worldnotes

The Immoral majority; Republican scandals tarnish election hopes.

2005-11-29T21:43:00.000-08:00

I blame the Democrats.

I blame the liberal media too.

Lets not forget Representative Murtha, he gave $7.50 to Michael Moore to make "Fahrenheit 911". How can you believe Murtha now?

And that Mayor from New Orleans. We told him that his levies were going to break, after we cut his federal subsidy in half, and that he'd better pony up the $125, million real quick to fix them before the next hurricane. Now all those lazy New Orleaners are living in the lap of luxury at the tax payers expense, while we poor republicans try to protect the tax cuts for the top 10%. Hey,they deserve it. They pay most of the taxes. Besides they're all too busy cutting unnecessary workers from the payroll. Do you know how hard it is to lay off 30,000 workers? Tons of paperwork.

Ya, I don't buy it either.

Looks like the republicans have just about run out of fall guys and excuses, just when they needed them the most. Right before the 2006 mid term elections. It's a good thing they gerrymandered the house districts so most have "safe" districts. All that doesn't help the Senate though, but they can outspend all challengers unless they are challenged by other millionaire. They're all millionaires in the Senate.

What they're really worried about is winding up in jail, though. It's hard to be the party that brings integrity back to Washington when you're sitting in the big house...

Dr. Senator Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, could wind up in Club Fed for pulling an Enron with stocks of a hospital his dad and brother started. (he allegedly dumped stocks before they tanked based on some insider info, allegedly...). I got a question: If the stocks were in a blind trust like he says, how could he call up and dump them? Seeing eye broker? Maybe he gets the Wall Street Journal sbraille edition.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is enmeshed in a couple of scandals. One in Texas says he was laundering money thru his Texas PAC to the RNC, back to local Texas politicians who were supporting him. ( Do Re Mi.) The Federal scandal charges that the lobbyists Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon made large donations, in money and perks such as all expense paid trips to St. Andrews in Scottland in exchange for DeLay putting the fix in on some legislation regarding indian casinos.

And That's just the Republican Leadership. There's California Representatives Duke Cunningham and John Doolittle, Ohio Representative Ney, Ohio Governor Taft, Kentucky Governor Fletcher, and about 30 other office holders that are involved in scandals for abusing or outright selling their offices. Sex scandals like republican mayor Jim West of Spokane, Wa., who was using the trappings of his office to solicite 18 year old boys online for sex after championing anti gay legislation is hypocritical, self serving and morally reprehensible, but not a violation of law.

(It's worth noting here that democrats aren't clean either, but when you are not in charge of any of the 3 branches of Government and the republicans don't let you read the laws before you vote on them, you don't have too much to sell. )

Back to the problem: who to blame and how to stay out of jail?

When Tom Delay was originally indicted in Texas, their solution was to change the House Ethics Rules. Maybe they can pardon themselves or change the law? Or better yet, blame those damn hippie liberal judges and prosecutors for making the Republicans look bad. What this country really needs is a legal system that will do what it's told. Gimme that ole time religion!

Pope pans prissy priests; says he's a transvestite not a queer.

2005-11-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

I don't care what rules a private religious institution sets for itself. Let them exclude as many people as they choose. If people don't like it, let them split from the church and start their own. It has been done before.

The Klan excludes Catholics, the Nazis exclude Jews, and the NBA excludes women. No one seems be shocked at them. They have that right.

I don't mean to say the Pope is in any way shape or form a Nazi or NBA player, but the juxtaposition sort of leads the reader to that implication. The same is true about such a draconian crackdown by the Vatican after the pedophilia scandals. Although they dress alike, the Pope isn't a Klansman, and gays aren't pedophiles. But then, what could he possibly know about sex and sexuality anyway.

Still, I don't care. I only see all this reducing the number of priests and damaging their credibility. After all, they don't seem to care if the seminarians have lied, stolen or murdered in the past 3 years. It isn't a call for a more moral priesthood. It's a call for an all hetero priesthood that doesn't have sex at all.

