The campaign season is in full swing…well, actually the campaign season is always in a swing of some degree. For the president, the current campaign has been going on since the end of his last campaign in 2008. Before that, he was in campaign mode in 2005 by the time he had been in the Senate long enough to find the chamber and maybe even the restrooms. Maybe he didn’t start until 2006, but then it’s hard to separate campaigns from speeches, fact-finding trips and most anything else that gains the attention of the public…so who knows?
Look for the usual clichés to be mouthed over and over and over…like this one: “It’s time to take back our country!” The word “back” can be an adjective, adverb, verb or noun, though noun is out in this case since the country is not the back of anything, though some campaigner might claim it (the body/country, presumably including its own back…or front for that matter) is being wagged by the insidious tail, meaning, of course, the other party or cutthroat bureaucrat or, currently, the collective White House czars.
Or…let “back” be an adjective, having this connotation according to the dictionary: “being in arrears: OVERDUE,” in which case how could it possibly be taken “back,” since it’s already completely broke and “in arrears” to the nth degree, about as far back as it can get? Or, another adjective definition is simply: “not current.” Does the candidate want to take the country back to “not current,” i.e., behind the times? Maybe that’s good campaigning since folks are always yearning for the “good ole days,” at least until they’re reminded of the outhouses, no electricity and the streets filled not with CO2 as the vehicular exhaust but with “stuff” that smells b-b-a-a-d-d and ruins the carpet.
Consider “back” as an adverb, with one of the dictionary definitions accruing thereto being “in a delayed or retarded condition.” There are many uncharitable folks who claim that this definition precisely describes the current administration, while the administration insists that it aptly describes anyone with whom it disagrees, like smart aleck economists who claim that goading/legislating people into buying houses they can’t afford and will lose is not copasetic since mortgages should not be negotiated within a range reaching from one-payment-per-month to no-payments-in years, with China holding the paper and the taxpayer finally footing the bill.
But if the country is to be taken to a “delayed or retarded condition,” perhaps the candidate will simply campaign on the idea of delaying all payments, except all the military spending and entitlements, of course, which means that it can’t delay paying much of anything, such non-non-payment leading to…yep…retardation, defined as “slowing up especially by preventing or hindering advance or accomplishment: IMPEDE.” Obviously, this approach won’t work because Obama has already done that, a sort of enhancement of the entitlement programs of the 1960s, which have failed miserably to do much more than establish a permanent underclass.
As a verb, “back” has as one definition: “to get into inadvertently,” such as a quarterback dropping back to pass and getting concussed by a linebacker on steroids. That’s precisely what has happened in the last three years with respect to the humongous mess occasioned by Obamessiah and his disciples, otherwise known as czars. This has been government by the Kiddie Korps operating on the principle that “leveling the playing field,” i.e., redistributing the wealth, will make everyone happy except the earners…but, who cares about that minority anyway? After all, inadvertence is better than nothing…isn’t it? Ask the q-back.
So, it makes perfect sense to adopt this same approach, described as “Let’s get into something else inadvertently,” understanding that even if it’s inadvertent the outcome will be anything but what the country has suffered lately and thus can’t be all bad and might even be good. Listening to the wannabes chop each other off at the knees in the squirrelly debates suggests that many outcomes are possible, inadvertent or otherwise. It’s hard to keep score, though, as wannabes tailor their ideas, programs and mutual recriminations to fit whatever state they’re gaming.
“Take back,” of course, depends on “take” to mean anything in the first place, so “take” is defined as “to get into one's hands or into one's possession, power, or control.” One remembers Obama’s previous campaign emphasis on the structuring of a national police force, a sort of civilian army commanded by the POTUS, also the commander of the military, which he might send off to liberate Timbuktu, a la Libya for instance, while the police force subjugates the citizenry at home.
The president said this in Colorado in July 2008: “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” The mainstream media never mentions this, of course, not that it’s anything but a loony-tunes statement by someone wandering off the teleprompter to say what he actually thinks. One can mention names of aliens, both past and present, that represent this view but it’s considered racist/gauche to do so, if not outrageously contemptuous of political correctness.
Nowadays, the ballot-box determines the “taking back” of the government but one wonders how long that will obtain.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Libya, Uganda...Obama's Legacy?
This is from ABC News of 18 March 2011: “President Obama told a bipartisan group of members of Congress today that he expects the U.S. would be actively involved in any military action against Libya for ‘days, not weeks,’ after which he said the U.S. would take more of a supporting role,” according to sources. The president TOLD Congress what would happen. He did not ask for any sort of approval, simply ordering the military to start bombing the bejesus out of Libya, population 2 million less than that of New York City.
Almost seven months to the day later, Qaddafi has been killed. So much for Obama’s ability to understand military matters or his ability to tell the truth, since the U.S has always been involved in far more than a supporting role, whatever that was supposed to be, at a cost of well over a billion dollars, presumably borrowed from China. Since Libya has never been a threat, military, economic or otherwise, to the U.S., there was no reason for this country’s killing of innocent Libyans, so the question of the entire enterprise has to do with the president’s reason, which seems to be that Qaddafi was a mean man and had to go (State Secretary Clinton said so). Nobody with walking-around-sense believes this, but the truth will out and will probably have to do with Libyan oil, not bought by the U.S. but by England, France, Germany and Spain, the NATO biggies, the partners in crime.
The president’s latest entry into military operations is also taking place in Africa, the ordering of about 100 military personnel into Uganda, smaller than Wyoming and a bunch of other U.S. states, to help the Ugandan government capture another bad guy, Joseph Kony, head of something called The Lord’s Resistance Army. According to the Washington Times of 19 October, the Ugandan military estimated this year that only 200 to 400 fighters remain in the LRA. The Libyan military numbers 50,000, of which forces a number have fought against the al Qaeda-connection butchers in Somalia, making them battle-hardened and not exactly in need of training, which has been given as the reason for the infusion of U.S. troops.
So…the president sends 100 people in to help a 50,000-man military establishment capture a bad guy (was Hillary consulted?) leading some 300 or so other bad guys? Does Obama expect anybody with a warm forehead to believe this? Can Defense Secretary Panetta – with a straight face – actually spout this line? Or…could oil again be the catalyst for such outrageous drivel, not in terms of military strength, obviously, but for darker reasons?
World Net Daily of 15 October linked ultra-liberal billionaire George Soros with the oil industry in Uganda. Soros is a darling of the left, funding numerous liberal front-groups in the effort to turn this nation into socialism, perhaps as a part of a sort of global socialist state, the thing that appeals to President Obama, who went to the United Nations (one-world government) to cover his derriere in the unprovoked attack on Libya. The Ugandan government tightly controls the oil business, according to WND. Soros seems to be the go-to guy for any cause that purports to degrade capitalism, which could make Obama listen to him, especially in an election year. Soros needs to control the oil business in Uganda…VOILA!…send in the troops, even if they’re just for show…or to put the arm on Uganda President Museveni.
According to Wikipedia, at least 4,991 to 6,652 civilians have been reported killed in Libya by October 17, 2011. According to Wikipedia, a total of 12,770 to 16,073 deaths have been reported. These are presumed to be “ball-park” figures, not exact. How many of the killed, wounded and missing can Obama claim for the U.S. as the result of his actions, particularly during the first ten days of the conflict, when he spent $55 million per day decimating the Libyans, claiming that only military targets were in play? Bombs and missiles, besides often being fired erroneously at targets, make no distinction between the innocent and the military.
Is Obama’s modus operandi better than that of other world leaders, including Syria’s Assad and Yemen’s Saleh, who are doing what Qaddafi is accused of doing when Obama attacked him. Perhaps Obama – ironically the recipient of a Nobel PEACE prize – has concluded that he’s configured payback for the PanAm 103 crash in 1988 that eventuated in 270 deaths, 259 of them passengers and crew on the plane, and for which two Libyan operatives were brought to trial, one sentenced to life (and later released) and the other judged not guilty.
The mainstream media is falling all over itself to applaud the brave, courageous Obama, when even his own military chiefs, then Defense Secretary Gates and then Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen, advised against the Libyan bloodletting. Gates described it as “on the fly,” i.e. without any planning. That makes it easy to see why something that was supposed to be accomplished in days, not weeks, took seven months and thousands of lives. This isn’t a brief for Qaddafi, without whom the consensus is that the world is better off. With the proper planning by actual military people, the losses would have been much lighter.
The question for Obama: Is Syria next…or Yemen…or Saudi Arabia?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Almost seven months to the day later, Qaddafi has been killed. So much for Obama’s ability to understand military matters or his ability to tell the truth, since the U.S has always been involved in far more than a supporting role, whatever that was supposed to be, at a cost of well over a billion dollars, presumably borrowed from China. Since Libya has never been a threat, military, economic or otherwise, to the U.S., there was no reason for this country’s killing of innocent Libyans, so the question of the entire enterprise has to do with the president’s reason, which seems to be that Qaddafi was a mean man and had to go (State Secretary Clinton said so). Nobody with walking-around-sense believes this, but the truth will out and will probably have to do with Libyan oil, not bought by the U.S. but by England, France, Germany and Spain, the NATO biggies, the partners in crime.
The president’s latest entry into military operations is also taking place in Africa, the ordering of about 100 military personnel into Uganda, smaller than Wyoming and a bunch of other U.S. states, to help the Ugandan government capture another bad guy, Joseph Kony, head of something called The Lord’s Resistance Army. According to the Washington Times of 19 October, the Ugandan military estimated this year that only 200 to 400 fighters remain in the LRA. The Libyan military numbers 50,000, of which forces a number have fought against the al Qaeda-connection butchers in Somalia, making them battle-hardened and not exactly in need of training, which has been given as the reason for the infusion of U.S. troops.
So…the president sends 100 people in to help a 50,000-man military establishment capture a bad guy (was Hillary consulted?) leading some 300 or so other bad guys? Does Obama expect anybody with a warm forehead to believe this? Can Defense Secretary Panetta – with a straight face – actually spout this line? Or…could oil again be the catalyst for such outrageous drivel, not in terms of military strength, obviously, but for darker reasons?
World Net Daily of 15 October linked ultra-liberal billionaire George Soros with the oil industry in Uganda. Soros is a darling of the left, funding numerous liberal front-groups in the effort to turn this nation into socialism, perhaps as a part of a sort of global socialist state, the thing that appeals to President Obama, who went to the United Nations (one-world government) to cover his derriere in the unprovoked attack on Libya. The Ugandan government tightly controls the oil business, according to WND. Soros seems to be the go-to guy for any cause that purports to degrade capitalism, which could make Obama listen to him, especially in an election year. Soros needs to control the oil business in Uganda…VOILA!…send in the troops, even if they’re just for show…or to put the arm on Uganda President Museveni.
According to Wikipedia, at least 4,991 to 6,652 civilians have been reported killed in Libya by October 17, 2011. According to Wikipedia, a total of 12,770 to 16,073 deaths have been reported. These are presumed to be “ball-park” figures, not exact. How many of the killed, wounded and missing can Obama claim for the U.S. as the result of his actions, particularly during the first ten days of the conflict, when he spent $55 million per day decimating the Libyans, claiming that only military targets were in play? Bombs and missiles, besides often being fired erroneously at targets, make no distinction between the innocent and the military.
Is Obama’s modus operandi better than that of other world leaders, including Syria’s Assad and Yemen’s Saleh, who are doing what Qaddafi is accused of doing when Obama attacked him. Perhaps Obama – ironically the recipient of a Nobel PEACE prize – has concluded that he’s configured payback for the PanAm 103 crash in 1988 that eventuated in 270 deaths, 259 of them passengers and crew on the plane, and for which two Libyan operatives were brought to trial, one sentenced to life (and later released) and the other judged not guilty.
The mainstream media is falling all over itself to applaud the brave, courageous Obama, when even his own military chiefs, then Defense Secretary Gates and then Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen, advised against the Libyan bloodletting. Gates described it as “on the fly,” i.e. without any planning. That makes it easy to see why something that was supposed to be accomplished in days, not weeks, took seven months and thousands of lives. This isn’t a brief for Qaddafi, without whom the consensus is that the world is better off. With the proper planning by actual military people, the losses would have been much lighter.
The question for Obama: Is Syria next…or Yemen…or Saudi Arabia?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
"Debates" - Silly Drivel
The republican candidates seem to have either a death-wish or are naively under the impression that virtually free public exposure is cost-effective vis-à-vis campaign expenses with regard to what have been labeled “debates,” numbering about eight now and comprising a traveling circus that trivializes both them and the process. The latest was essentially a shouting match undoubtedly savored by its sponsor, CNN, as a prime example of bickering wannabes who lack even the social graces, much less the intellect to govern the country. This, at a time when the nation is headed by a sophomoric administration and sliding toward oblivion.
Disclaimer: I felt from the start that the “debates” (or whatever they are) were hugely inappropriate at any time a year before the election in 2012, and that the fewer the better. I listened to maybe ten minutes of one of the first ones and finally about the last half of the most recent one on 18 October. However, that was enough enlightenment, especially as informed by my reading about them or hearing about them in the media, most of which wallows in the slimy process of using the “debates” to slime the republicans, who, however, do a masterful job of that themselves. That was certainly the case on the eighteenth. The notion that seven or eight people will have the time to discuss a given topic – much less a plethora of them – in a two-hour (sans commercials) time-frame is loony-tunes…not worth the time.
Largely as a result of the “debates,” the media talking-heads, pollsters, commentators and campaign gurus have made it a point to handicap the candidates, much as the odds-makers do with respect to sports. The public is invited to keep score, being forced in the process, of course, to try to separate fact from fiction with respect to not only the assertions of the wannabes but also the agendas of the various and assorted media and polling operations, which seem able to come up with data satisfying a given agenda. So…the democrats have pollsters, the republicans have pollsters, the newspapers have pollsters, the politicians have pollsters, etc., ad infinitum.
The media advertises which candidate will be the “target” before each debate, depending upon what the polls are showing in a given time-frame and/or what one or a bunch of the candidates have said lately. Perry has been a target recently, though the media seemed to believe that Cain would be the target on the eighteenth since his 9-9-9 plan has been much in the news lately, not that there is such a thing as a 9-9-9 plan because not even Cain seems to know exactly what it is. Actually, it’s a gimmick purporting to lower income taxes, making everyone happy, while at the same time adding a 9% sales tax to the sales taxes levied already in 45 states. It’s a “rob Peter to pay Paul” scheme that fools no thinking person.
The shallowness that marks the “debates” was enhanced by Brian Williams in MSNBC’s crack at the republicans when he questioned Texas governor Perry about the governor’s sleep habits vis-à-vis the executions in Texas, the obvious implication being that Perry was uncivilized at best and an outright murderer at worst. This was silliness to the nth degree by an “anchor” earning manifold millions each year but capable, nevertheless, of coming up with something as wacko as that. (I heard that one myself in my brief surfing activity, and am still laughing.) Perry could have asked Williams how he slept since General Electric, 49%-owner of NBC, paid no taxes last year.
Romney has repeatedly demanded that Perry “repudiate” a statement made by a Baptist preacher and Perry-supporter to the effect that Mormons are not Christians. Perry has said he disagrees with the preacher, which, by definition, is a repudiation of the statement. Romney, in other words, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “repudiate.” What Romney actually wants Perry to do is repudiate the preacher, i.e., cut off all connection. One of the definitions of repudiate is “to refuse to have anything to do with.” To make a demand like that is exponential silliness, but this is the level on which the “debates” are posited.
These silly “debates” are the product of an absolutely bankrupt/corrupt primary system, with state party-organizations, like schoolyard second-graders, now trying to “jump the line” to go first. Now, it appears that New Hampshire will opt for its SACRED primary to be held in December, with all the media biggies and candidates trudging through the sleet/snow/cold to gather in bars and town-hall meetings to cogitate and deliver oracular pronouncements. They should all be happy for Florida to go first for perfectly obvious reasons.
The old party-conventions, complete with smoke-filled backrooms, were eminently superior to the current process. Absent a return to that, all primaries should be held on the same day, probably about May 1. This would allow these confrontations called “debates” to take place between January and May, if necessary – and most of them are not. The actual winners are the media folks who manipulate the wannabes and make money off the mostly meaningless exercises.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Disclaimer: I felt from the start that the “debates” (or whatever they are) were hugely inappropriate at any time a year before the election in 2012, and that the fewer the better. I listened to maybe ten minutes of one of the first ones and finally about the last half of the most recent one on 18 October. However, that was enough enlightenment, especially as informed by my reading about them or hearing about them in the media, most of which wallows in the slimy process of using the “debates” to slime the republicans, who, however, do a masterful job of that themselves. That was certainly the case on the eighteenth. The notion that seven or eight people will have the time to discuss a given topic – much less a plethora of them – in a two-hour (sans commercials) time-frame is loony-tunes…not worth the time.
Largely as a result of the “debates,” the media talking-heads, pollsters, commentators and campaign gurus have made it a point to handicap the candidates, much as the odds-makers do with respect to sports. The public is invited to keep score, being forced in the process, of course, to try to separate fact from fiction with respect to not only the assertions of the wannabes but also the agendas of the various and assorted media and polling operations, which seem able to come up with data satisfying a given agenda. So…the democrats have pollsters, the republicans have pollsters, the newspapers have pollsters, the politicians have pollsters, etc., ad infinitum.
The media advertises which candidate will be the “target” before each debate, depending upon what the polls are showing in a given time-frame and/or what one or a bunch of the candidates have said lately. Perry has been a target recently, though the media seemed to believe that Cain would be the target on the eighteenth since his 9-9-9 plan has been much in the news lately, not that there is such a thing as a 9-9-9 plan because not even Cain seems to know exactly what it is. Actually, it’s a gimmick purporting to lower income taxes, making everyone happy, while at the same time adding a 9% sales tax to the sales taxes levied already in 45 states. It’s a “rob Peter to pay Paul” scheme that fools no thinking person.
