reference).

There is no worse thing on this planet than a negotiator who agrees to a certain policy, waits for it to get set in stone, and then, just before that policy is implemented, says, no, I’m not for it anymore. People like that are called Finks.

That type of action turned all of America against the Tea Party who actually made it their career to say “we won’t agree until we get this”, and when they got “this” they stormed out anyway, saying “that is not enough, we won’t agree until we get that, and more…” and followed the same process over and over and over again…

There is nothing worse than people who do that….

The Catholic Bishops today are saying the compromise in which health insurers bear the cost of contraception, is not enough, even though it meets their objection of not having any Catholic money go towards paying for contraception…

That actually was a huge concession. Catholic hospitals and schools will not have to pay for contraception, but it will be available for all women who work there to use if they choose.

The current position being taken by the Catholic Bishops actually goes against Church doctrine as well as the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, himself….

(Remember, this is the exact same group that thought the best way to deal with priests who preyed Sandusky-like on alter boys, was to whisk them away where those guilty could abuse others who innocently had no idea beside whom they were serving the sacrament.)

The same group.

Bottom line, like the guilty priests, the Catholic Bishops got what they wanted. End of discussion. Any more discussion against this policy, and it becomes extremely obvious it is being done to support the Republican Party. The Church has been bought out by the 1%….

Back to why, prohibiting contraception in one way, violates the core spirit of the teachings of Jesus.

“Blessed are the Poor, for they shall inherit the earth”. “Give all you have to the poor, and you will then be able to enter the Kingdom of God.”

Obviously, if you don’t help the poor, you go to hell… Jesus could not have been more specific or clear.

When you don’t allow a woman to NOT GET PREGNANT, you force her out of being self sufficient, into becoming dependent on poverty.

Being against birth control forces women into poverty. Think about it. If you are single on a $40,000 job, and pregnant, you are out of $40,000 and have no income. Not only is the Catholic Church NOT GIVING ALL THEY OWN TO HELP THE POOR, but without free contraception, they are creating more and more poor, pregnant woman by pregnant woman, by the very position they take….

Bishops need to be queened.

What I Want….

The recession has popped a lot of dreams… It has forced a re-evaluation of priorities. It has put reality in the forefront.

So wiping off the table of everything, everything, and sitting down to a blank space, and asking myself, … what do I want, by the time I die.

It is:

A country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement,”

After watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” you can be sure it can’t happen on a Republican’s watch….. For that dream to happen, we need protection from corporations and Big Money; not giving them more and more of what we make.

We need more money funneled away from big business, to be reinvested into the Middle Class… Since they haven’t done it voluntarily, we’ll have to force it.

Republicans can’t force anyone to do anything. They are putz’s. It will take a government of all Democrats to make Americans who die, at least die happy that they were able to secure:

“A country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement”.