What I do care about is if they carry this prejudice into the public arena, or actively interfere with me leading my own non catholic life. I don't try to prevent the Pope from wearing a beanie and a dress; I expect the same respect for my own idiosyncracies.

As long as they don't start burning witches, beating astronomers or inquisiting infidels, I just don't care. It's none of my business.

letter on the lament; "the earth is being spent."

2005-11-29T14:43:00.000-08:00

comment posted to a blogger who lamented the spoiling of the planet.

"Is homo sapiens an oxymoron? [how much logic is there to destroying the planet]"

Oxymoron? yes.

Logical? unfortunately.

Remember logic has nothing to do with values. If you don't value the future. If you don't give a damn about the survival of life, human or otherwise, it then makes perfect sense to consume as much as possible and leave the mess for someone else to clean up. Their actions speak volumes about their values.

All religions have two faces. One embraces life and says give back what you take, do onto others, have compassion for all things, ect. The other embraces death and says this is all an illusion, the end is near! take it all for god before judgement day, god favors the prosperous and punishes the poor, kill the infidels because this is God's will, ect. ect.....

Remember also, we're a fundamentalist country fighting a fundamentalist movement. It then makes perfect sense on both sides not to question the will of God, but rather to live by the letter of the law as it was written centuries ago, and to "Spend" our world or kill the innocents because we're all on the brink of the apocalypse and the only things that matters happens after you die.

72 virgins or Born again salvation; they all want to bribe God/Allah by offering the world as a burnt offering.

Chinese make an Olympic mistake.

2005-11-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

Point being, the Chinese are investing large in what is becoming a buggy whip convention. They're being had.

Do you follow the Olympics? If you want basketball, you watch the NBA. If you want baseball you watch the Nation or American League. Same with Hockey and Soccer for the rest of the world. All the other sports are left oversaw from lawn games played in Ivy League schools or British leisure class hobbies.

Remember the "Dream Team"? It didn't take too long for the professionals to realize that they were being used to bolster a dying event and it was not worth their time. So the best players in the world are professionals and even though they could play in the Olympics, they don't.

I look at how much the Chinese are paying for the Olympics, how much time and energy they're putting into it, how much they are struggling to make a good impression. It gives me hope. The Chinese aren't as savvy businessmen as most people give them credit.

Remember Solon?

2005-11-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

Faced with a peasant revolt, the citizens of Athens elected Solon as Grand Archon. The situation was real bad because the gap between the rich and poor had grown so wide that great masses were faced with starvation while a select few grew fat in the lap of luxury.

Solon redistributed land, taxed the rich at a rate 12x higher than the poor, and offered lifetime support for the children of those whose fathers gave their lives in service to the State. In essence he redistributed wealth and relieved the social pressures that where leading Athens to a messy Civil war. The rich complained that they were rewarding the lazy and undeserving, violating their property rights and stifling trade. In any event, the gap was removed, the pressure released and the war was averted which led to a golden age before Paraclese.

Later the rich removed Solon's reforms, the peasants revolted and killed the Aristocracy.

This misteak was repeated down thru history from Rome to the French and the Russian Revolutions. Most people don't remember that revolution/rebellion/revolt was a serious threat during the great depression. In Nebraska, judges who presided over bankruptcy hearings were lynched. Americans idolized criminals like Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillenger. It was only after FDR redistributed wealth thru the new deal that the pressure was relieved and the crisis was averted.

The same was true in the 1960's. Riots weren't all about civil rights, but also about urban poverty. LBJ did a lot to relieve the pressure with his "Great Society".

The historian Will Durant documented this in his book "Lessons of History", a classic. But the rich don't quite agree with his analysis. When they rioted in LA, Bush 1st blamed it on Johnson. I guess he meant if the rioters were crushed back in the 60's, we wouldn't have to deal with them 30 years later.

Now the gap is widening again. Its wider now than any time since the Roman Empire. The Republicans and rich industries like Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing and Retail are milking the taxpayer for every dime they can in the face of multi billion dollar deficits. GM makes some bad decisions and they lay off 30,000 workers. Most of them are in their 40's and 50's and will never have another middle class job in their lives. Walmart might hire them at minimum wage with no benefits or union protection.