The shallowness that marks the “debates” was enhanced by Brian Williams in MSNBC’s crack at the republicans when he questioned Texas governor Perry about the governor’s sleep habits vis-à-vis the executions in Texas, the obvious implication being that Perry was uncivilized at best and an outright murderer at worst. This was silliness to the nth degree by an “anchor” earning manifold millions each year but capable, nevertheless, of coming up with something as wacko as that. (I heard that one myself in my brief surfing activity, and am still laughing.) Perry could have asked Williams how he slept since General Electric, 49%-owner of NBC, paid no taxes last year.
Romney has repeatedly demanded that Perry “repudiate” a statement made by a Baptist preacher and Perry-supporter to the effect that Mormons are not Christians. Perry has said he disagrees with the preacher, which, by definition, is a repudiation of the statement. Romney, in other words, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “repudiate.” What Romney actually wants Perry to do is repudiate the preacher, i.e., cut off all connection. One of the definitions of repudiate is “to refuse to have anything to do with.” To make a demand like that is exponential silliness, but this is the level on which the “debates” are posited.
These silly “debates” are the product of an absolutely bankrupt/corrupt primary system, with state party-organizations, like schoolyard second-graders, now trying to “jump the line” to go first. Now, it appears that New Hampshire will opt for its SACRED primary to be held in December, with all the media biggies and candidates trudging through the sleet/snow/cold to gather in bars and town-hall meetings to cogitate and deliver oracular pronouncements. They should all be happy for Florida to go first for perfectly obvious reasons.
The old party-conventions, complete with smoke-filled backrooms, were eminently superior to the current process. Absent a return to that, all primaries should be held on the same day, probably about May 1. This would allow these confrontations called “debates” to take place between January and May, if necessary – and most of them are not. The actual winners are the media folks who manipulate the wannabes and make money off the mostly meaningless exercises.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Friday, October 14, 2011
Cain's Gimmickry?
Gimmicks are the mother’s milk of candidates for most any office, not least because they seem to provide both simple and immediate answers to problems that are far too complicated for either easy or quick solutions. In 2008, Senator McCain had a huge problem occasioned by the fact that his campaign, if not completely bogged down, was going nowhere fast. Solution: Put Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on the ticket, never mind whether or not she had any presidential credentials. She was a woman. This was the penultimate in gimmickry. It didn’t work for McCain, of course, but it made an instant celebrity of Palin, not to mention a very wealthy person account her being exponentially opportunistic and smart enough to milk the whole sordid affair for every last cent.
This is not to imply that Palin was anything but bright. And she was far better prepared for the presidency than Obama but that doesn’t mean much in terms of conducting the office. One of Obama’s gimmicks as president has been speechifying, thus freeing himself from the rigors of governance through keeping the minds of the people on his words, not his actions or inactions. This has involved a certain amount of egomania, such as exhibited in his recent speech to Congress, conducted in the imperial pomp and circumstance of a state-of-the-union message, notwithstanding its importance being neutered by its postponement account another political circus (one of those squirrelly debates that mean nothing) and then having its schedule determined by a ballgame.
The best example of gimmickry currently may be the “9-9-9 tax-plan” espoused by republican candidate Herman Cain. This is not to say that Cain is not a knowledgeable and valid office-seeker. It is to say that he has brought it forth summarily without a thorough explanation of how the plan works. Indeed, even he has indicated that it is still in the working stage. He has made significant changes in it as the campaign has progressed. No one seems to know precisely what it is and can’t know as long as he changes his mind about it.
Apparently, his main selling point has been that the plan will bring in as much revenue as is currently being brought in under the current system, but that the sources of the revenue will be reconfigured so that everyone will suffer less and be happy. There would be a flat income tax of 9%, a flat corporate tax of 9%, and a flat sales tax of 9%. With the exception of the latter, the other rates are considerably lower than current rates, at least for those actually paying taxes, remembering that 46% of the population pays no taxes now. Presumably, his program would affect some or most of those people with respect to only the sales tax.
Forty-five states raise revenue through sales taxes, with California’s the highest at 8.25%. Adding a 9% federal sales tax would bring that burden to an intolerable 17.25%. Imagine paying $234.50 for a lawnmower costing $200. Does Cain mean to place a 9% sales tax on food? A family of four with an annual income of $35,000 has to eat as much as a family of four with an income of $100,000. If each family spends $600 a month on food, the former will have $27,800 left at the end of the year while the latter will have $92,800. Cain’s plan hurts the worse-off people big-time while not materially affecting the better-off.
Consider those two families with respect to the 9% income tax. The former will pay $3,150 in taxes and have $31,850 left while the latter will pay $9,000 and have $91,000 left. Again, Cain’s plan hurts the worse-off while greatly benefiting the better-off. The former is in the current 25% bracket while the latter is in the 28% bracket, another example of benefiting the better off at the expense of the less well off. The earner making $400,000 is now in the 35% bracket (taxes=$140,000) but in Cain’s 9% bracket he would pay $36,000, a huge benefit of $104,000, three times as much in tax-break alone as the $35,000-a-year guy makes in wages.
Actually, there’s no argument with the income-tax aspect. People should have the right to equitably keep what they earn. Everyone receives the same government-services as everyone else, but Cain will have a hard time selling this since the nation has been in “progressive-tax mode” for decades. His 9% sales tax is too off-the-wall even to consider, especially if it applies to food and is added to the already over-the-top gasoline taxes charged by states and the federal government.
So…is Cain indulging in gimmickry that sort of sounds good until examined carefully? The Kentucky sales tax on automobiles is 6%, high enough. Adding 9% to that in buying a car for $25,000 means paying a tax of $3,750 or $28,750 altogether in one of the poorer states. That will be a hard sell.
Sounds like gimmickry!
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
This is not to imply that Palin was anything but bright. And she was far better prepared for the presidency than Obama but that doesn’t mean much in terms of conducting the office. One of Obama’s gimmicks as president has been speechifying, thus freeing himself from the rigors of governance through keeping the minds of the people on his words, not his actions or inactions. This has involved a certain amount of egomania, such as exhibited in his recent speech to Congress, conducted in the imperial pomp and circumstance of a state-of-the-union message, notwithstanding its importance being neutered by its postponement account another political circus (one of those squirrelly debates that mean nothing) and then having its schedule determined by a ballgame.
The best example of gimmickry currently may be the “9-9-9 tax-plan” espoused by republican candidate Herman Cain. This is not to say that Cain is not a knowledgeable and valid office-seeker. It is to say that he has brought it forth summarily without a thorough explanation of how the plan works. Indeed, even he has indicated that it is still in the working stage. He has made significant changes in it as the campaign has progressed. No one seems to know precisely what it is and can’t know as long as he changes his mind about it.
Apparently, his main selling point has been that the plan will bring in as much revenue as is currently being brought in under the current system, but that the sources of the revenue will be reconfigured so that everyone will suffer less and be happy. There would be a flat income tax of 9%, a flat corporate tax of 9%, and a flat sales tax of 9%. With the exception of the latter, the other rates are considerably lower than current rates, at least for those actually paying taxes, remembering that 46% of the population pays no taxes now. Presumably, his program would affect some or most of those people with respect to only the sales tax.
Forty-five states raise revenue through sales taxes, with California’s the highest at 8.25%. Adding a 9% federal sales tax would bring that burden to an intolerable 17.25%. Imagine paying $234.50 for a lawnmower costing $200. Does Cain mean to place a 9% sales tax on food? A family of four with an annual income of $35,000 has to eat as much as a family of four with an income of $100,000. If each family spends $600 a month on food, the former will have $27,800 left at the end of the year while the latter will have $92,800. Cain’s plan hurts the worse-off people big-time while not materially affecting the better-off.
Consider those two families with respect to the 9% income tax. The former will pay $3,150 in taxes and have $31,850 left while the latter will pay $9,000 and have $91,000 left. Again, Cain’s plan hurts the worse-off while greatly benefiting the better-off. The former is in the current 25% bracket while the latter is in the 28% bracket, another example of benefiting the better off at the expense of the less well off. The earner making $400,000 is now in the 35% bracket (taxes=$140,000) but in Cain’s 9% bracket he would pay $36,000, a huge benefit of $104,000, three times as much in tax-break alone as the $35,000-a-year guy makes in wages.
Actually, there’s no argument with the income-tax aspect. People should have the right to equitably keep what they earn. Everyone receives the same government-services as everyone else, but Cain will have a hard time selling this since the nation has been in “progressive-tax mode” for decades. His 9% sales tax is too off-the-wall even to consider, especially if it applies to food and is added to the already over-the-top gasoline taxes charged by states and the federal government.
So…is Cain indulging in gimmickry that sort of sounds good until examined carefully? The Kentucky sales tax on automobiles is 6%, high enough. Adding 9% to that in buying a car for $25,000 means paying a tax of $3,750 or $28,750 altogether in one of the poorer states. That will be a hard sell.
Sounds like gimmickry!
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Thursday, October 06, 2011
The Hippy Autumn
There can be little doubt that President Obama has looked with great favor on the “Arab Spring,” as largely proven by his encouraging the masses to take to the streets through announcing to the world that the leaders of their countries had to go, never mind how. The results have been predictably abysmal since the masses were leaderless, clueless, and without resources except for a multitude of warm bodies to take up space. In the process, this country lost its only Middle East Arab (Muslim) ally when Obama decided that Egypt’s Mubarak had to go. The resulting vacuum of leadership is obvious unless one considers that the army should operate the government.
The president has been given a pass by the mainstream media concerning his overt participation in the Arab Spring, the attack in March upon Libya, population two million less than that of New York City and owning a military of 76,000 troops compared to the U.S. number of GIs at 1.6 million active troops. This was an invasion of another sovereign nation, entirely unprovoked and carried out by executive order with not so much as a fare-thee-well from the elected Congress, the only Constitutional establishment that can declare war. The feckless Congress has done nothing but ooh and ah and cluck its collective tongue while furnishing the funds for the bloodbath Obama has wreaked on innocent Libyans who just happen to be in the wrong place when the missiles and bombs commit their bloody mayhem.
Obama has made it plain that Constitutional government is not his bag. He made this abundantly clear from the outset when he showed his agitation toward the founders account their failure to provide for the proper distribution and redistribution of wealth. He showed it again when in his healthcare enactment he signed a document requiring citizens to buy insurance whether they wanted/needed it or not, not to mention the turning over of this most valuable aspect of life to the government to decide who gets what treatments or medicines, where and when.
The worm is turning, however. Obama has delighted in his participation in the Arab Spring, though he’s studiously avoided action concerning Syria and Yemen and Saudi Arabia, but now he’s facing his own “Hippy Autumn,” as graphically epitomized currently in the protests in New York City. These participants also make up a clueless gang without any leadership but with obvious resources since its members are well-fed and full of energy. So far, there is no coherent agenda, except for the demand that equity be granted everyone in the matter of income. Whether by college student or union member, this equity-mantra represents the intention of taking the country into socialism…reward not by merit but by governmental fiat.
The president, down in the polls, faces a dilemma, to wit, that, while he also is a socialist but still constrained by the Constitution, he needs to be reelected by a population that is not socialist, sees through his agenda no matter how passionately advanced by the left-liberal media it is, and is sick and tired of trying to find a modicum of assurance in a country that is almost totally leaderless, totally bankrupt, and totally disdained by other nations as just another successful nation trading its top standing for third-world status, with apologies all around for its very existence. This essentially has little to do with party, although republicans should be making political hay of the whole mess. They aren’t because they lack the necessary guts to call out Obama and cut him off at the knees.
So…how will Obama handle the Hippy Autumn? The hippies are his kind of people – wannabe “community organizers,” a euphemism for operators interested in putting the arm on the producers/workers to gain the products of their labors. New York’s finest arrested 700 of the “peaceful protestors” the other day, thus begetting weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. How dare a civil society remove despoilers from public property!
Will Wall Street confines be another Tahrir Square? Should the Autumn Hippies move their operation to Washington? Are they so ignorant that they don’t understand that Wall Street is what it is because Congress is what it is? The housing debacle that brought this economy down was for all practical purposes enacted into law by elected officials, who were either unbelievably dumb or too job-obsessed or greedy to put party and political ambitions before principle.
The 47% of the population that pays no taxes but can vote can just about confiscate at will or will be able to soon. This is Obama’s crowd. Welcome to the edge of the cliff.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
The president has been given a pass by the mainstream media concerning his overt participation in the Arab Spring, the attack in March upon Libya, population two million less than that of New York City and owning a military of 76,000 troops compared to the U.S. number of GIs at 1.6 million active troops. This was an invasion of another sovereign nation, entirely unprovoked and carried out by executive order with not so much as a fare-thee-well from the elected Congress, the only Constitutional establishment that can declare war. The feckless Congress has done nothing but ooh and ah and cluck its collective tongue while furnishing the funds for the bloodbath Obama has wreaked on innocent Libyans who just happen to be in the wrong place when the missiles and bombs commit their bloody mayhem.
Obama has made it plain that Constitutional government is not his bag. He made this abundantly clear from the outset when he showed his agitation toward the founders account their failure to provide for the proper distribution and redistribution of wealth. He showed it again when in his healthcare enactment he signed a document requiring citizens to buy insurance whether they wanted/needed it or not, not to mention the turning over of this most valuable aspect of life to the government to decide who gets what treatments or medicines, where and when.
The worm is turning, however. Obama has delighted in his participation in the Arab Spring, though he’s studiously avoided action concerning Syria and Yemen and Saudi Arabia, but now he’s facing his own “Hippy Autumn,” as graphically epitomized currently in the protests in New York City. These participants also make up a clueless gang without any leadership but with obvious resources since its members are well-fed and full of energy. So far, there is no coherent agenda, except for the demand that equity be granted everyone in the matter of income. Whether by college student or union member, this equity-mantra represents the intention of taking the country into socialism…reward not by merit but by governmental fiat.
The president, down in the polls, faces a dilemma, to wit, that, while he also is a socialist but still constrained by the Constitution, he needs to be reelected by a population that is not socialist, sees through his agenda no matter how passionately advanced by the left-liberal media it is, and is sick and tired of trying to find a modicum of assurance in a country that is almost totally leaderless, totally bankrupt, and totally disdained by other nations as just another successful nation trading its top standing for third-world status, with apologies all around for its very existence. This essentially has little to do with party, although republicans should be making political hay of the whole mess. They aren’t because they lack the necessary guts to call out Obama and cut him off at the knees.
So…how will Obama handle the Hippy Autumn? The hippies are his kind of people – wannabe “community organizers,” a euphemism for operators interested in putting the arm on the producers/workers to gain the products of their labors. New York’s finest arrested 700 of the “peaceful protestors” the other day, thus begetting weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. How dare a civil society remove despoilers from public property!
Will Wall Street confines be another Tahrir Square? Should the Autumn Hippies move their operation to Washington? Are they so ignorant that they don’t understand that Wall Street is what it is because Congress is what it is? The housing debacle that brought this economy down was for all practical purposes enacted into law by elected officials, who were either unbelievably dumb or too job-obsessed or greedy to put party and political ambitions before principle.
The 47% of the population that pays no taxes but can vote can just about confiscate at will or will be able to soon. This is Obama’s crowd. Welcome to the edge of the cliff.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Monday, September 12, 2011
Commemorations...Sometimes Excessive?
There’s a tendency in this country to overdo it when addressing tragedies such as deaths. The excess is usually enhanced in the death of a young, as opposed to an older person, though the “young” identification can be quite high, often with the attached circumstance of the survivors – young children or a large family, for example, or the excess may involve victims dying through abnormal circumstances such as on 9/11 or in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
The disagreements connected with planning and constructing a “proper” monument/memorial for the 9/11 victims, or the Oklahoma City victims of 1995, or the 49 victims of a plane crash in Lexington, Ky., in 2006, not to mention the expense, can make memorials something of a hassle, though those who die in the line of duty deserve recognition. The word “hero” is overworked and seems to include anyone who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, not just those who voluntarily placed themselves in harm’s way and lost their lives.
On average, about the same number of American GIs as the 343 NYC fireman on 9/11were killed or died during every ten-day period in the 4.5 years of actual combat during WWI and WWII, nearly 522,000 or about 319 per day. During the Civil War, 427 Americans died per day (623,026 in a population of only 35 million, nearly 2%) through both battle and disease. By comparison, less than two GIs per day have died in the Afghan/Iraqi conflicts over the last ten years. It took 60 years for a WWII memorial to be built on the mall in Washington, but only ten regarding 9/11 in New York City. Strangely, there are memorials on the National Mall in Washington for the Korean and Vietnam veterans but none for those of WWI, though there were more than 21,000 more WWI deaths than in the other two combined.
The capriciousness is remarkable vis-à-vis the establishing of memorials. Compare the elaborate and costly WTC memorial to the very plain Pearl Harbor memorial (USS Arizona) dedicated to nearly the same number of dead to get an idea of zaniness. The former involved mostly civilians simply at work, the latter mostly military (2,335 American GIs voluntarily serving in harm’s way and only 68 civilians).
State, local and the federal governments paid $15.8 billion to survivors of the 9/11 victims, or 42 percent of the total, with an average of $3.1 million per recipient, according to the Rand Corporation, January 2005. By contrast, about all the survivors of the victims in the Oklahoma City bombing received was a two-year reprieve on income taxes. Amazing! This is not to say the government had no responsibility in either case. It is simply to point out the apparent excesses. The mourners of 9/11 became instant millionaires, largely due to taxpayers, but not the mourners in Oklahoma City, or concerning the USS Cole or any battlefield in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Breaking precedent this year, a memorial to a civilian, Martin Luther King, Jr., rather than to military or other government personnel, was established among its four-acre compound on the National Mall. The inordinate excess is seen in its three-story figure of King, far taller than even Lincoln and dwarfing all other individuals honored there. It’s more like a huge stern Buddha with crossed arms staring down at the actual military heroes memorialized, not surprising since it was designed by a Chinese citizen and sculpted by him in China, then merely shipped to this country and put together by Chinese laborers. Exponential excess added to exponential insult!
Perhaps a difference concerning excess can be seen in the difference between the interminable, religiously-sanitized ceremonies in NYC and the service at the Pentagon on Sunday. There were no non-singers with guitars in Washington, for instance. The service was clearly Christian, complete with prayers and hymns played by the Marine Corps band and sung by the Navy Choir. It was terribly moving. The National Anthem, for instance, was sung by a Navy singer with a trained voice performing the anthem as precisely written, not by some celebrity singer attempting to improve it but only butchering and making a mockery of it. The performance of Battle Hymn of the Republic was magnificent. The essentially non-melodramatic speeches by Joint-Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mullen, CIA Director Panetta and Vice President Biden were appropriately poignant but brief and right on the mark.
The current generation, geared to excess and self-preservation, seems to have a hard time confronting death or even in getting things in perspective. It was not always so.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
The disagreements connected with planning and constructing a “proper” monument/memorial for the 9/11 victims, or the Oklahoma City victims of 1995, or the 49 victims of a plane crash in Lexington, Ky., in 2006, not to mention the expense, can make memorials something of a hassle, though those who die in the line of duty deserve recognition. The word “hero” is overworked and seems to include anyone who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, not just those who voluntarily placed themselves in harm’s way and lost their lives.
On average, about the same number of American GIs as the 343 NYC fireman on 9/11were killed or died during every ten-day period in the 4.5 years of actual combat during WWI and WWII, nearly 522,000 or about 319 per day. During the Civil War, 427 Americans died per day (623,026 in a population of only 35 million, nearly 2%) through both battle and disease. By comparison, less than two GIs per day have died in the Afghan/Iraqi conflicts over the last ten years. It took 60 years for a WWII memorial to be built on the mall in Washington, but only ten regarding 9/11 in New York City. Strangely, there are memorials on the National Mall in Washington for the Korean and Vietnam veterans but none for those of WWI, though there were more than 21,000 more WWI deaths than in the other two combined.
The capriciousness is remarkable vis-à-vis the establishing of memorials. Compare the elaborate and costly WTC memorial to the very plain Pearl Harbor memorial (USS Arizona) dedicated to nearly the same number of dead to get an idea of zaniness. The former involved mostly civilians simply at work, the latter mostly military (2,335 American GIs voluntarily serving in harm’s way and only 68 civilians).
State, local and the federal governments paid $15.8 billion to survivors of the 9/11 victims, or 42 percent of the total, with an average of $3.1 million per recipient, according to the Rand Corporation, January 2005. By contrast, about all the survivors of the victims in the Oklahoma City bombing received was a two-year reprieve on income taxes. Amazing! This is not to say the government had no responsibility in either case. It is simply to point out the apparent excesses. The mourners of 9/11 became instant millionaires, largely due to taxpayers, but not the mourners in Oklahoma City, or concerning the USS Cole or any battlefield in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Breaking precedent this year, a memorial to a civilian, Martin Luther King, Jr., rather than to military or other government personnel, was established among its four-acre compound on the National Mall. The inordinate excess is seen in its three-story figure of King, far taller than even Lincoln and dwarfing all other individuals honored there. It’s more like a huge stern Buddha with crossed arms staring down at the actual military heroes memorialized, not surprising since it was designed by a Chinese citizen and sculpted by him in China, then merely shipped to this country and put together by Chinese laborers. Exponential excess added to exponential insult!
Perhaps a difference concerning excess can be seen in the difference between the interminable, religiously-sanitized ceremonies in NYC and the service at the Pentagon on Sunday. There were no non-singers with guitars in Washington, for instance. The service was clearly Christian, complete with prayers and hymns played by the Marine Corps band and sung by the Navy Choir. It was terribly moving. The National Anthem, for instance, was sung by a Navy singer with a trained voice performing the anthem as precisely written, not by some celebrity singer attempting to improve it but only butchering and making a mockery of it. The performance of Battle Hymn of the Republic was magnificent. The essentially non-melodramatic speeches by Joint-Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mullen, CIA Director Panetta and Vice President Biden were appropriately poignant but brief and right on the mark.
The current generation, geared to excess and self-preservation, seems to have a hard time confronting death or even in getting things in perspective. It was not always so.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Obamacomedy!
I’ve read that the TV sitcom Seinfeld is among the best viewing in TV offerings, probably even in reruns, assuming that one can make it through the requisite number of commercials. I daresay it’s won many awards, although I’ve never seen a Seinfeld episode. I can remember seeing snippets when searching for something else, which probably explains why I never tuned it in on purpose. In another life, I withstood the commercials to watch stuff like Gunsmoke or Bonanza, but being bored stiff by sometimes off-color sophomoric humor is not my thing.
All that to say this…the best entertainment currently is found by just watching or reading the news in the media. Comedy pervades the nation’s capital these days and simply taking note of the antics of elected officials and bureaucrats is enough to induce hilarity. Even though the news is important, the purveyors of it these days, especially on the distaff side, consider it as entertainment and dress for it, showing as much cleavage, thigh, off-the-shoulder frocks and that which must be most constantly monitored (or not) by the crossed-legs-toward-the-camera position.
Reporting an ax murder or the wipeout of a platoon in a skimpy cocktail dress and sporting blue eyelids seems somehow incongruous, but the show must go on. Meanwhile, the mentally-challenged newsmen are dressed to the nines from neck to toe as if on their way to a funeral. The double-standard is never more obvious than it is among the news anchors. A guy dressed like Walter Cronkite seems believable, while a gal emulating Gypsy Rose Lee seems more recognizable on a street-corner, no matter the subject of the news.
But I digress! The Keystone Kops could not have caused greater laughter lately than that cooked up by the pooh-bahs. POTUS is in full campaign mode and made a three-day “listening tour” through Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois (actually only about 380 miles) the other week, transmogrifying the term “listening tour” into “official business,” thus financed by the taxpayers with a huge saving to his war chest. He needed a couple buses at $1.1 million each under which he had thrown no one, like the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah (God damn America) Wright, meaning that they had to be new and un-bottomed. They were made in Canada, since nothing bearing the “Made In America” tag could be trusted. The taxpayers are still laughing/weeping at this joke. Great entertainment!
After tirelessly listening nearly 400-miles-worth over three days, POTUS needed a vacation, lest PTSD accruing to bus-fatigue (trauma worth a Purple Heart) impair his readiness as C-in-C for a three a.m. emergency call, so it was off to rough it at Martha’s Vineyard. Apparently, he and the First Lady went on “his” and “her” Air Force planes to MV, since flying to blue-collar Peoria to pick up POTUS would be somewhat demeaning for FLOTUS, a world traveler. The unwashed in the boonies are still laughing at such sacrifice, something POTUS has called for regularly. After all, POTUS and FLOTUS used only three Air Force planes for their famous Big Apple “date.”
Even better comedy was in store concerning the PROCLAMATION by POTUS that he would do a second state-of-the-union address to Congress on 07 September, labeled a “Jobs (three letter word according to Biden) Speech.” House Speaker Boehner was not consulted…a trifle. The date was obviously set because the republicans were doing a debate on that evening – this time sponsored by MSNBC – but POTUS had forgotten that MSNBC is his main propaganda arm and felt commercially threatened. The rumor was that Chris Matthews had a seizure nearly equal to the leg-tingling that renders him immobile during any POTUS speech.
What is a POTUS to do in such a predicament, besides stamping his feet or beating on the floor? To insist on the seventh is to be like a commander-in-chief, except that Speaker Boehner, who owns the house reservation service, is not in the military…but posed a compromise – change it to the eighth. What a brilliant nice non-partisan idea! POTUS/C-in-C accepted – all in the spirit of goodwill – but probably remembering that Boehner never salutes.
The Law of Unintended Consequences struck at this point, to wit, that Green Bay plays New Orleans on the eighth at the same time – easily attracting millions more than a POTUS speech, with or without teleprompter full of entertaining (maybe even – gasp – off-color) witticisms/jokes/whatever. Actually – unkind to so say – the speech itself will probably be a joke, like Seinfeld, a rerun. Not to worry…brilliant minds at work – contact the teams and tell them to change the game…the C-in-C speaks. However, Packers and Saints also don’t salute, so POTUS, ever the knowledgeable fan, will go off early and have the perfect excuse for no time-killing processionals, handshakes, backslaps, ovations, amens and hallelujahs. He could’ve tried Friday night but that’s high-school-football-night, a no-brainer.
There’s nothing more entertaining than comedic politics, occasioned by foolishness conceived accidentally. Nobody could make this stuff up. Nobody could write a script so completely trivializing a POTUS address to Congress.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
All that to say this…the best entertainment currently is found by just watching or reading the news in the media. Comedy pervades the nation’s capital these days and simply taking note of the antics of elected officials and bureaucrats is enough to induce hilarity. Even though the news is important, the purveyors of it these days, especially on the distaff side, consider it as entertainment and dress for it, showing as much cleavage, thigh, off-the-shoulder frocks and that which must be most constantly monitored (or not) by the crossed-legs-toward-the-camera position.
Reporting an ax murder or the wipeout of a platoon in a skimpy cocktail dress and sporting blue eyelids seems somehow incongruous, but the show must go on. Meanwhile, the mentally-challenged newsmen are dressed to the nines from neck to toe as if on their way to a funeral. The double-standard is never more obvious than it is among the news anchors. A guy dressed like Walter Cronkite seems believable, while a gal emulating Gypsy Rose Lee seems more recognizable on a street-corner, no matter the subject of the news.
But I digress! The Keystone Kops could not have caused greater laughter lately than that cooked up by the pooh-bahs. POTUS is in full campaign mode and made a three-day “listening tour” through Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois (actually only about 380 miles) the other week, transmogrifying the term “listening tour” into “official business,” thus financed by the taxpayers with a huge saving to his war chest. He needed a couple buses at $1.1 million each under which he had thrown no one, like the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah (God damn America) Wright, meaning that they had to be new and un-bottomed. They were made in Canada, since nothing bearing the “Made In America” tag could be trusted. The taxpayers are still laughing/weeping at this joke. Great entertainment!
After tirelessly listening nearly 400-miles-worth over three days, POTUS needed a vacation, lest PTSD accruing to bus-fatigue (trauma worth a Purple Heart) impair his readiness as C-in-C for a three a.m. emergency call, so it was off to rough it at Martha’s Vineyard. Apparently, he and the First Lady went on “his” and “her” Air Force planes to MV, since flying to blue-collar Peoria to pick up POTUS would be somewhat demeaning for FLOTUS, a world traveler. The unwashed in the boonies are still laughing at such sacrifice, something POTUS has called for regularly. After all, POTUS and FLOTUS used only three Air Force planes for their famous Big Apple “date.”
Even better comedy was in store concerning the PROCLAMATION by POTUS that he would do a second state-of-the-union address to Congress on 07 September, labeled a “Jobs (three letter word according to Biden) Speech.” House Speaker Boehner was not consulted…a trifle. The date was obviously set because the republicans were doing a debate on that evening – this time sponsored by MSNBC – but POTUS had forgotten that MSNBC is his main propaganda arm and felt commercially threatened. The rumor was that Chris Matthews had a seizure nearly equal to the leg-tingling that renders him immobile during any POTUS speech.
What is a POTUS to do in such a predicament, besides stamping his feet or beating on the floor? To insist on the seventh is to be like a commander-in-chief, except that Speaker Boehner, who owns the house reservation service, is not in the military…but posed a compromise – change it to the eighth. What a brilliant nice non-partisan idea! POTUS/C-in-C accepted – all in the spirit of goodwill – but probably remembering that Boehner never salutes.
The Law of Unintended Consequences struck at this point, to wit, that Green Bay plays New Orleans on the eighth at the same time – easily attracting millions more than a POTUS speech, with or without teleprompter full of entertaining (maybe even – gasp – off-color) witticisms/jokes/whatever. Actually – unkind to so say – the speech itself will probably be a joke, like Seinfeld, a rerun. Not to worry…brilliant minds at work – contact the teams and tell them to change the game…the C-in-C speaks. However, Packers and Saints also don’t salute, so POTUS, ever the knowledgeable fan, will go off early and have the perfect excuse for no time-killing processionals, handshakes, backslaps, ovations, amens and hallelujahs. He could’ve tried Friday night but that’s high-school-football-night, a no-brainer.
There’s nothing more entertaining than comedic politics, occasioned by foolishness conceived accidentally. Nobody could make this stuff up. Nobody could write a script so completely trivializing a POTUS address to Congress.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Saturday, August 27, 2011
National Mall Travesty
There’s a tendency in this country to overdo it when addressing tragedies, victories, defeats, deaths, successes, as well as ethnic-defined accomplishments regarding all races. To comment on this subject is to invite criticism, even charges of racism or worse…if there IS anything worse. Perhaps the most profound excesses have to do with death, particularly death as experienced in tragic circumstances for which the deceased bore no responsibility such as a plane crash or involvement in war.
The excess is usually enhanced in the death of a young, as opposed to an older person, though the “young” identification can be quite high, often with the attached circumstance of the survivors – young children or a large family, for example. The disagreements connected with planning and constructing a “proper” monument for the 9/11 victims, or the Oklahoma City victims of 1995, or the 49 victims of a plane crash in Lexington, Ky., in 2006, not to mention the expense, can make memorials something of a hassle, though those who die in the line of duty deserve recognition.
An egregious example of overdoing it is seen in the 30-foot-tall statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., not because King doesn’t deserve recognition, including a statue, but because of the flamboyance exhibited by the out-sized statue accompanied by the four acres of land and other accoutrements connected with it that actually trivialize the memorial. The effect is a sort of garishness that demeans one of the great men of the twentieth century.
The height of the statue equals that of a full three-story building. By contrast, it is eleven feet taller than the nearby statue of Abraham Lincoln. Even if Lincoln had been sculpted as standing, his statue would still be shorter than a three-story building. The mall includes statues and monuments remarking the heroic figures that have made the country what it is – people in government service, often spending years in mortal combat, and, of course, sometimes dying by the hundreds of thousands in the process.
King’s is the only statue on the mall of a private citizen, yet it towers above all other statues, as if meant to denigrate the services of people such as the 405,000 American GIs, including blacks, who died in World War II or the 58,000, including blacks, who died in Vietnam. Even Lincoln, besides being a president, fought in a war, albeit not one of great significance. By contrast, the statue of FDR, a four-term president, is merely life-size.
Perhaps adding insult to injury, whether or not intentionally, the group controlling the MLK project had the statue designed by a Chinese sculptor and actually produced in China. After promising to use American union labor in constructing the memorial, which came in pieces from China, the group reneged and used unpaid Chinese laborers, notwithstanding that King was gunned down during a trip in Memphis in 1968 to support sanitation workers.
One might suppose a black American sculptor would have been engaged for the project, or at least an American, but such was not to be the case, which might also make one wonder if there was an “in-your-face” motive, especially noting the outrageous size underlying the project, whether or not consciously so. Facts are hard things with which to argue and the fact that the memorial was outsourced to communist China gives the appearance that it was never meant to reflect anything American, meaning that the sponsoring group perhaps wanted no connection of King to the U.S.A. If so, more’s the pity.
The King speech most closely connected to the area involved was his “I have a dream” offering delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. President Eisenhower had already used troops in Little Rock many years before to integrate a school, but King’s speech was a precursor to the civil rights enactments by Congress of the 1960s. It was an important speech remarking the right of every American to try to achieve his/her goals…on an equal footing.
The enactments resulted in a comprehensive example of the law of unintended consequences. Far from culminating in helping African Americans accomplish their dreams, the civil rights laws eventuated in nightmarish results, most notably the disintegration of the African-American family, the basic unit of any society.
A three-story statue of Mao Tse Tung would be expected in China, where communist rulers think big when commemorating themselves…or Russia’s Stalin – egos demanding out-sized memorials. Think the famous statue of Saddam being torn down in Baghdad. On 09 April 2003, CNN reported the statue to be as tall as four men – some 24 feet. This about says it all. Notwithstanding whether or not the statue belongs on the mall at all, the MLK Memorial Foundation exhibited a total lack of taste and delivered an undignified memorial, more like pop art than a serious subject, a monstrous Buddha-like object looking DOWN on everyone.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
The excess is usually enhanced in the death of a young, as opposed to an older person, though the “young” identification can be quite high, often with the attached circumstance of the survivors – young children or a large family, for example. The disagreements connected with planning and constructing a “proper” monument for the 9/11 victims, or the Oklahoma City victims of 1995, or the 49 victims of a plane crash in Lexington, Ky., in 2006, not to mention the expense, can make memorials something of a hassle, though those who die in the line of duty deserve recognition.
An egregious example of overdoing it is seen in the 30-foot-tall statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., not because King doesn’t deserve recognition, including a statue, but because of the flamboyance exhibited by the out-sized statue accompanied by the four acres of land and other accoutrements connected with it that actually trivialize the memorial. The effect is a sort of garishness that demeans one of the great men of the twentieth century.
The height of the statue equals that of a full three-story building. By contrast, it is eleven feet taller than the nearby statue of Abraham Lincoln. Even if Lincoln had been sculpted as standing, his statue would still be shorter than a three-story building. The mall includes statues and monuments remarking the heroic figures that have made the country what it is – people in government service, often spending years in mortal combat, and, of course, sometimes dying by the hundreds of thousands in the process.
King’s is the only statue on the mall of a private citizen, yet it towers above all other statues, as if meant to denigrate the services of people such as the 405,000 American GIs, including blacks, who died in World War II or the 58,000, including blacks, who died in Vietnam. Even Lincoln, besides being a president, fought in a war, albeit not one of great significance. By contrast, the statue of FDR, a four-term president, is merely life-size.
Perhaps adding insult to injury, whether or not intentionally, the group controlling the MLK project had the statue designed by a Chinese sculptor and actually produced in China. After promising to use American union labor in constructing the memorial, which came in pieces from China, the group reneged and used unpaid Chinese laborers, notwithstanding that King was gunned down during a trip in Memphis in 1968 to support sanitation workers.
One might suppose a black American sculptor would have been engaged for the project, or at least an American, but such was not to be the case, which might also make one wonder if there was an “in-your-face” motive, especially noting the outrageous size underlying the project, whether or not consciously so. Facts are hard things with which to argue and the fact that the memorial was outsourced to communist China gives the appearance that it was never meant to reflect anything American, meaning that the sponsoring group perhaps wanted no connection of King to the U.S.A. If so, more’s the pity.