Want to bet even if they fire GM's CEO for incompetance, he'll still walk away with millions of dollars in stock options and never have to work another day in his life. Is it any surprise that dozens of Republican politicians, from the Governor of Ohio, Robert Taft, to state legislators to the U.S. Senate are facing corruption and bribery charges? An old republican, Abe Lincoln, once witnessed the graft going on in the Civil war and said "tsck! too many piglets for the teats!" meaning they were sucking the government dry during a crisis.

We've been here before. The pressure is begining to build. Who are we going to elect in 2008;
Solon or Louis the XV?

Note to a Marine on the front lines.

2005-11-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

this is a copy of a comment i posted on a marine's blog.

From one vet to another, i salute your service to our country. I'm glad to hear that your morale continues to be high in the face of what must be a very difficult conflict. In honesty, I do not believe the civilian leadership knows why they are there or how to get out. I draw this conclusion from the frequent changes in their stated goals, the frequent changes in their stated desired troop levels, and the cost over runs that General Zinni was fired for predicting at the start of this conflict. He was not alone. Many Generals and Admirals including General Schwartzkopf had serious reservations about the execution of this war, and still do.

But you are absolutely right when you say it's a done deal. Can't go back.

Let's bring this down to earth. We, all of us, the USA ect., we're like a 14 year old who's got his dick wet for the first time. Our reasons for doing it may not have been the best, but here we are and our options are few.

Do we:

1. Wipe off our loins, grab a bus home and pretend this all didn't happen?

2. Light up a cigarette, put on our best James Dean, and prentend like what just happened was all according to plan.

or.

3. Rush Iraq down to the drugstore for a box of chocolates and some emergency contraceptives. Then go home hoping things work out, but treat the downside like our rightful heirs if it doesn't.

Common, guys. We're not 14 year olds. We're a 200 year old country that once in a while gets it's dick wet "due to intelligence errors". Lets at least act our age while cleaning up this mess.

barbara starr,cnn reporter in neutral

2005-11-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

When asked by an audience member of a Sunday afternoon talk show on CNN, "what would victory look like?". Ms. Barabara Starr's replay was "We don't know, but we'll know when we get there." Which is the standard canned reply put out by the current administration whenever someone tries to pin them down to results.

Ms . Starr...Pardon me, did I hear you right? Did you say I'll know it when I see it? I'll know victory when I see it? What makes you believe that this is in any way shape or form is an adequate answer? I mean I would not want to buy a car on those terms let alone risk my life....

Let's see how that works "what kind car will you sell me with this cash? I don't know, you'll know when I see it?" Now let's substitute the word "cash" for the term "dead loved one".....

Why did he die? I don't know, but you'll know the reason when you see it?

Ms. Starr, really? Aren't there enough dead soldiers from Vietnam still waiting for a chance to "see it", the reason for their sacrifice? If you ask me, this "die now, explain later" policy is asking for a lot more faith in this administration than it has shown it deserves. Why aren't you outraged at this arrogance?

I dunno, I'm just an amateur, but if I were the well paid reporter my next question would go something like, " um, when there so much blood and money being spent do you think we could do better than, we'll see...." Or maybe "would you want to fight and die for such a fuzzy goal like, I'll know it when it happens?"

Well, I forget that the administration doesn't allow followup questions, and doesn't invite troublesome reporters to the whitewash picnics. Guess all the tough questions have to be asked by us amateurs.

paper tigers

2005-11-27T04:30:00.000-08:00

so, ya say you have billions of dollas in american debts. So, ya say the dolla's not worth the paper its written on. So ya say you really wanna be buying oil in euros or won?

go right ahead!

ha! the debt you have is worthless. Ask anyone with stock in enron or a pension fund from a large U.S. manufacturor. We can't even pay for the war we're loosing without going tragically in debt. it's like owning debt from a crackhead. We might have the volume in revenue, but we sure don't ever seem to get out of debt.

Figure it out, people,
the U.S. government owes more than it's worth!