The King speech most closely connected to the area involved was his “I have a dream” offering delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. President Eisenhower had already used troops in Little Rock many years before to integrate a school, but King’s speech was a precursor to the civil rights enactments by Congress of the 1960s. It was an important speech remarking the right of every American to try to achieve his/her goals…on an equal footing.
The enactments resulted in a comprehensive example of the law of unintended consequences. Far from culminating in helping African Americans accomplish their dreams, the civil rights laws eventuated in nightmarish results, most notably the disintegration of the African-American family, the basic unit of any society.
A three-story statue of Mao Tse Tung would be expected in China, where communist rulers think big when commemorating themselves…or Russia’s Stalin – egos demanding out-sized memorials. Think the famous statue of Saddam being torn down in Baghdad. On 09 April 2003, CNN reported the statue to be as tall as four men – some 24 feet. This about says it all. Notwithstanding whether or not the statue belongs on the mall at all, the MLK Memorial Foundation exhibited a total lack of taste and delivered an undignified memorial, more like pop art than a serious subject, a monstrous Buddha-like object looking DOWN on everyone.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Minority Rule
The decision of Bell County High School officials (Kentucky) to dispense with the offering of a prayer before a football game, a longtime tradition, was supposedly based on the requirement of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The officials were reminded in a letter from an outfit in Madison, Wisconsin, that they would be in line for an expensive lawsuit if the exercise was continued, claiming it to be a violation of that First Amendment.
The prayers are usually offered in behalf of safekeeping for the players, who ironically are about to commit mayhem upon each other, and for other generic concerns such as safekeeping for military personnel as well as guidance for the nation’s leaders. The efficacy of such prayers is not the issue. The recognition of God is the issue, even though no recognition/establishment of any religion is offered.
The exact wording of the First Amendment as related to this matter: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The applicable definition of religion: “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”
In a prayer, there is no attempt to respect or disrespect or even to acknowledge an establishment of religion. There is no attempt to recognize or advance any cause, principle, or system of beliefs. There is only the addressing of God for a certain result, as well as the offering of thanks for whatever is conceived of as a gift from God, either past, present, or future.
The prayer, therefore, besides having nothing to do with religion, by definition cannot in any way injure those who believe God doesn’t exist. They consider themselves outside the activity altogether, thus cannot possibly be harmed. To them, the prayer is no more than a harmless comic strip. They hear no sermon, are not victims of evangelistic effort, are not coerced in any way, and are not victims of religious teaching. Neither words nor a moment of silence do any harm.
So, the prayer does not represent an establishment of religion. Indeed, prayers are offered before the daily activities in Congress even though those prayers, as part of actual government operations performed in government facilities, not at a mere ballgame, would seem far more condemnatory, if out of order. The inscriptions of God on coins and official documents and government buildings, in state constitutions, and in certain oaths that are affirmed furnish proof that God does not represent an establishment of religion. God just is…or isn’t, depending on individual preference.
But suppose the prayer is considered an establishment of religion, in this case established by the School Board reflecting the will of the citizens. According to the First Amendment, Congress shall make no law prohibiting its exercise. The amendment says nothing about when or where or how or by whom the exercise may or may not be conducted.
The amendment was enacted to prohibit the state from affirming a specific official religion, as was the case during colonial rule vis-à-vis the Anglican Church, with Queen Elizabeth II as the present Supreme Governor and titular head of the Church. The amendment was also enacted so that people could not be constrained from observing a religious exercise if collectively they so desired, no matter the location. It’s doubtful that any cleric was/is paid for praying at a ballgame, so the prayer is not taxpayer-supported, therefore not an infringement on any tax-paying atheist’s rights. If/where this is not extant, the status quo can be changed.
Rule by the minority has become the norm in this country not just concerning religion but concerning virtually everything. For instance, the notion that men should marry men because a miniscule minority says so is unconscionable and represents an act in violation of federal/state laws as well as against nature itself, without remarking any religious context,
The Judeo-Christian God was part, if not the foundation, of the founding documents. The miniscule minority is trying to erase God. The Wisconsin group has some 125 members in Kentucky out of a population of 4,339,367, amounting to an infinitesimally small .003%.
Rule by the minority shouldn’t happen as long as no one gets hurt, as in this case.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
The prayers are usually offered in behalf of safekeeping for the players, who ironically are about to commit mayhem upon each other, and for other generic concerns such as safekeeping for military personnel as well as guidance for the nation’s leaders. The efficacy of such prayers is not the issue. The recognition of God is the issue, even though no recognition/establishment of any religion is offered.
The exact wording of the First Amendment as related to this matter: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The applicable definition of religion: “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”
In a prayer, there is no attempt to respect or disrespect or even to acknowledge an establishment of religion. There is no attempt to recognize or advance any cause, principle, or system of beliefs. There is only the addressing of God for a certain result, as well as the offering of thanks for whatever is conceived of as a gift from God, either past, present, or future.
The prayer, therefore, besides having nothing to do with religion, by definition cannot in any way injure those who believe God doesn’t exist. They consider themselves outside the activity altogether, thus cannot possibly be harmed. To them, the prayer is no more than a harmless comic strip. They hear no sermon, are not victims of evangelistic effort, are not coerced in any way, and are not victims of religious teaching. Neither words nor a moment of silence do any harm.
So, the prayer does not represent an establishment of religion. Indeed, prayers are offered before the daily activities in Congress even though those prayers, as part of actual government operations performed in government facilities, not at a mere ballgame, would seem far more condemnatory, if out of order. The inscriptions of God on coins and official documents and government buildings, in state constitutions, and in certain oaths that are affirmed furnish proof that God does not represent an establishment of religion. God just is…or isn’t, depending on individual preference.
But suppose the prayer is considered an establishment of religion, in this case established by the School Board reflecting the will of the citizens. According to the First Amendment, Congress shall make no law prohibiting its exercise. The amendment says nothing about when or where or how or by whom the exercise may or may not be conducted.
The amendment was enacted to prohibit the state from affirming a specific official religion, as was the case during colonial rule vis-à-vis the Anglican Church, with Queen Elizabeth II as the present Supreme Governor and titular head of the Church. The amendment was also enacted so that people could not be constrained from observing a religious exercise if collectively they so desired, no matter the location. It’s doubtful that any cleric was/is paid for praying at a ballgame, so the prayer is not taxpayer-supported, therefore not an infringement on any tax-paying atheist’s rights. If/where this is not extant, the status quo can be changed.
Rule by the minority has become the norm in this country not just concerning religion but concerning virtually everything. For instance, the notion that men should marry men because a miniscule minority says so is unconscionable and represents an act in violation of federal/state laws as well as against nature itself, without remarking any religious context,
The Judeo-Christian God was part, if not the foundation, of the founding documents. The miniscule minority is trying to erase God. The Wisconsin group has some 125 members in Kentucky out of a population of 4,339,367, amounting to an infinitesimally small .003%.
Rule by the minority shouldn’t happen as long as no one gets hurt, as in this case.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Obama & TREASON
Much has been made in the liberal media of the fact that Texas Governor Rick Perry used the term “treasonous” in his remarks about Fed Chairman Bernanke’s continuing to print money, thus devaluing the dollar without solving any problems. Indeed, President Obama, the darling of the liberal media, very condescendingly suggested that Perry was new to the game of presidential politics, did not understand the value of words spoken by those elitist/intelligent enough to engage the game, and that everyone should “cut him some slack.” The president was actually saying that Perry is as dumb as a gourd and that he should be paid no attention because of his stupidity.
The irony, of course, lies in the fact that the media is either so shallow or so agenda-driven as the propaganda arm of Obama’s presidency and now his campaign that it failed to pick up on the fact that the president has practically made it a mantra lately to describe the Congressional republicans as “treasonous.” Treason amounts to the putting of something ahead of the welfare of the country, so when the president accused the republicans of “putting party ahead of the country” he actually accused them of treason. Thus, the question that should be asked is, “Should the citizenry cut the president some slack for being so obviously mentally-challenged that he couldn’t understand what he actually has been saying, especially on his recent tax-paid campaign through three states.”
Words do come back to haunt but in this case regarding what actually amounts to treason regardless of how the words are used, the candidates will do well to express themselves accurately, not as expressions designed to merely “snow” the public. Perry was not out of order simply because neither he nor Bernanke nor anyone else is forced to agree on the meaning of treason as it relates to the economy. Don’t cut him any slack because he misspoke because he didn’t. Also, don’t cut him any slack because he seemed to lack the astuteness or guts to stick by what he said. He had a point. Bernanke DOES seem to be putting politics above country.
While Perry expressed a problem with one man, Bernanke, Obama threw his unspoken but just as obvious accusation of treason at a whole congregation of folks – those treasonous republicans who he claimed put party above country. He didn’t mind putting party and personal privilege above country when he used tax-bought buses, Air Force I and a gaggle of secret service agents and other taxpayer-funded officials for the purpose of campaigning for another term. The ridiculous assertion that he was on a “listening tour” or some such other silly description comprises an insult to the collective intelligence. He made far too many speeches for his effort to be other than blatantly political. The “listening tour” was designed not for him to listen but for the citizens of Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois to listen to him campaign.
Notably, the president while in Illinois was quite near Michigan, where the unemployment rate stands at 10.9%, which is 20% above the national average. He would have gotten an earful in that state if he actually had been interested in listening, but Michigan is automatically democrat and blacks are automatically democrat, so what would have been the point of conducting a “listening tour” in that state? Iowa’s unemployment rate is 6%, so those folks needed badly to instruct the president on their hardships. Iowa’s population is 2.7% black while Michigan’s is 14.2% black, or 426% greater than Iowa’s, so what was the use of preaching to the choir…or listening, for that matter? The white folk in Iowa needed instructions.
By going to Iowa instead of Michigan, did the president put the comparative prosperity of Iowans above the comparative poverty of Michigan, thus committing treason with respect to people who have much greater need to have him “listen?” The president, already providing a shaky administration, is so disconnected with reality that he can’t even see what the citizens can easily see, to wit, that the president has no clothes?
Is it possible for a president to commit treason with respect to his own convictions vis-à-vis the welfare of the country, especially if they are strongly enough held to make a profound issue of them? In 2008 when Obama was vying for the vote, he was adamant and quite publicly so that marriage should only be between a man and woman, which, of course, was/is also the law of the land. However, in 2011 the president believes that marriage should also be between a man and a man, clearly in violation of federal and state laws in nearly all states, not to mention a multiplicity of state Constitutions.
Obama is blatantly putting personal opinion above what the vast majority of the country’s citizens believe is best for the nation and enacted into law. Iowa’s Supreme Court handed down a ruling recently that a man may marry a man, thus committing treason as a state. Obama felt quite at home there, since both he and Iowa share that description – TREASONOUS!
“Listening tour?” BAH…HUMBUG!
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
The irony, of course, lies in the fact that the media is either so shallow or so agenda-driven as the propaganda arm of Obama’s presidency and now his campaign that it failed to pick up on the fact that the president has practically made it a mantra lately to describe the Congressional republicans as “treasonous.” Treason amounts to the putting of something ahead of the welfare of the country, so when the president accused the republicans of “putting party ahead of the country” he actually accused them of treason. Thus, the question that should be asked is, “Should the citizenry cut the president some slack for being so obviously mentally-challenged that he couldn’t understand what he actually has been saying, especially on his recent tax-paid campaign through three states.”
Words do come back to haunt but in this case regarding what actually amounts to treason regardless of how the words are used, the candidates will do well to express themselves accurately, not as expressions designed to merely “snow” the public. Perry was not out of order simply because neither he nor Bernanke nor anyone else is forced to agree on the meaning of treason as it relates to the economy. Don’t cut him any slack because he misspoke because he didn’t. Also, don’t cut him any slack because he seemed to lack the astuteness or guts to stick by what he said. He had a point. Bernanke DOES seem to be putting politics above country.
While Perry expressed a problem with one man, Bernanke, Obama threw his unspoken but just as obvious accusation of treason at a whole congregation of folks – those treasonous republicans who he claimed put party above country. He didn’t mind putting party and personal privilege above country when he used tax-bought buses, Air Force I and a gaggle of secret service agents and other taxpayer-funded officials for the purpose of campaigning for another term. The ridiculous assertion that he was on a “listening tour” or some such other silly description comprises an insult to the collective intelligence. He made far too many speeches for his effort to be other than blatantly political. The “listening tour” was designed not for him to listen but for the citizens of Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois to listen to him campaign.
Notably, the president while in Illinois was quite near Michigan, where the unemployment rate stands at 10.9%, which is 20% above the national average. He would have gotten an earful in that state if he actually had been interested in listening, but Michigan is automatically democrat and blacks are automatically democrat, so what would have been the point of conducting a “listening tour” in that state? Iowa’s unemployment rate is 6%, so those folks needed badly to instruct the president on their hardships. Iowa’s population is 2.7% black while Michigan’s is 14.2% black, or 426% greater than Iowa’s, so what was the use of preaching to the choir…or listening, for that matter? The white folk in Iowa needed instructions.
By going to Iowa instead of Michigan, did the president put the comparative prosperity of Iowans above the comparative poverty of Michigan, thus committing treason with respect to people who have much greater need to have him “listen?” The president, already providing a shaky administration, is so disconnected with reality that he can’t even see what the citizens can easily see, to wit, that the president has no clothes?
Is it possible for a president to commit treason with respect to his own convictions vis-à-vis the welfare of the country, especially if they are strongly enough held to make a profound issue of them? In 2008 when Obama was vying for the vote, he was adamant and quite publicly so that marriage should only be between a man and woman, which, of course, was/is also the law of the land. However, in 2011 the president believes that marriage should also be between a man and a man, clearly in violation of federal and state laws in nearly all states, not to mention a multiplicity of state Constitutions.
Obama is blatantly putting personal opinion above what the vast majority of the country’s citizens believe is best for the nation and enacted into law. Iowa’s Supreme Court handed down a ruling recently that a man may marry a man, thus committing treason as a state. Obama felt quite at home there, since both he and Iowa share that description – TREASONOUS!
“Listening tour?” BAH…HUMBUG!
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
DNC Memorandum #4
From the office of the ChairWOMAN, 16 August 2011
***Listen up! The chairWOMAN (me, for recent Harvard grad-staffers) is fed up with the terminology being used by some DNC smart-alecks referencing the current bus-tour by POTUS. The bus is NOT to be called the Mobile Mortuary because of its completely black color, including all windows, nor is the effort to be characterized as the Under-the-bus Tour. The rumor that POTUS has said anyone using that term will be assigned to the complaint desk in Baghdad is untrue and POTUS has said he will not say that again. In addition, any remarks concerning what goes on behind those totally black windows will not be tolerated, except as they relate to POTUS planning his September jobs-program between town-hall meetings and speeches, which are essentially the same. The fact that there are two of these buses has nothing to do with nobody but the Secret Service knowing on which bus POTUS is riding. In any case, at just a paltry $1.1 million each, who would care if POTUS took ten buses, his family (Kenyans included) and half the population of Honolulu? As POTUS has said before, WE WON!.
***All staffers are to refer as often as possible to POTUS as the Commander-in-Chief. This is important because Texas Governor Rick Perry has entered the republican circus for the nomination. Perry spent five years in the Air Force in the 1970s as a pilot, flying all over the world, meaning that he has military experience, something that perhaps only Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who also spent five years in the Air Force as a doctor, can match. This makes a problem for POTUS, who has finally learned how to return a salute but now has to appear more macho than ever. In this regard, emphasize that POTUS is now leading from behind in perpetuating the highly important Arab Spring through unilaterally (Congress a bunch of chickens who would have said “no”) attacking powerful Libya, which boasts a troop-strength of 76,000, and has a huge population just two million less than that of New York City. This has been a daring example of military-use; however, do not mention that POTUS said Qaddafi would be gone in days, not weeks. Simply mention that POTUS did not mention months, another example of his superior intellect.
***With regard to the forgoing, be advised that Dan Rather is said to be investigating whether or not Perry has been given favorable treatment by the Air Force, perhaps by letting him be an officer/pilot rather than a tail-gunner, which is what his father was in WWII, or a surfer, which is what Obama was in the 1970s. Rather had a problem with Air Force typewriters of the 1960s but is open to any suggestions regarding Air Force typewriters, especially in Texas, during the 1970s-era. Any former colleague of Perry who can testify to even so much as Perry’s shoes not being properly shined during inspections is requested to contact the office of the ChairWOMAN immediately. Anyone having knowledge that Perry might have returned late from a furlough (delicious AWOL stuff) will be rewarded handsomely for any information and may remain anonymous. Even bogus information will be entertained on the basis of Rather’s being able to make it authentic. Now is the time for all democrats to come to the aid of their country…or something like that.
***POTUS has expressed brilliantly that the high unemployment rate is due to the Arab Spring and the Japanese tsunami and nuclear meltdown. He has requested a red/yellow/black/white paper explaining why this is the case. He would prepare it but he’s booked up until November 2012, even though press-person Carney has promised to give the reasons any day now. Carney isn’t clear about the Arab Spring and hasn’t the time, anyway, since he’s in charge of town-hall teleprompters and the teleprompters to be used at bedside in case POTUS is awakened for an emergency at 3:00 a.m. Also, the yellow/black/white/red paper (note diversity in colors compared to the above paper) explaining why POTUS is leading from behind in Libya has not been received – not even one. See to this at once. The chairWOMAN would take care of this but spending 100 hours a week in the work of the House and doing this job, too, leaves no time for such activity.
***POTUS has requested that Iowa be made to appear as the most advanced state in the Midwest since its Supreme Court has made it official that men can marry men. This contravenes state and federal law (DOM ACT, 1998), which states that marriage must be between one man and one woman. The justices apparently made no further restrictions concerning marriage, so it may take place between men-and-men, not just man-and-man. In other words, the more the merrier, so emphasize that Iowa, as a democrat state, is on a par now with San Francisco, where anything goes. The subject of group marriages will be taken up by the DNC very soon, the better to present the party as forward-looking and fun-loving. POTUS, as everyone knows, has changed his position on this subject from the one he held in 2008 but the rumor that he said exotic-marriage sounds exciting is untrue and he’s said he will not say that again.
***Finally, the tour-buses will not be used for more than three or five days a year, so the OMB has suggested they be rented out for weddings and funerals, not that all such are the same, though some may be. This is a time-saving one-time-for-all thing, meaning that those attending a funeral can be transported immediately to the grave-site without the bother of a funeral procession, and then back to their cars, which can be parked in most any WalMart lot. The same is true for weddings, without the bother of finding the reception-location…just stay in the reclining seat and leave the driving to the non-drunk.
***Good teleprompter-constructors and speech-writers are always in short supply so be advised that applications will be taken for these positions. POTUS, who understands the profoundness of his gravitas and worries that he sometimes speaks “over the head” of his audiences, has said that speeches are always to be directed toward those on the level of a seventh-grade education, so the field is wide-open and the more illiterate among the staff may have an excellent chance of succeeding.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
***Listen up! The chairWOMAN (me, for recent Harvard grad-staffers) is fed up with the terminology being used by some DNC smart-alecks referencing the current bus-tour by POTUS. The bus is NOT to be called the Mobile Mortuary because of its completely black color, including all windows, nor is the effort to be characterized as the Under-the-bus Tour. The rumor that POTUS has said anyone using that term will be assigned to the complaint desk in Baghdad is untrue and POTUS has said he will not say that again. In addition, any remarks concerning what goes on behind those totally black windows will not be tolerated, except as they relate to POTUS planning his September jobs-program between town-hall meetings and speeches, which are essentially the same. The fact that there are two of these buses has nothing to do with nobody but the Secret Service knowing on which bus POTUS is riding. In any case, at just a paltry $1.1 million each, who would care if POTUS took ten buses, his family (Kenyans included) and half the population of Honolulu? As POTUS has said before, WE WON!.
***All staffers are to refer as often as possible to POTUS as the Commander-in-Chief. This is important because Texas Governor Rick Perry has entered the republican circus for the nomination. Perry spent five years in the Air Force in the 1970s as a pilot, flying all over the world, meaning that he has military experience, something that perhaps only Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who also spent five years in the Air Force as a doctor, can match. This makes a problem for POTUS, who has finally learned how to return a salute but now has to appear more macho than ever. In this regard, emphasize that POTUS is now leading from behind in perpetuating the highly important Arab Spring through unilaterally (Congress a bunch of chickens who would have said “no”) attacking powerful Libya, which boasts a troop-strength of 76,000, and has a huge population just two million less than that of New York City. This has been a daring example of military-use; however, do not mention that POTUS said Qaddafi would be gone in days, not weeks. Simply mention that POTUS did not mention months, another example of his superior intellect.
***With regard to the forgoing, be advised that Dan Rather is said to be investigating whether or not Perry has been given favorable treatment by the Air Force, perhaps by letting him be an officer/pilot rather than a tail-gunner, which is what his father was in WWII, or a surfer, which is what Obama was in the 1970s. Rather had a problem with Air Force typewriters of the 1960s but is open to any suggestions regarding Air Force typewriters, especially in Texas, during the 1970s-era. Any former colleague of Perry who can testify to even so much as Perry’s shoes not being properly shined during inspections is requested to contact the office of the ChairWOMAN immediately. Anyone having knowledge that Perry might have returned late from a furlough (delicious AWOL stuff) will be rewarded handsomely for any information and may remain anonymous. Even bogus information will be entertained on the basis of Rather’s being able to make it authentic. Now is the time for all democrats to come to the aid of their country…or something like that.
***POTUS has expressed brilliantly that the high unemployment rate is due to the Arab Spring and the Japanese tsunami and nuclear meltdown. He has requested a red/yellow/black/white paper explaining why this is the case. He would prepare it but he’s booked up until November 2012, even though press-person Carney has promised to give the reasons any day now. Carney isn’t clear about the Arab Spring and hasn’t the time, anyway, since he’s in charge of town-hall teleprompters and the teleprompters to be used at bedside in case POTUS is awakened for an emergency at 3:00 a.m. Also, the yellow/black/white/red paper (note diversity in colors compared to the above paper) explaining why POTUS is leading from behind in Libya has not been received – not even one. See to this at once. The chairWOMAN would take care of this but spending 100 hours a week in the work of the House and doing this job, too, leaves no time for such activity.
***POTUS has requested that Iowa be made to appear as the most advanced state in the Midwest since its Supreme Court has made it official that men can marry men. This contravenes state and federal law (DOM ACT, 1998), which states that marriage must be between one man and one woman. The justices apparently made no further restrictions concerning marriage, so it may take place between men-and-men, not just man-and-man. In other words, the more the merrier, so emphasize that Iowa, as a democrat state, is on a par now with San Francisco, where anything goes. The subject of group marriages will be taken up by the DNC very soon, the better to present the party as forward-looking and fun-loving. POTUS, as everyone knows, has changed his position on this subject from the one he held in 2008 but the rumor that he said exotic-marriage sounds exciting is untrue and he’s said he will not say that again.
***Finally, the tour-buses will not be used for more than three or five days a year, so the OMB has suggested they be rented out for weddings and funerals, not that all such are the same, though some may be. This is a time-saving one-time-for-all thing, meaning that those attending a funeral can be transported immediately to the grave-site without the bother of a funeral procession, and then back to their cars, which can be parked in most any WalMart lot. The same is true for weddings, without the bother of finding the reception-location…just stay in the reclining seat and leave the driving to the non-drunk.
***Good teleprompter-constructors and speech-writers are always in short supply so be advised that applications will be taken for these positions. POTUS, who understands the profoundness of his gravitas and worries that he sometimes speaks “over the head” of his audiences, has said that speeches are always to be directed toward those on the level of a seventh-grade education, so the field is wide-open and the more illiterate among the staff may have an excellent chance of succeeding.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Obama's Solution - TAXES!
England is afire and has been for a number of days now. The excuse of a police shooting was turned into riots by people who make no apologies for the claim that they intend to have what the rich have, the rich being most anyone who works and tries to make the economy sustainable. It is the result of class-consciousness carried to the extreme.
The socialist government is supposed to guarantee that everyone has the same “things” as everyone else. It’s supposed to do this by taxing the workers to a degree that will take care of everybody cradle-to-grave. Eventually, as is happening now in Greece, Spain, England, Italy and now France, the government will bankrupt itself, can no longer feed the classes, and the classes take to the streets. For these countries, it’s virtually too late to do anything constructive, a lesson that is almost too late for the learning for the U.S.
The top tax-rate in England is 50% for those making over 150,000 pounds ($241,950). This doesn’t touch all the other taxes they pay, so the better off are being taxed inordinately at a rate that still can’t support the system. The next step down, tax-wise, is at 40%, (those making over $56,900), both rates far above those paid in this country, yet the economy can’t be sustained. Germany’s tax rates are similar (top rate at 45% but with corporate rate at 33.3%).
The corporate tax-rate in this country stands at 35%, among the four highest in the world, in which the average rate among developed nations is 25%. By contrast, the corporate tax-rate in Canada is 16.5%, its way of proclaiming to the world that it’s ready to do business, create jobs and hopefully enlarge its individual tax base to the point that it can support its essentially socialistic system. The top individual rate is 29% but applies to all income above $128,800, as compared to Obama’s goal of 39.6% on all above $250,000 (for starters). The corporate tax-rate in China is 25%. Is it any wonder that shoes and nearly everything else bought in this country are made in China?
The U.S. economy can’t be sustained under current law but when Obamacare is added it will further crumble, never mind any of the glorious statistics that have been presented, although no one seems to know what’s actually in the new law. These countries have found it out the hard way, though Germany may last a while longer. In 1966, Medicare cost to the government was $3 billion, with the House Ways/Means committee projecting its cost for 1990 to be $12 billion.
The actual governmental outlay in 1990 was $107 billion, a mistake in prediction of 3,467%. That just about says it all with respect to the government’s understanding of economics/demographics. The outlay in 2010 was an astronomical $458 billion, an increase of 328% in just 20 years, while population of those 65 and over grew by only 1.3% from 1990 to2010. That is an amazing almost unbelievable discrepancy vis-à-vis reality. No legislator in Congress read the whole healthcare bill and it’s a lead-pipe cinch the president didn’t, either, but on the basis of history, when it kicks in (2014, well after Obama’s reelection effort) it will be a budget-buster.
Private insurance agencies handle all Medicare claims, not the government. The government got out of this complicated business a long time ago, realizing it couldn’t administer its own programs. If and when Obamacare gets real, the bureaucratic quagmire will only worsen, with layers of overlapping bureaucracy similar to that which already exists in all areas of government. Congresses have tweaked the original Medicare bill through the years, as in 2003 when prescription drugs became a part of it, but by far the main reason for its out-of-control costs is corruption.
Anything that belongs to the government actually belongs to no one, thus open season on the government till, in this case by the pharmaceuticals, doctors, lawyers and hardware providers and individuals who can figure a way to game the system. As a for instance, U.S. Attorney Stephen Pence estimated that while Dr. Steve Henry was lieutenant governor of Kentucky 1996-2001, he committed fraud amounting to between $400,000 and $600,000 account not being present in surgical procedures for which he billed Medicare/Medicaid. Henry settled for $162,000.
Part of the tragedy in the socialist health systems is the rationing of care and the long lines, for which Obama wants taxes raised (his 39.6% for the better-off just the start), but it’s been proven that constant raising of taxes, besides not saving the economy, degrades all the goods and services. These countries go after the middle class just like they go after the biggies, and this is also Obama’s agenda, notwithstanding any of the high-flown rhetoric about saving the middle class. The middle class to Obama is the unions.
At any rate, increasing taxes is not the answer. A complete revamping of government enterprise is.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
The socialist government is supposed to guarantee that everyone has the same “things” as everyone else. It’s supposed to do this by taxing the workers to a degree that will take care of everybody cradle-to-grave. Eventually, as is happening now in Greece, Spain, England, Italy and now France, the government will bankrupt itself, can no longer feed the classes, and the classes take to the streets. For these countries, it’s virtually too late to do anything constructive, a lesson that is almost too late for the learning for the U.S.
The top tax-rate in England is 50% for those making over 150,000 pounds ($241,950). This doesn’t touch all the other taxes they pay, so the better off are being taxed inordinately at a rate that still can’t support the system. The next step down, tax-wise, is at 40%, (those making over $56,900), both rates far above those paid in this country, yet the economy can’t be sustained. Germany’s tax rates are similar (top rate at 45% but with corporate rate at 33.3%).
The corporate tax-rate in this country stands at 35%, among the four highest in the world, in which the average rate among developed nations is 25%. By contrast, the corporate tax-rate in Canada is 16.5%, its way of proclaiming to the world that it’s ready to do business, create jobs and hopefully enlarge its individual tax base to the point that it can support its essentially socialistic system. The top individual rate is 29% but applies to all income above $128,800, as compared to Obama’s goal of 39.6% on all above $250,000 (for starters). The corporate tax-rate in China is 25%. Is it any wonder that shoes and nearly everything else bought in this country are made in China?
The U.S. economy can’t be sustained under current law but when Obamacare is added it will further crumble, never mind any of the glorious statistics that have been presented, although no one seems to know what’s actually in the new law. These countries have found it out the hard way, though Germany may last a while longer. In 1966, Medicare cost to the government was $3 billion, with the House Ways/Means committee projecting its cost for 1990 to be $12 billion.
The actual governmental outlay in 1990 was $107 billion, a mistake in prediction of 3,467%. That just about says it all with respect to the government’s understanding of economics/demographics. The outlay in 2010 was an astronomical $458 billion, an increase of 328% in just 20 years, while population of those 65 and over grew by only 1.3% from 1990 to2010. That is an amazing almost unbelievable discrepancy vis-à-vis reality. No legislator in Congress read the whole healthcare bill and it’s a lead-pipe cinch the president didn’t, either, but on the basis of history, when it kicks in (2014, well after Obama’s reelection effort) it will be a budget-buster.
Private insurance agencies handle all Medicare claims, not the government. The government got out of this complicated business a long time ago, realizing it couldn’t administer its own programs. If and when Obamacare gets real, the bureaucratic quagmire will only worsen, with layers of overlapping bureaucracy similar to that which already exists in all areas of government. Congresses have tweaked the original Medicare bill through the years, as in 2003 when prescription drugs became a part of it, but by far the main reason for its out-of-control costs is corruption.
Anything that belongs to the government actually belongs to no one, thus open season on the government till, in this case by the pharmaceuticals, doctors, lawyers and hardware providers and individuals who can figure a way to game the system. As a for instance, U.S. Attorney Stephen Pence estimated that while Dr. Steve Henry was lieutenant governor of Kentucky 1996-2001, he committed fraud amounting to between $400,000 and $600,000 account not being present in surgical procedures for which he billed Medicare/Medicaid. Henry settled for $162,000.
Part of the tragedy in the socialist health systems is the rationing of care and the long lines, for which Obama wants taxes raised (his 39.6% for the better-off just the start), but it’s been proven that constant raising of taxes, besides not saving the economy, degrades all the goods and services. These countries go after the middle class just like they go after the biggies, and this is also Obama’s agenda, notwithstanding any of the high-flown rhetoric about saving the middle class. The middle class to Obama is the unions.
At any rate, increasing taxes is not the answer. A complete revamping of government enterprise is.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Boogity Boogity Boogity Amen!
For some strange reason, there just has to be a prayer preceding the action at sports events, notwithstanding that prayers per se have fallen out of favor with every entity from Atheists United to the ACLU. Here is the prayer offered before a NASCAR race in Nashville the other night by Pastor Joe Nelms:
“Heavenly father, we thank you tonight for all your blessings. You said ‘in all things give thanks.’ So we want to thank you tonight for these mighty machines that you’ve brought before us. Thank you for the Dodges and the Toyotas. Thank you for the Fords and most of all thank you for Roush and Yates partnering to give us the power we see before us tonight. Thank you for GM Performance Technology and the R07 engines. Thank you for Sunoco racing fuel and Goodyear tires that bring performance and power to the track. Lord, I want to thank you for my smokin’ hot wife tonight, Lisa. My two children, Eli and Emma, or as we like to call them — the little E’s. Lord I pray you’ll bless the drivers as usual tonight. May they put on a performance worthy of this great track in Jesus’ name. Boogity boogity boogity. Amen.”
One can only wonder how that entreaty rates in the Great Beyond, especially when – at the encouragement of NASCAR pooh-bahs – the drivers bump their opponents’ cars during races, sometimes causing dangerous high-speed wrecks, in order to get a high-powered edge for their “mighty machines” that God has “brought before us.” One can just see the angels in the clouds covering their eyes at the prospect of a crashing, smashing spinout, perhaps sending a new traveler to the pearly gates. Of course, the pastor prayed that the Lord would “bless the drivers as usual,” so was that supposed to invoke no trip that night to bivouac with St. Pete forever? Who knows?
How would such a prayer go preceding a hockey game, another sport in which a premium is placed on fights and skull-creases? First would come thanks for the lethal hockey sticks/clubs/whatever that make mayhem (and good gate receipts) possible, not to mention the padded armament worn by the players to ward off fatal injuries, at least. If the presiding invocator should have a smokin’ hot wife, he naturally would give thanks for such a blessing and hope no one is checking her credentials while he’s blessing the gladiators. If he should become suspicious he can just borrow one of those hockey sticks aka weapons and imitate the players.
Football is almost as sacred in this country as prayer itself, so there must be a prayer before an NFL game, in which, after the prayer is offered beseeching the Lord to “protect as usual,” the gangs of millionaires will proceed to knock the stuffing out of each other, sort of daring God to let anything bad happen since the reverend had specifically requested deliverance from all concussions, broken bones, torn tendons, and displaced kidneys, as well as ruptured tattoos. The reverend wouldn’t have to worry about his wife, no matter how “smokin’ hot,” since the NFL cheerleaders take care of that part of prayerful concern. As for the proper fuel, he would simply express thanks for the steroids and human-growth-hormones that make the macho-men fearless, lean and mean enough to totally disable anyone who gets in the way. As for putting “on a performance worthy of this great” game, the reverend could pray that no player will hurt/embarrass himself through celebration-gyrations after cracking someone’s collarbone, known to have completely thrown crotches out of sync and sometimes cause broken ribs.
A prayer before a soccer match is always in order. After all, people who bounce hard balls off their heads and occasionally crash their heads into the heads of other people trying to do the same thing to them definitely need help of an otherworldly nature…a higher power. The reverend might pray for a minimum of concussions, since concussions are expected to happen, else the players would protect their heads from both balls and other heads. Even the macho footballers dare not go into combat bareheaded since a simple concussion is preferable to an all-out skull-fracture, the obvious intention of any linebacker worth his tattoo vis-à-vis any quarterback (or for some linebackers, just anybody still on his feet, wobbling or not).
A prayer before a basketball game was once unnecessary since the sport was classified as “non-contact.” No more! Weight rooms are designed to make the famous HULK appear as a pantywaist compared to the seven-foot behemoths who roam under the basket these nights looking for their prey, usually other behemoths returning the compliment. The resulting collisions, calculated to rev up the fans exponentially (especially if blood spurts on the sensitive referees) are definitely a subject of prayer, since the multi-millionaire players involved might actually get mad and kill a totally expendable referee…may the reverend pray him onward and upward in that case. In other words: Boogity boogity boogity. Amen.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
“Heavenly father, we thank you tonight for all your blessings. You said ‘in all things give thanks.’ So we want to thank you tonight for these mighty machines that you’ve brought before us. Thank you for the Dodges and the Toyotas. Thank you for the Fords and most of all thank you for Roush and Yates partnering to give us the power we see before us tonight. Thank you for GM Performance Technology and the R07 engines. Thank you for Sunoco racing fuel and Goodyear tires that bring performance and power to the track. Lord, I want to thank you for my smokin’ hot wife tonight, Lisa. My two children, Eli and Emma, or as we like to call them — the little E’s. Lord I pray you’ll bless the drivers as usual tonight. May they put on a performance worthy of this great track in Jesus’ name. Boogity boogity boogity. Amen.”