It IS INEVITABLE that y'all will be running for the door,
but none of you want to be the first because you don't believe you'll be able to unload the crap before it becomes absolutely worthless. So, you limp along and hope that the next guy is stupider than the last. Is there a more classic definition of the word *SPECULATIVE BUBBLE.

WANT PROOF? CHeck out how the chinese are trying to quietly unburden themselves from the U.S. dollar. by moving to the euros they're hedging their bets against a loss. Who else but the chinese, who own most u.s. debts these days would know better?

rising dragon, descending eagle, ya right!

2005-11-27T03:49:00.000-08:00

just in case you missed out on the last decade, let me clue y'all into something. The US is gone virtual. We are no longer a bricks and mortor operation like France or Germany. We live in every digital share of stock, and every blip and byte of recorded merchandise flying off the shelves at walmart direct from a factory in Shanghai.

Who gives a damn about the factory in texas, it's the shares in the company held by the company that pays dividends to the shareholder in texas that matters. If you're still worried about the factory in texas, we're selling it for scrap to canton. Yer too late feller, it's done gone.

Oh, ya, the Chinese.....

Got news too, they're not chinese. They're the same companies as was making things in the US but with none of those pesky safety and environmental regulations. None of them unions skimming off the profits either. There's only pure capitalism for the owners and that's us, or should I say U.S.

The chinese bought us clean out, now they own all our debt. Before it was just americans making a loan to their government, now it's americans and a lot of chinese. They can't cut taxes in the u.s. because we need them to pay off our chinese stockholders. If they don't pay us back, we'll ruin em too. ya, or we'll just have to force them into slavery for the next generation paying back the billions of dollars we've"invested" into their country. They didn't think is was for free, did they?

it all gets real complicated unless you don't see america as anything more than a virtual country with stockholder citizens. That way you see the chinese are really just another set of american stockholders, and the peasants are really just another exploited post industrial underclass.

the neat thing about being a virtual nation is that once we suck the life out of china, we can just move right along to india, or indonesia or wherever they need to borrow money or capital. no borders to defend, as long as the stocks pay dividends, now is there?

Ever hear of Neo-imperialism? Us yankees invented it, ya know...

It' cheaper to lease a colony than it is to own it, because there's no cleanup costs. we did it all around central and south america, now it's your turn. we'll just have your billion workers at triple max production until they revolt and then we'll move our money elswhere. leave the mess and toxic sludge for some other poor slobs to deal with.

let's hear it for China, the newest colony for the U.S of Assets.

ancient chinese secret, eh?

2005-11-27T03:48:00.000-08:00

hey, remember what the Olympics were before the cold war? It's kinda important, because that's where it's been heading since we defeated the evil empire more than a decade ago.

If you don't recall what the Olympics were like back then let me rekindle the image of a whole lot of British poodle types getting together with their more swarthey provincial counterparts proving the superiority of the Victorian Empire thru a reenactment of Greek games. Sort of where we all get the fraternity/sorority system. remember Hazing....?

Yes, pip, pip, a whole lotta snaggle toothed British aristocracy won a lot of Olympian gold back then. And really, no one else in the world gave a rat's ass. That is unless they were competing with Victorian England for dibs on the most repressed and oppressed civilization in human history.

The Olympics were cast in a new light during the 1930's when Jessie Owens proved the eugenicists, (not all of them were nazis) wrong. it could have taken an interesting turn then, but it didn't ..."due to the war" and then afterwards, what was all that talk about equality?

We sped quickly along to the cold war where it was kinda important to a lot of people to prove which racial stock was superior; the decadant capitalists or the running dog communits. But now we're just trying to figure out why the hell anyone in the U.S or the rest of the world for that matter, should give a damn about team handball when there isn't some Dolf Lundgrin East German cheater, to defeat?

The answer is .... there isn't a reason for it.

none,

it died in the cold war

it also died along with the myth that a thick network deal would spell instant profits for non-cable tv.

ain't going to happen. Dolf works for cnn. The Russians are all capitalsts and so are the Chinese.

who cares about Olympic gold but a whole lotta batmington/handball nerds and some poodles?

Just don't tell the Chinese, they still think it's important! shhh!