One can only wonder how that entreaty rates in the Great Beyond, especially when – at the encouragement of NASCAR pooh-bahs – the drivers bump their opponents’ cars during races, sometimes causing dangerous high-speed wrecks, in order to get a high-powered edge for their “mighty machines” that God has “brought before us.” One can just see the angels in the clouds covering their eyes at the prospect of a crashing, smashing spinout, perhaps sending a new traveler to the pearly gates. Of course, the pastor prayed that the Lord would “bless the drivers as usual,” so was that supposed to invoke no trip that night to bivouac with St. Pete forever? Who knows?
How would such a prayer go preceding a hockey game, another sport in which a premium is placed on fights and skull-creases? First would come thanks for the lethal hockey sticks/clubs/whatever that make mayhem (and good gate receipts) possible, not to mention the padded armament worn by the players to ward off fatal injuries, at least. If the presiding invocator should have a smokin’ hot wife, he naturally would give thanks for such a blessing and hope no one is checking her credentials while he’s blessing the gladiators. If he should become suspicious he can just borrow one of those hockey sticks aka weapons and imitate the players.
Football is almost as sacred in this country as prayer itself, so there must be a prayer before an NFL game, in which, after the prayer is offered beseeching the Lord to “protect as usual,” the gangs of millionaires will proceed to knock the stuffing out of each other, sort of daring God to let anything bad happen since the reverend had specifically requested deliverance from all concussions, broken bones, torn tendons, and displaced kidneys, as well as ruptured tattoos. The reverend wouldn’t have to worry about his wife, no matter how “smokin’ hot,” since the NFL cheerleaders take care of that part of prayerful concern. As for the proper fuel, he would simply express thanks for the steroids and human-growth-hormones that make the macho-men fearless, lean and mean enough to totally disable anyone who gets in the way. As for putting “on a performance worthy of this great” game, the reverend could pray that no player will hurt/embarrass himself through celebration-gyrations after cracking someone’s collarbone, known to have completely thrown crotches out of sync and sometimes cause broken ribs.
A prayer before a soccer match is always in order. After all, people who bounce hard balls off their heads and occasionally crash their heads into the heads of other people trying to do the same thing to them definitely need help of an otherworldly nature…a higher power. The reverend might pray for a minimum of concussions, since concussions are expected to happen, else the players would protect their heads from both balls and other heads. Even the macho footballers dare not go into combat bareheaded since a simple concussion is preferable to an all-out skull-fracture, the obvious intention of any linebacker worth his tattoo vis-à-vis any quarterback (or for some linebackers, just anybody still on his feet, wobbling or not).
A prayer before a basketball game was once unnecessary since the sport was classified as “non-contact.” No more! Weight rooms are designed to make the famous HULK appear as a pantywaist compared to the seven-foot behemoths who roam under the basket these nights looking for their prey, usually other behemoths returning the compliment. The resulting collisions, calculated to rev up the fans exponentially (especially if blood spurts on the sensitive referees) are definitely a subject of prayer, since the multi-millionaire players involved might actually get mad and kill a totally expendable referee…may the reverend pray him onward and upward in that case. In other words: Boogity boogity boogity. Amen.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Monday, August 01, 2011
Hillary Rides Again!
State Secretary Hillary Clinton blew into Istanbul, Turkey, a couple weeks ago and announced to the world that Libya had a new government, one that she personally approved…well, what would any government be if she didn’t personally approve of it? The Libyans didn’t take a vote concerning their new government and Libyan President (or whatever he is) Qaddafi didn’t resign or appoint it, but there it was – signed sealed and delivered by Hillary of derring-do fame when she dodged those bullets in the sniper infested fields of Bosnia, circa 1996. Don’t believe it? Just check the campaign of 2008 for all the grisly particulars.
This new government is something called the Transitional National Council (TNC), though it doesn’t seem likely that anyone quite knows who runs the thing, how it’s financed, and exactly how Hillary decided it was just the cat’s meow for improving not only Libya but the whole world, which is in her hand. Take that, you fundamentalists! You thought the whole world was in God’s hand, you cretins! Now you know, so shape up.
Seems that a “gang of thirty,” with Hillary presumably the main equal among equals scrounged from various and assorted governments, had met about four times to decide about Qaddafi, whom President Obama said back in March would have no country to rule in “days, not weeks,” courtesy the U.S. Air Force. It’s been about 140 days since then, but what’s a month here or there (or even a year) when Obamessiah has made a pronouncement from the sacred press-room of the White House? Actually, the gang-of-thirty ostensibly met to decide about the makeup of the post-Qaddafi era, but Qaddafi hasn’t accommodated the group yet by providing the post to its era.
Why have a TNC, in the first place? Libyans will do what Muslims do all the time anyway, i.e., fight among themselves, so what does it matter what the government, if any, is? Hillary’s husband knows beyond a doubt what is is. For one thing, if a new Libya government installed by Hillary et al takes over, couldn’t it just take all of Libya’s now-frozen assets and spend them…on the Libyans, of course, at least that part that doesn’t go into those deep bureaucratic pockets. But what would the ever hovering United Nations think of such a robbery, seeing as how the TNC doesn’t signify there? Only the Shadow (and Hillary) knows.
It seems that at least 32 nations are in it with Hillary/Barack against poor old Qaddafi. In fact, Germany has loaned (or will loan) $144 million to the Libyan rebels, who presumably will divvy it up amongst themselves…and why not? After all, Libya was a disaster area for Germany in World War II. Not even the mighty Rommel could defeat the Brits and Patton. It’s payback time. A “Group of Fifteen,” including Clinton, will also coordinate aid for Libya, which, being translated, means Uncle Sugar will be doling out billions to pay off some entity for being nice, as per usual in these matters of high diplomacy.
But…why not? Obama is on track to spend a total of 1.1 billion taxpayer-dollars by the end of September in the ongoing effort of “leading NATO from behind” in killing enough Libyans to make even Qaddafi think twice. There’s no telling how many innocent Libyans U.S. and NATO forces have killed since 19 March, but, after all, they’re killing Libyans in order to keep Qaddafi from killing Libyans. So, it makes perfect sense – right?
Left to their own devices, Qaddafi and the rebels probably would have made some kind of peace by now – Mid-east peace, that is, which essentially means fighting until neither side has anything to gain and everything to lose – of what’s left, of course, if anything. This is what’s going on in Syria and Yemen now, but nothing has been heard from the gang-of-thirty about those places. Meanwhile, in liberated Tunisia and Egypt, folks have chosen up sides predictably and set about doing each other in…perfectly normal for Muslim countries. The Egyptian army and police have just cleared the squatters out of Tahrir Square, that veritable bastion of niceness earlier this year. Can Camelot be far behind?
So…Hillary has approved a new government for Libya…hallelujah! The top general in the rebel force, presumably TNC to the core, has just been assassinated, unfortunately, so what else is new? He wasn’t killed by Qaddafi…he was killed by members of his own rebel army…so go figure. Surely Hillary will come to the rescue and surely goodness and mercy will follow Libya all the days of its life. So there, all you fundamentalists! Hillary leads through the green pastures to the still waters.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
This new government is something called the Transitional National Council (TNC), though it doesn’t seem likely that anyone quite knows who runs the thing, how it’s financed, and exactly how Hillary decided it was just the cat’s meow for improving not only Libya but the whole world, which is in her hand. Take that, you fundamentalists! You thought the whole world was in God’s hand, you cretins! Now you know, so shape up.
Seems that a “gang of thirty,” with Hillary presumably the main equal among equals scrounged from various and assorted governments, had met about four times to decide about Qaddafi, whom President Obama said back in March would have no country to rule in “days, not weeks,” courtesy the U.S. Air Force. It’s been about 140 days since then, but what’s a month here or there (or even a year) when Obamessiah has made a pronouncement from the sacred press-room of the White House? Actually, the gang-of-thirty ostensibly met to decide about the makeup of the post-Qaddafi era, but Qaddafi hasn’t accommodated the group yet by providing the post to its era.
Why have a TNC, in the first place? Libyans will do what Muslims do all the time anyway, i.e., fight among themselves, so what does it matter what the government, if any, is? Hillary’s husband knows beyond a doubt what is is. For one thing, if a new Libya government installed by Hillary et al takes over, couldn’t it just take all of Libya’s now-frozen assets and spend them…on the Libyans, of course, at least that part that doesn’t go into those deep bureaucratic pockets. But what would the ever hovering United Nations think of such a robbery, seeing as how the TNC doesn’t signify there? Only the Shadow (and Hillary) knows.
It seems that at least 32 nations are in it with Hillary/Barack against poor old Qaddafi. In fact, Germany has loaned (or will loan) $144 million to the Libyan rebels, who presumably will divvy it up amongst themselves…and why not? After all, Libya was a disaster area for Germany in World War II. Not even the mighty Rommel could defeat the Brits and Patton. It’s payback time. A “Group of Fifteen,” including Clinton, will also coordinate aid for Libya, which, being translated, means Uncle Sugar will be doling out billions to pay off some entity for being nice, as per usual in these matters of high diplomacy.
But…why not? Obama is on track to spend a total of 1.1 billion taxpayer-dollars by the end of September in the ongoing effort of “leading NATO from behind” in killing enough Libyans to make even Qaddafi think twice. There’s no telling how many innocent Libyans U.S. and NATO forces have killed since 19 March, but, after all, they’re killing Libyans in order to keep Qaddafi from killing Libyans. So, it makes perfect sense – right?
Left to their own devices, Qaddafi and the rebels probably would have made some kind of peace by now – Mid-east peace, that is, which essentially means fighting until neither side has anything to gain and everything to lose – of what’s left, of course, if anything. This is what’s going on in Syria and Yemen now, but nothing has been heard from the gang-of-thirty about those places. Meanwhile, in liberated Tunisia and Egypt, folks have chosen up sides predictably and set about doing each other in…perfectly normal for Muslim countries. The Egyptian army and police have just cleared the squatters out of Tahrir Square, that veritable bastion of niceness earlier this year. Can Camelot be far behind?
So…Hillary has approved a new government for Libya…hallelujah! The top general in the rebel force, presumably TNC to the core, has just been assassinated, unfortunately, so what else is new? He wasn’t killed by Qaddafi…he was killed by members of his own rebel army…so go figure. Surely Hillary will come to the rescue and surely goodness and mercy will follow Libya all the days of its life. So there, all you fundamentalists! Hillary leads through the green pastures to the still waters.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Friday, July 22, 2011
DNC Memorandum #3
From the office of the ChairWOMAN, 22 July 2011
***Listen up. Discipline has been lax lately and will not be tolerated. I’ve set the example for toughness with my speech in the House by calling out Congressman West, who may think his Bronze Star and 22 years in the military is a match for WOMAN. A mere lieutenant colonel, probably lower than a sergeant – who cares – he dared to disagree with a DNC chairWOMAN, probably the second most important person to the First Lady in the country now. In response, West said I am the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives. I wear that badge proudly and advise all women staffers to become the same. Do NOT – repeat – do NOT mention in any meeting that Congressman West was not in the chamber when I took him on. The rumor that I had him called to the phone before I spoke is untrue, and I won’t do that again.
***Republican harridan Michele Bachman is unfit to be president because it is well documented that she has migraine headaches, a debilitating ailment that would make her dangerous if called at 3:00 a.m. in the midst of one of those attacks, especially requiring a decision as momentous as whether or not the breakfast eggs should be scambled or taken on the half-shell. State Secretary Clinton stated that she would be fine at 3:00 a.m., but she didn’t have migraines. POTUS is also clear-headedly wakeable at 3:00 a.m. and keeps a teleprompter handy at his bedside programmed to answer any emergency. All new campaign materials are to include information concerning the ravages of migraines, complete with diagrams of how they disorient the brain and distort performance accruing to even well-prepared teleprompters, much less the ones used by POTUS, who does not suffer from migraines despite his ramblings during press conferences, concerning which POTUS has announced officially that SACRIFICE is a keyword in his campaign, on which he plans to spend a billion big ones, roughly 67 times the GDP of Tuvalu, an important ally in the Pacific.
***My patience is running thin concerning the red/yellow/black/white paper that POTUS has demanded be prepared explaining why he is still leading from behind in the Libya shootout. Not one has been received except those from recent Harvard graduates that blame George Bush for not stopping the carnage he started in March. These reflect the party-line that Bush and his father were/are/will be responsible for everything bad at least through 2050 but simply form too big a stretch. The Harvard gang is being sent to the Durbin Reeducation Camp for a remedial course in something as soon as Durbin decides what their problem is, other than LSD, Mary Jane, Meth, Ecstasy and the like. They will be treated gently and not accused of being what Durbin has described American GIs to be: SS troops (Nazis), keeper of the Gulags (Soviet KGB), or killing-field operators (Pol Pot).
***There’s been talk around the water-fountain (only bottled, since D.C. water is suspect) that POTUS has decided to lead from behind regarding the space program, leaving it to the Russians, Frenchies and any other entity that can get anything off the ground (besides U.S. missiles over Libya or Iranian rockets from Gaza over Israel). POTUS has correctly concluded that people can’t live comfortably on the moon, so what’s the use? The rumor that he has stated that neither golf nor cigarettes will ever be available on the moon, besides the fact that Air Force One can’t even get there, much less land, is untrue and he will not make that claim again.
***IMPORTANT NOTICE: In the interest of gender equality, bathrooms exclusively for men and women only are being abolished in the headquarters building, except for the chairWOMAN’S suite. These outdated facilities have to remain there since uncultured visitors might be traumatized by the new emphasis on unisex. This new arrangement will place men and women on an equal footing with the waiting in line problem, the effort geared officially toward erasing male insensitivity and indirectly toward getting even with the &%^$#&^ so-and-so’s. Any male staffer caught outside in the tree-area will be disciplined severely, perhaps made to canvass South Carolina and eat grits three times a day. VPOTUS has stated that this is a big #%*$^# deal, so pay attention.
***Notwithstanding the evidence in all the history-books that a nation is headed for oblivion when homosexuality becomes all the rage and men marrying men makes perfect sense, the DNC is instituting a new policy of nullifying the Equal Opportunity Act in its hiring policies, giving homosexuals (actually the GLBTW gang) first dibs on every job that comes open, with the blessing of POTUS (executive order), of course, who thinks men marrying men is cool and maybe even exciting, perhaps even improving dunking techniques and chip shots. On applications, homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, in-betweeners and whatevers will not be required to fill in the gender blank but, if they prefer, may check any box they like or make up a new gender, though a description must be submitted in the latter case. Bestiality, however, will not qualify since People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claim this designation humiliates and discriminates against animals, most of whom cannot write or even hire lawyers, the latter an absolute necessity in working for the government.
***POTUS is being regularly referenced by evil republicans like Allen West (see above) and evil news outlets such as Fox as “the dear leader” and, while he enjoys the warm-fuzzy nature of the appellation, suspects the term is often used sarcastically, perhaps even juxtaposing his regal bearing with that of Kim Jong Il, that snipe in North Korea. POTUS is probably a nine-iron taller. Staffers are warned not to use this term, even in friendly town-hall meetings, and to stamp their feet and exit any un-friendly town-halls if the term is used.
***Finally, POTUS is tired of the charge by republicans that, while they’ve presented deficit-reduction and other fiscal plans, he has presented nothing, which is true, of course. Needed immediately by POTUS is a complete economic plan. POTUS would take care of this but he is booked solidly through November 2012 and simply hasn’t the time. Every staffer – repeat – EVERY staffer is to have a plan (preferably 25 words or less) on the chairWOMAN’S desk by in the morning. Anyone not responding will be disciplined by walking the Mall come hell, heat or high water for 12 hours. Note: When placing the plan on the chairWOMAN’S desk, don’t even think about using the toilet, either one of them.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
***Listen up. Discipline has been lax lately and will not be tolerated. I’ve set the example for toughness with my speech in the House by calling out Congressman West, who may think his Bronze Star and 22 years in the military is a match for WOMAN. A mere lieutenant colonel, probably lower than a sergeant – who cares – he dared to disagree with a DNC chairWOMAN, probably the second most important person to the First Lady in the country now. In response, West said I am the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives. I wear that badge proudly and advise all women staffers to become the same. Do NOT – repeat – do NOT mention in any meeting that Congressman West was not in the chamber when I took him on. The rumor that I had him called to the phone before I spoke is untrue, and I won’t do that again.
***Republican harridan Michele Bachman is unfit to be president because it is well documented that she has migraine headaches, a debilitating ailment that would make her dangerous if called at 3:00 a.m. in the midst of one of those attacks, especially requiring a decision as momentous as whether or not the breakfast eggs should be scambled or taken on the half-shell. State Secretary Clinton stated that she would be fine at 3:00 a.m., but she didn’t have migraines. POTUS is also clear-headedly wakeable at 3:00 a.m. and keeps a teleprompter handy at his bedside programmed to answer any emergency. All new campaign materials are to include information concerning the ravages of migraines, complete with diagrams of how they disorient the brain and distort performance accruing to even well-prepared teleprompters, much less the ones used by POTUS, who does not suffer from migraines despite his ramblings during press conferences, concerning which POTUS has announced officially that SACRIFICE is a keyword in his campaign, on which he plans to spend a billion big ones, roughly 67 times the GDP of Tuvalu, an important ally in the Pacific.
***My patience is running thin concerning the red/yellow/black/white paper that POTUS has demanded be prepared explaining why he is still leading from behind in the Libya shootout. Not one has been received except those from recent Harvard graduates that blame George Bush for not stopping the carnage he started in March. These reflect the party-line that Bush and his father were/are/will be responsible for everything bad at least through 2050 but simply form too big a stretch. The Harvard gang is being sent to the Durbin Reeducation Camp for a remedial course in something as soon as Durbin decides what their problem is, other than LSD, Mary Jane, Meth, Ecstasy and the like. They will be treated gently and not accused of being what Durbin has described American GIs to be: SS troops (Nazis), keeper of the Gulags (Soviet KGB), or killing-field operators (Pol Pot).
***There’s been talk around the water-fountain (only bottled, since D.C. water is suspect) that POTUS has decided to lead from behind regarding the space program, leaving it to the Russians, Frenchies and any other entity that can get anything off the ground (besides U.S. missiles over Libya or Iranian rockets from Gaza over Israel). POTUS has correctly concluded that people can’t live comfortably on the moon, so what’s the use? The rumor that he has stated that neither golf nor cigarettes will ever be available on the moon, besides the fact that Air Force One can’t even get there, much less land, is untrue and he will not make that claim again.
***IMPORTANT NOTICE: In the interest of gender equality, bathrooms exclusively for men and women only are being abolished in the headquarters building, except for the chairWOMAN’S suite. These outdated facilities have to remain there since uncultured visitors might be traumatized by the new emphasis on unisex. This new arrangement will place men and women on an equal footing with the waiting in line problem, the effort geared officially toward erasing male insensitivity and indirectly toward getting even with the &%^$#&^ so-and-so’s. Any male staffer caught outside in the tree-area will be disciplined severely, perhaps made to canvass South Carolina and eat grits three times a day. VPOTUS has stated that this is a big #%*$^# deal, so pay attention.
***Notwithstanding the evidence in all the history-books that a nation is headed for oblivion when homosexuality becomes all the rage and men marrying men makes perfect sense, the DNC is instituting a new policy of nullifying the Equal Opportunity Act in its hiring policies, giving homosexuals (actually the GLBTW gang) first dibs on every job that comes open, with the blessing of POTUS (executive order), of course, who thinks men marrying men is cool and maybe even exciting, perhaps even improving dunking techniques and chip shots. On applications, homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, in-betweeners and whatevers will not be required to fill in the gender blank but, if they prefer, may check any box they like or make up a new gender, though a description must be submitted in the latter case. Bestiality, however, will not qualify since People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claim this designation humiliates and discriminates against animals, most of whom cannot write or even hire lawyers, the latter an absolute necessity in working for the government.
***POTUS is being regularly referenced by evil republicans like Allen West (see above) and evil news outlets such as Fox as “the dear leader” and, while he enjoys the warm-fuzzy nature of the appellation, suspects the term is often used sarcastically, perhaps even juxtaposing his regal bearing with that of Kim Jong Il, that snipe in North Korea. POTUS is probably a nine-iron taller. Staffers are warned not to use this term, even in friendly town-hall meetings, and to stamp their feet and exit any un-friendly town-halls if the term is used.
***Finally, POTUS is tired of the charge by republicans that, while they’ve presented deficit-reduction and other fiscal plans, he has presented nothing, which is true, of course. Needed immediately by POTUS is a complete economic plan. POTUS would take care of this but he is booked solidly through November 2012 and simply hasn’t the time. Every staffer – repeat – EVERY staffer is to have a plan (preferably 25 words or less) on the chairWOMAN’S desk by in the morning. Anyone not responding will be disciplined by walking the Mall come hell, heat or high water for 12 hours. Note: When placing the plan on the chairWOMAN’S desk, don’t even think about using the toilet, either one of them.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Libya & the "TRUTHERS"
After every calamity of any substance, some government agency or Congressional body conducts an investigation or hearing to discover what caused the problem, usually with the stated purpose that the effort is designed to effect adjustments so that the calamity can never again happen. With respect to either government or private enterprise, the primary purpose, however, is to fix blame. This is especially true with government since elected officials are always in campaign mode and looking for ways to point the finger at opponents.
Also after every calamity of substance, some sort of “truther” organization will come on line to dispute the findings of the official body. There was an investigation/hearing into the Pearl Harbor massacre back in the 1940s (FDR knew all about it beforehand); after Katrina in 2006 (the House democrats didn’t participate since the official version was on point, but the truthers fingered FEMA); concerning the Iraq War (9/11 conspiracy by Bush/Cheney/Osama and known about by Bush beforehand); JFK assassination in 1963 (take your pick of conspiracy theories, including that LBJ did it); and more recently, torture (Bush approved it and practically wrote the torture-manual).
Usually, the truther-stuff is laughable but it seems to provide great entertainment and, of course, furnishes an outlet for whatever political agenda any group/individual has. For instance, President Obama was gung-ho against the Patriot Act until he got elected. Recently, he signed law to continue that act upon realizing that he’d get the blame if anything untoward happened that could have been prevented by its use, which abridges no one’s rights, or at least those who have nothing to hide.
It hasn’t been held yet and, of course, will not be held unless and until the republicans have the power to do it (and they do in the House), but Obama’s personal declaration of war against Libya will someday be investigated, as it should be, especially since Congress was not even consulted, much less given an opportunity to approve or disapprove. The president simply got a UN resolution and ordered the U.S. military to attack a nation posing no threat to any other nation, including especially the U.S. Libya’s total population of six million souls is two million less than that of New York City, and it was/is virtually defenseless. The plan was to just bomb the bejesus out of Tripoli/Libya and hopefully kill Qaddafi in what Obama said would take days, not weeks. That was nearly four months ago.
For the sake of argument, assume that a hearing/investigation is held and that Obama’s actions will be certified as perfectly desirable since, being a superior human, he substituted his choice of Libyans to be killed for that of letting Qaddafi make his own choice of which Libyans to kill. The latest “truther” organization to answer this could be something called the Questionable Affairs Department for Discovering Avaricious Fuel Invaders, known by its obvious acronym, QADDAFI.
This organization claims that Obama, Biden, British Petroleum and its Middle East tyrant-connection, Ahmadinejad, met secretly in a New York mosque to plan the March 19 attack on Libya in order to guarantee that its oil operations either be shut down or simply overrun with a view toward directing its shipments to Marseilles or San Francisco, where strange things happen as a matter of course and no one would be suspicious of oil tankers from Libya with blood-stained decks tying up at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Such “truther” notables as former general Wesley Clark could head QADDAFI, which has already also discovered that the Gulf oil spill last year was also planned by O,B, BP and A, who have captured most of the millions of gallons and have them stored in a huge underground cave in the Pacific island-nation of Tuvalu, elevation 15 feet and therefore susceptible to quick ingress and egress of product, which can be used at any time to flood the market and bankrupt selected nations or simply stack euros and dollars in banks in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, or Switzerland, where partners-in-crime Bush, Cheney, Halliburton and Osama (RIP with the virgins, although he didn’t fire a shot) stashed all the Saudi money they received account of 9/11 action.
The truth seems perfectly obvious. Why would Obama spend $55 million a day for ten days straight in March dropping bombs and missiles on Libya for no logical reason other than OIL, the only industry other than camel-rehabilitation that Libya has. The Foreign Legion doesn’t count except for the elements paid by Qaddafi. Obama is up to about $750 million now and counting ($1.1 billion by Oct. 1), with Congress, in another of its frequent moments of lunacy, probably on line to give him at least until the end of the year to finish off Qaddafi, with the provision that body-counts may not lawfully be publicized, especially those of children.
The truthers know that LBJ colluded with Fidel to off JFK, that Bush 41 colluded with the whole world to do Kuwait, Bubba colluded with Tito’s ghost (channeled by Hillary and Eleanor’s ghost) to do Bosnia, and that Bush 43 colluded with Cheney, Halliburton and Osama to do 9/11. The Obama/Biden/BP/Ahmadinejad conspiracy to reduce Libya to rubble makes eminently more sense than any of the others.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Also after every calamity of substance, some sort of “truther” organization will come on line to dispute the findings of the official body. There was an investigation/hearing into the Pearl Harbor massacre back in the 1940s (FDR knew all about it beforehand); after Katrina in 2006 (the House democrats didn’t participate since the official version was on point, but the truthers fingered FEMA); concerning the Iraq War (9/11 conspiracy by Bush/Cheney/Osama and known about by Bush beforehand); JFK assassination in 1963 (take your pick of conspiracy theories, including that LBJ did it); and more recently, torture (Bush approved it and practically wrote the torture-manual).
Usually, the truther-stuff is laughable but it seems to provide great entertainment and, of course, furnishes an outlet for whatever political agenda any group/individual has. For instance, President Obama was gung-ho against the Patriot Act until he got elected. Recently, he signed law to continue that act upon realizing that he’d get the blame if anything untoward happened that could have been prevented by its use, which abridges no one’s rights, or at least those who have nothing to hide.
It hasn’t been held yet and, of course, will not be held unless and until the republicans have the power to do it (and they do in the House), but Obama’s personal declaration of war against Libya will someday be investigated, as it should be, especially since Congress was not even consulted, much less given an opportunity to approve or disapprove. The president simply got a UN resolution and ordered the U.S. military to attack a nation posing no threat to any other nation, including especially the U.S. Libya’s total population of six million souls is two million less than that of New York City, and it was/is virtually defenseless. The plan was to just bomb the bejesus out of Tripoli/Libya and hopefully kill Qaddafi in what Obama said would take days, not weeks. That was nearly four months ago.
For the sake of argument, assume that a hearing/investigation is held and that Obama’s actions will be certified as perfectly desirable since, being a superior human, he substituted his choice of Libyans to be killed for that of letting Qaddafi make his own choice of which Libyans to kill. The latest “truther” organization to answer this could be something called the Questionable Affairs Department for Discovering Avaricious Fuel Invaders, known by its obvious acronym, QADDAFI.
This organization claims that Obama, Biden, British Petroleum and its Middle East tyrant-connection, Ahmadinejad, met secretly in a New York mosque to plan the March 19 attack on Libya in order to guarantee that its oil operations either be shut down or simply overrun with a view toward directing its shipments to Marseilles or San Francisco, where strange things happen as a matter of course and no one would be suspicious of oil tankers from Libya with blood-stained decks tying up at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Such “truther” notables as former general Wesley Clark could head QADDAFI, which has already also discovered that the Gulf oil spill last year was also planned by O,B, BP and A, who have captured most of the millions of gallons and have them stored in a huge underground cave in the Pacific island-nation of Tuvalu, elevation 15 feet and therefore susceptible to quick ingress and egress of product, which can be used at any time to flood the market and bankrupt selected nations or simply stack euros and dollars in banks in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, or Switzerland, where partners-in-crime Bush, Cheney, Halliburton and Osama (RIP with the virgins, although he didn’t fire a shot) stashed all the Saudi money they received account of 9/11 action.
The truth seems perfectly obvious. Why would Obama spend $55 million a day for ten days straight in March dropping bombs and missiles on Libya for no logical reason other than OIL, the only industry other than camel-rehabilitation that Libya has. The Foreign Legion doesn’t count except for the elements paid by Qaddafi. Obama is up to about $750 million now and counting ($1.1 billion by Oct. 1), with Congress, in another of its frequent moments of lunacy, probably on line to give him at least until the end of the year to finish off Qaddafi, with the provision that body-counts may not lawfully be publicized, especially those of children.
The truthers know that LBJ colluded with Fidel to off JFK, that Bush 41 colluded with the whole world to do Kuwait, Bubba colluded with Tito’s ghost (channeled by Hillary and Eleanor’s ghost) to do Bosnia, and that Bush 43 colluded with Cheney, Halliburton and Osama to do 9/11. The Obama/Biden/BP/Ahmadinejad conspiracy to reduce Libya to rubble makes eminently more sense than any of the others.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Monday, July 11, 2011
New Protective Order - Worthless?
Steve Nunn, a onetime Kentucky legislator and governor-aspirant, shot and killed Amanda Ross, a state employee, in late 2009 after she had obtained a protective order against him in Fayette County Family Court. Since the two were not related, one wonders why anything was done through a Family Court. It would seem that the protective order should have simply been secured in whatever other court has always administered them. Recently, Nunn confessed guilt instead of going to trial, thereby bargaining his way out of a possible trip to the execution chamber, whatever it is now.
As a result of this sordid event, the state legislature spent an inordinate amount of time in 2010 – instead of passing a budget – debating and passing some sort of law requiring anyone with a protective order against him to be tracked via GPS, necessitating that he wear some sort of device at all times. There was great debate – much ado about very little – and a weak bill of some sort was coughed up. Some counties are not equipped to satisfy the law and all the counties are strapped for cash and probably won’t do much anyway. The budget was finally signed on May 30 in, of course, one of those boondoggle-for-the-lawmakers “special sessions.”
How does the tracker, assuming someone has to be monitoring the appropriate devices, know how close an offender is to the aggrieved, anyway, if he/she doesn’t know where the aggrieved is? Or, does the wearer of the device just have to stay away from a particular area, meaning that the order is virtually useless and assuming that the protective order doesn’t amount to house arrest?
There’s nothing new about protective orders and “domestic” violence. An inordinate amount of time and resources are expended by law-enforcement agencies and the courts in taking care of this stuff. While it’s true that in some instances vulnerable people need help, in many if not most instances the people who need these orders, or think they do, have brought much of their difficulty upon themselves and then expect the officials to bail them out of the messes into which they’ve gotten themselves.
Ross and Nunn had co-habited, apparently had fought, had split, and apparently Nunn figured the publicity had cost him a good state job. Who knows what else had been going on in this seamy business? The point is that the two had done their part in bringing about all the mess, including the protective order and murder. This happens all too often, especially with women who take their panties off one time too many and wind up with a problem when they turn the old boy away, perhaps for another old boy.
This may sound crass but taxpayers have a right to be unhappy when they spend money to clean up the messes caused by these woeful indiscretions, whether through domestic violence that often costs the lives of law-enforcement officers or just piling the courts with junk, the supposedly aggrieved either participating in the violence (he warn’t all that bad so the police [or po-lice] shouldn’t have been here even though I called them) or rescinding the orders.
Bottom line: Nunn would have carried out his objective even if he’d been wearing a GPS bracelet on both ankles and around his neck. The ladies need to understand that they should choose wisely, not party indiscriminately, stay sober, and avoid adultery and fornicating. Sound insensitive? So what!
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
As a result of this sordid event, the state legislature spent an inordinate amount of time in 2010 – instead of passing a budget – debating and passing some sort of law requiring anyone with a protective order against him to be tracked via GPS, necessitating that he wear some sort of device at all times. There was great debate – much ado about very little – and a weak bill of some sort was coughed up. Some counties are not equipped to satisfy the law and all the counties are strapped for cash and probably won’t do much anyway. The budget was finally signed on May 30 in, of course, one of those boondoggle-for-the-lawmakers “special sessions.”
How does the tracker, assuming someone has to be monitoring the appropriate devices, know how close an offender is to the aggrieved, anyway, if he/she doesn’t know where the aggrieved is? Or, does the wearer of the device just have to stay away from a particular area, meaning that the order is virtually useless and assuming that the protective order doesn’t amount to house arrest?
There’s nothing new about protective orders and “domestic” violence. An inordinate amount of time and resources are expended by law-enforcement agencies and the courts in taking care of this stuff. While it’s true that in some instances vulnerable people need help, in many if not most instances the people who need these orders, or think they do, have brought much of their difficulty upon themselves and then expect the officials to bail them out of the messes into which they’ve gotten themselves.
Ross and Nunn had co-habited, apparently had fought, had split, and apparently Nunn figured the publicity had cost him a good state job. Who knows what else had been going on in this seamy business? The point is that the two had done their part in bringing about all the mess, including the protective order and murder. This happens all too often, especially with women who take their panties off one time too many and wind up with a problem when they turn the old boy away, perhaps for another old boy.
This may sound crass but taxpayers have a right to be unhappy when they spend money to clean up the messes caused by these woeful indiscretions, whether through domestic violence that often costs the lives of law-enforcement officers or just piling the courts with junk, the supposedly aggrieved either participating in the violence (he warn’t all that bad so the police [or po-lice] shouldn’t have been here even though I called them) or rescinding the orders.
Bottom line: Nunn would have carried out his objective even if he’d been wearing a GPS bracelet on both ankles and around his neck. The ladies need to understand that they should choose wisely, not party indiscriminately, stay sober, and avoid adultery and fornicating. Sound insensitive? So what!
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Friday, July 08, 2011
Obama's Libya-Rape Continues
ABC News, 18 March, concerning Libya: “In his meeting with Members of Congress today, sources tell ABC News, President Obama said he expected that the period that the US would be involved in heavy kinetic activity would be ‘days, not weeks,’ after which he said the U.S. would then take more of a supporting role.” Assuming that “kinetic activity” does not include the use of drones and that “supporting role” does include the furnishing of bombs and missiles to NATO nations which, coincidentally, just don’t have any more missiles and bombs to fire upon the Libyans , the president has carried double-speak, teleprompted or not, to a whole new level.
This is the definition of “kinetic” (Merriam-Webster, 11th Collegiate): “of or relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces and energy associated therewith.” In other words, anything this country has done regarding Libya at any time is “kinetic.” U.S.-GI-material-bodies were ordered by the commander-in-chief to kill Libyans, starting on 19 March and (through NATO, owned and controlled by Obama) continuing until today. They used material bodies called bombs and missiles to do so, and Obama has continued that use until today.
So…everything that has been done and/or used since 19 March can be classified as “kinetic” (not just the first ten days when the U.S. spent $55 million on the project each day) and “supporting role” (both in the first ten days and now). Current cost in dispatching Libyans/Muslims to eternity continues to mount.
ABC News, 15 June, concerning Libya: “In a report revealing that the total cost of US intervention in Libya as of June 3 has been $716 million and will reach $1.1 billion by the end of September, the Obama administration today told congressional leaders in a report that the role of the US military is so limited, congressional authorization is not needed.” The president said “days, not weeks,” but apparently he didn’t consider that the 105 or so days or the 15 or so weeks since 19 March actually amounted to days/weeks, or maybe he was thinking of months, now up to 3.5 months and counting.
Obama invested $550 million tax-dollars in the Libya massacre in the first ten days and is on line to invest another $550 million by the end of September, the latter, of course, in a non-kinetic supporting role, which is just as kinetic as the first kinetic role. One wonders if he thinks the general population is so collectively dumb that it can’t figure out both the kind and volume of his subterfuge.
One wonders, also, about Congress, which in Obama’s mind seems not to exist, and perhaps for good reason. The president obviously is accountable to no one. He unilaterally declared war on Libya – without even a presidential proclamation, to say nothing of one from Congress – and ordered decent men to commit murder on a nation with a population two-million less than that of New York City that has never been a threat to this country in either words or actions. The representatives and senators had no say in the matter, meaning that the people didn’t, either. The collective congressional spine is made of jelly and the citizens are un-represented. The founders of this nation would flip in their graves.
The people who have the greatest dread of war, as well as the consequent motivation to do anything to avoid it, are those who have experienced it…those who have seen and smelled the blood, gathered the dead and ministered to the twisted and torn bodies of the wounded. The president can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a Libyan when the planes or drones are heard overhead. He also can’t imagine what it’s like to administer bombs and missiles on innocent people, never mind the talk of taking out only “strategic targets.”
The bombs in Libya have been falling in residential neighborhoods, with Obama and NATO insisting that the targets were legitimate, usually “command-and-control centers.” Just one malfunctioning part of a bomb or missile sends it anywhere but where it’s intended to blow up “things.” That means that the carnage is anywhere an errant or even a properly functioning device lands. People are where the things are…euphemistically labeled “collateral damage.”
If there were a reason for all the Libyan bloodletting at the hands of Obama and NATO, there would be no condemnation of it. As it is, Obama has much innocent blood on his hands and is aiming to be smeared with much more. Disgusting! It’s long since past the time to stop the killing.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
This is the definition of “kinetic” (Merriam-Webster, 11th Collegiate): “of or relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces and energy associated therewith.” In other words, anything this country has done regarding Libya at any time is “kinetic.” U.S.-GI-material-bodies were ordered by the commander-in-chief to kill Libyans, starting on 19 March and (through NATO, owned and controlled by Obama) continuing until today. They used material bodies called bombs and missiles to do so, and Obama has continued that use until today.
So…everything that has been done and/or used since 19 March can be classified as “kinetic” (not just the first ten days when the U.S. spent $55 million on the project each day) and “supporting role” (both in the first ten days and now). Current cost in dispatching Libyans/Muslims to eternity continues to mount.
ABC News, 15 June, concerning Libya: “In a report revealing that the total cost of US intervention in Libya as of June 3 has been $716 million and will reach $1.1 billion by the end of September, the Obama administration today told congressional leaders in a report that the role of the US military is so limited, congressional authorization is not needed.” The president said “days, not weeks,” but apparently he didn’t consider that the 105 or so days or the 15 or so weeks since 19 March actually amounted to days/weeks, or maybe he was thinking of months, now up to 3.5 months and counting.
Obama invested $550 million tax-dollars in the Libya massacre in the first ten days and is on line to invest another $550 million by the end of September, the latter, of course, in a non-kinetic supporting role, which is just as kinetic as the first kinetic role. One wonders if he thinks the general population is so collectively dumb that it can’t figure out both the kind and volume of his subterfuge.
One wonders, also, about Congress, which in Obama’s mind seems not to exist, and perhaps for good reason. The president obviously is accountable to no one. He unilaterally declared war on Libya – without even a presidential proclamation, to say nothing of one from Congress – and ordered decent men to commit murder on a nation with a population two-million less than that of New York City that has never been a threat to this country in either words or actions. The representatives and senators had no say in the matter, meaning that the people didn’t, either. The collective congressional spine is made of jelly and the citizens are un-represented. The founders of this nation would flip in their graves.
The people who have the greatest dread of war, as well as the consequent motivation to do anything to avoid it, are those who have experienced it…those who have seen and smelled the blood, gathered the dead and ministered to the twisted and torn bodies of the wounded. The president can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a Libyan when the planes or drones are heard overhead. He also can’t imagine what it’s like to administer bombs and missiles on innocent people, never mind the talk of taking out only “strategic targets.”
The bombs in Libya have been falling in residential neighborhoods, with Obama and NATO insisting that the targets were legitimate, usually “command-and-control centers.” Just one malfunctioning part of a bomb or missile sends it anywhere but where it’s intended to blow up “things.” That means that the carnage is anywhere an errant or even a properly functioning device lands. People are where the things are…euphemistically labeled “collateral damage.”
If there were a reason for all the Libyan bloodletting at the hands of Obama and NATO, there would be no condemnation of it. As it is, Obama has much innocent blood on his hands and is aiming to be smeared with much more. Disgusting! It’s long since past the time to stop the killing.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Fragile Freedom
“Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.” ~ Ronald Reagan, from his first inaugural speech as governor of California, January 5, 1967
This gem of wisdom from former president Reagan is particularly apropos currently as Americans celebrate Independence Day. The tendency is to think of freedom only in terms of attaining and maintaining it through the trials and tribulations of war. This was the tool of necessity – certainly not the weapon of choice – that was used to form the United States. Blood was shed as the seed…the nation germinated and grew from it.
Freedom for the nation as a whole was threatened by the secession-states in 1861. Whereas the nation was declared on 04 July 1776, it was re-declared both symbolically and substantively 04-06 July 1863 at Gettysburg exactly 87 years later, with respect to the shedding of blood. The war that developed as a result of the former was long and bloody. So was the war vis-à-vis the latter, of which Gettysburg was but one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles. When this writer was born, there were a number of Civil War veterans still alive. To him, therefore, that victory has a unique meaning, especially since his great-grandfather and two great-uncles, all immigrants born in England, fought in the Union Army.
Freedom, however, can be lost un-militarily and it is this fact that should concern the nation currently. This has to do with Reagan’s observation that freedom is a “fragile thing.” Even now, when both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars were/are little more to today’s youngsters than stuff in history books, young people will fight and die for what they have – fragile freedom saved through the shedding of blood. They know the good life, especially as compared to the lives of people in other countries.
The present danger to freedom is not susceptible to military action. It’s the danger that either creeps or quickly strikes from within. In his 2008 campaign, President Obama spoke of the need to rewrite the Constitution in order to provide for the redistribution of wealth, i.e., taking possessions from one person and giving them to another, in this case probably through taxation. He also spoke of the need for a national police force, reminding those old enough to remember of Hitler’s Gestapo and Stalin’s KGB. This represents two dangers to freedom – denial of ownership and the force to make it stick.
In 2008, the president said he intended to make electricity rates “skyrocket” and that he would see to it that those who presumed to build coal-fired generators would be bankrupted. The House, with no member having read the bill that would make this happen, went along with its approval of the cap/trade legislation but the Senate won’t touch it for good reason. So, the president, through his czars/regulators, is attempting to make it happen administratively. The president claims his action is to protect the climate from manmade warming, but by now everyone knows that manmade global warming is a hoax, so the president’s agenda seems to be the sinking of the economy through pricing power, its providers and its users out of the market. To what end? Total control of the population!
The president’s healthcare bill, also unread by legislators, was passed through the browbeating of legislators and finally through outright subterfuge involving Congressional parliamentary maneuvers. It’s common knowledge now that this unbelievably expensive program represents the government’s attempt at total control of its people through its bureaucracy making all medical decisions, thus stealing the freedom of life itself – perhaps the most telling one – from the citizenry.
Obama has surrounded himself with perhaps 35-40 “czars” who are responsible only to him and whose collective job is to regulate everything and everybody to an extent designed to usurp individual freedom – the saving of people from themselves. The fact that this is happening is proof that freedom is what Reagan said it is – fragile. The eroding of freedom eventuating in Socialism – the welfare state – has been creeping-up on the citizenry for some time but is now quickening its pace. Is the nation about to lose its freedom…forever, as Reagan said would be the case if and when it is lost?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
This gem of wisdom from former president Reagan is particularly apropos currently as Americans celebrate Independence Day. The tendency is to think of freedom only in terms of attaining and maintaining it through the trials and tribulations of war. This was the tool of necessity – certainly not the weapon of choice – that was used to form the United States. Blood was shed as the seed…the nation germinated and grew from it.
Freedom for the nation as a whole was threatened by the secession-states in 1861. Whereas the nation was declared on 04 July 1776, it was re-declared both symbolically and substantively 04-06 July 1863 at Gettysburg exactly 87 years later, with respect to the shedding of blood. The war that developed as a result of the former was long and bloody. So was the war vis-à-vis the latter, of which Gettysburg was but one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles. When this writer was born, there were a number of Civil War veterans still alive. To him, therefore, that victory has a unique meaning, especially since his great-grandfather and two great-uncles, all immigrants born in England, fought in the Union Army.
Freedom, however, can be lost un-militarily and it is this fact that should concern the nation currently. This has to do with Reagan’s observation that freedom is a “fragile thing.” Even now, when both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars were/are little more to today’s youngsters than stuff in history books, young people will fight and die for what they have – fragile freedom saved through the shedding of blood. They know the good life, especially as compared to the lives of people in other countries.
The present danger to freedom is not susceptible to military action. It’s the danger that either creeps or quickly strikes from within. In his 2008 campaign, President Obama spoke of the need to rewrite the Constitution in order to provide for the redistribution of wealth, i.e., taking possessions from one person and giving them to another, in this case probably through taxation. He also spoke of the need for a national police force, reminding those old enough to remember of Hitler’s Gestapo and Stalin’s KGB. This represents two dangers to freedom – denial of ownership and the force to make it stick.
In 2008, the president said he intended to make electricity rates “skyrocket” and that he would see to it that those who presumed to build coal-fired generators would be bankrupted. The House, with no member having read the bill that would make this happen, went along with its approval of the cap/trade legislation but the Senate won’t touch it for good reason. So, the president, through his czars/regulators, is attempting to make it happen administratively. The president claims his action is to protect the climate from manmade warming, but by now everyone knows that manmade global warming is a hoax, so the president’s agenda seems to be the sinking of the economy through pricing power, its providers and its users out of the market. To what end? Total control of the population!
The president’s healthcare bill, also unread by legislators, was passed through the browbeating of legislators and finally through outright subterfuge involving Congressional parliamentary maneuvers. It’s common knowledge now that this unbelievably expensive program represents the government’s attempt at total control of its people through its bureaucracy making all medical decisions, thus stealing the freedom of life itself – perhaps the most telling one – from the citizenry.
Obama has surrounded himself with perhaps 35-40 “czars” who are responsible only to him and whose collective job is to regulate everything and everybody to an extent designed to usurp individual freedom – the saving of people from themselves. The fact that this is happening is proof that freedom is what Reagan said it is – fragile. The eroding of freedom eventuating in Socialism – the welfare state – has been creeping-up on the citizenry for some time but is now quickening its pace. Is the nation about to lose its freedom…forever, as Reagan said would be the case if and when it is lost?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Obama - War Criminal?
Though it has no police powers or police force, the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, has just issued an arrest warrant for Libyan strongman/dictator Muammar Qadaffi. Presumably, any individual, military force, nation or group apprehending Qadaffi must turn him over to the Court so he can be tried on the charge “crimes against humanity for killing civilians who rose up against his rule,” according to the Associated Press, 28 June. Presently, Qaddafi is more or less hunkered down and dodging bombs and missiles being rained upon him by the U.S. and NATO, though obviously not in its usual “peace-keeping” mode.
Similar “crimes” have been the order of the day in the Middle East since time immemorial, with a few others also in motion now in places such as Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia and, of course, Iran. The word from Libya is that hundreds have been arrested, injured or killed, with reasonable grounds that Qaddafi and his son were responsible. Of course, the figures are without verification (always hundreds or thousands in these dustups – no one knows). The current figures in Syria in that ongoing bloodletting is something like 1,400, but where do the figures come from? Only recently has strongman Assad allowed any reporters in.
So…Qaddafi is in trouble with the Court because he allegedly has killed Libyans, his own people. He probably has…probably quite a few of them, and he promised to maintain his methods, like all the other dictators, until the insurgency is stopped. There probably is proof of this, though it has never been brought forward. Perhaps – if it had either the authority or the funds – the Court should offer a $25 million reward for the capture of Qaddafi (but not for killing him – that would be un-Courtly). After all, the U.S. offered that reward to anyone leading to the capture or killing of bin Laden, about which the president crows on a daily basis. Bounty-hunters would crawl out of the woodwork all over the world, especially in Somalia, where flesh-trading and kidnapping are a way of life.
Beyond a shadow of doubt and with abundant proof, however, the president of the United States has ordered his military to kill Libyans, beginning last March and continuing until now, with no end of the killing in sight and with some $750 million invested in the project already. His claim to have handed the killing operation off to NATO is, as Veep Biden would have it, FLUFFERNUTTER, the appellation he ascribed to John Edwards’ speeches in 2008. The U.S. owns NATO lock, stock and barrel and finances its operations as well as kicks in with human resources. At a word from Obama, the killing would stop immediately. Virtually all, or at least a huge part, of the killing was done by the U.S. in the first ten days of Obama’s massacre, while NATO was deciding whether or not to do as told by Obama and continue the carnage.
Since it is abundantly demonstrable that Libya had not attacked the U.S. and had made no threats to do so, as well as it being a public record that Obama did not consult Congress as required Constitutionally
for the act of war he committed, there is an extreme irony. Under current law and the manual for courts-martial, “An order requiring the performance of a military duty or act may be inferred to be lawful and it is disobeyed at the peril of the subordinate. This inference does not apply to a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime.”
Since the president was not acting in defense of the nation in attacking Libya and therefore willfully committing warfare, he was committing a criminal act (murder), thus violating his responsibility as commander-in-chief and citizen. Since the president was guilty of committing the same crimes as the Court accused Qaddafi of committing, i.e., killing Libyans, he was (or should be judged) just as guilty as Qaddafi under the aegis of the Court in the Netherlands. In other words, if Qaddafi is a war criminal, so is Obama.
The further irony lies in the fact that a service-member might well have been absolved of any order-disobedience because of being ordered to commit a criminal act (murder of innocent civilians). Indeed, both Defense Secretary Gates and Joint-Chiefs Chairman Mullen had publicly advised against Obama’s off-the-wall, totally wacky action, apparently taken on a mere whim without even sufficient military or post-war planning, as evidenced by Gates’ further description of the action during his trip to Russia as the hostilities began: "We haven't done something like this, kind of on the fly before." He obviously was out-of-the-loop.
There can be no greater arrogance or infamy than willful killing. The president will not be hailed into Court in the Netherlands, though he for no reason has attacked a weak nation with a population two million less than that of New York City…sort of like a lion attacking a mouse, except that the lion has a reason. One wonders if Obama has a reason for continuing the massacre, and if it might have something to do with NATO members Britain, France, Spain and Italy vis-à-vis Libyan oil. One hopes not.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Similar “crimes” have been the order of the day in the Middle East since time immemorial, with a few others also in motion now in places such as Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia and, of course, Iran. The word from Libya is that hundreds have been arrested, injured or killed, with reasonable grounds that Qaddafi and his son were responsible. Of course, the figures are without verification (always hundreds or thousands in these dustups – no one knows). The current figures in Syria in that ongoing bloodletting is something like 1,400, but where do the figures come from? Only recently has strongman Assad allowed any reporters in.
So…Qaddafi is in trouble with the Court because he allegedly has killed Libyans, his own people. He probably has…probably quite a few of them, and he promised to maintain his methods, like all the other dictators, until the insurgency is stopped. There probably is proof of this, though it has never been brought forward. Perhaps – if it had either the authority or the funds – the Court should offer a $25 million reward for the capture of Qaddafi (but not for killing him – that would be un-Courtly). After all, the U.S. offered that reward to anyone leading to the capture or killing of bin Laden, about which the president crows on a daily basis. Bounty-hunters would crawl out of the woodwork all over the world, especially in Somalia, where flesh-trading and kidnapping are a way of life.
Beyond a shadow of doubt and with abundant proof, however, the president of the United States has ordered his military to kill Libyans, beginning last March and continuing until now, with no end of the killing in sight and with some $750 million invested in the project already. His claim to have handed the killing operation off to NATO is, as Veep Biden would have it, FLUFFERNUTTER, the appellation he ascribed to John Edwards’ speeches in 2008. The U.S. owns NATO lock, stock and barrel and finances its operations as well as kicks in with human resources. At a word from Obama, the killing would stop immediately. Virtually all, or at least a huge part, of the killing was done by the U.S. in the first ten days of Obama’s massacre, while NATO was deciding whether or not to do as told by Obama and continue the carnage.
Since it is abundantly demonstrable that Libya had not attacked the U.S. and had made no threats to do so, as well as it being a public record that Obama did not consult Congress as required Constitutionally
for the act of war he committed, there is an extreme irony. Under current law and the manual for courts-martial, “An order requiring the performance of a military duty or act may be inferred to be lawful and it is disobeyed at the peril of the subordinate. This inference does not apply to a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime.”
Since the president was not acting in defense of the nation in attacking Libya and therefore willfully committing warfare, he was committing a criminal act (murder), thus violating his responsibility as commander-in-chief and citizen. Since the president was guilty of committing the same crimes as the Court accused Qaddafi of committing, i.e., killing Libyans, he was (or should be judged) just as guilty as Qaddafi under the aegis of the Court in the Netherlands. In other words, if Qaddafi is a war criminal, so is Obama.
The further irony lies in the fact that a service-member might well have been absolved of any order-disobedience because of being ordered to commit a criminal act (murder of innocent civilians). Indeed, both Defense Secretary Gates and Joint-Chiefs Chairman Mullen had publicly advised against Obama’s off-the-wall, totally wacky action, apparently taken on a mere whim without even sufficient military or post-war planning, as evidenced by Gates’ further description of the action during his trip to Russia as the hostilities began: "We haven't done something like this, kind of on the fly before." He obviously was out-of-the-loop.
There can be no greater arrogance or infamy than willful killing. The president will not be hailed into Court in the Netherlands, though he for no reason has attacked a weak nation with a population two million less than that of New York City…sort of like a lion attacking a mouse, except that the lion has a reason. One wonders if Obama has a reason for continuing the massacre, and if it might have something to do with NATO members Britain, France, Spain and Italy vis-à-vis Libyan oil. One hopes not.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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