BIG BEND BIKERS FOR FREEDOM
We make no attempt to be "politically correct". Left, Right, or Center. "Argue for your limitations and they are yours" Bach
I'm trying to work yesterday with the news in the background when all these stories, Obama and social security, McConnell (aka Alvin the Chip monks daddy) petulantly saying he doesn't want to play anymore, Ron Paul and the banks, further proof that Pakistan is using the money we give them to kill our soldiers, Gingrich doesn't want to sign a slavery/marriage pledge, Death threats to Casey Jurors resulting in talking heads such as Nancy Grace (my God what a talking head, talk talk talk talk talk) titillating "opinions" that we now need professional jurors because Americans aren't smart enough to be jurors, start coming at me so fast I started experiencing cognitive dissonance. Whoa now, whats real and what isn't? Did I hear somebody was going to duck tape a wick to a bowling ball and go to the airport (whoops excuse me, that was America has talent)?
As a past connoisseur of hallucinogenics (enough so that it is still questionable as to whether or not I ever left the sixties) I can't afford cognitive dissonance! It makes the locust that appeared in my head after the last time I bounced my head off the rear bumper of something splitting my helmet down the middle, get louder and louder. Which is all just another way of saying that reality is somewhat tenuous for me on a good day.
But having sworn off hallucinogens I no longer have them to blame. Which leaves me pointing the finger at Stepford wife and Uber Christian Michelle Bachmann. Please do not get me wrong. I have not prejudged Ms. Bachmann. In fact when my eyes first fell upon her I was smitten. Unlike President Carter who "lusted in his heart" I was lusting in my jeans pocket. In fact I told my ol Lady, tell me if that Bachmann lady comes back on, I gotta change my jeans.
There is something erotic about the fantasy of a Faux Christian Milf dressed in PTA clothes, riding fender fluff position on the back of my Bike as we cruise down the internet blowing the horn at truckers.
"Breaker 19, ya'll......."
fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign New Latin First Known Use: 1903
Newt Gingrich has a long history of Muslim baiting (pick an article). Which is strange when you consider this quote by him from Human Events, 07/21/2010 (emphasis ours):
A commitment to religious freedom and God-given rights is being replaced by a secular oppression that increasingly resembles the government-imposed atheism of Soviet totalitarianism.
He was recently once again offered a platform by the news media where he might expand on his distaste for Muslims and the danger they present to the nation.
I can handle conservatives that have a grasp on reality. I can handle Liberals that have a grasp of reality.
I can not handle the self affected, pseudo-intellectual, snobbery some media talking heads exhibit as they display their ignorance, having no idea what in the hell they are talking about. MSNBC's Chris Matthews, in our opinion has joined the ranks of Beck, Hannity and Rush in professing he knows what the "people" (you know, the "common people" like you and I, well maybe not me)think, while at the
same time talking down to them.
Tonight he exhibited a certain amount of self righteous indignation, while showing a clip of Sarah Palin using the adjectives such as impotent, limp, weak and hiding behind skirts, to define certain detractors and people she may disagree with.
Mr. Matthews seemed shocked that people spoke this way??? He even stated that he didn't think most people did. Which of course shows how divorced from reality he is, proving once again that, in fact, he really is a "talking head".
We must keep in mind that in everything false there is always a bit of truth. Our arena, is primarily working class people, sprinkled with white collar professionals, and a few that even have money. Damn go figure. All of them with enough "street cred" to make Mathews hardball look like badminton. Some of them can even snort wine with the best of them.
And Mathews is correct in that they may not use words such as "limp" alone. More often they would use it in a sentence such as that, "limp dick mother fucker!" Or, "I'm gonna kick that weak kneed son of bitch's ass once I find him out from behind his ol lady's skirts". Or "that impotent excuse for a reporter" needs to move out beyond the Beltway and spend a little time slumming with the "average people."
Because what he fails to realize, is that Ms. Palin is exactly in touch with the "common man" and for many is a turn on. We were at one time clear in our own minds (yes we have more than one) as to the difference between "a turn on" and "presidential material". Then again at one time we were taken in by the "intellectualism" and "fake streetism" exhibited by Obama, as he exhorted thousands of young people with "Yes we can" while privately he must have been thinking, "oh no, hell we can't."
College students have an excuse to be naive. I don't. My only excuse is that, yes, at times I can be suckered by Idealism.
I will not deny that I listen to Oberman or Maddow. Hell sometimes, like after I have had bad chinese and need to upchuck I may even listen to Mark Levine (but it has to be really, really, bad chinese).
But if MSNBC can not do something about Mathews professing to speak for us "commoners" then I may be forced to back Palin and wage a campaign to make her "fender fluff" (look it up, Matthews) of the year. Cause like it would appear, the last time I voted for an intellectual, he broke his promise and made a deal to give more of our money to the rich. We don't cotton kindly to them what would throw us not in the back of the bus, but under it!Add to Technorati Favorites
Reported on MSNBC last night and raging across the internet are the results of a recent Harris poll taken at the height of health care reform debate:
67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.
57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim
45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was “not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president”
38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did”
Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama “may be the Antichrist.”
So O.K. the Harris Poll did not weigh in on the dumbing down of America. The Harris Poll also did not weigh in on the prevalence of Schizophrenia in America. However it would appear that delusional thinking has now become epidemic.
Of course I am not referring to the 38% of the respondents who feel Obama is copying Hitler or the 24% that think he is the Antichrist. Of course not. I am referring to the millions of people who think
that those people are whacked.
It is obvious we have been infected by some virus. Most assuredly this virus was developed by the New World Order in league with Satan. The virus was then spread through the subliminal messages transmitted to anybody that got their news from anywhere other than the holy trinity (and no were not talking about the nude pics of that chick from the Matrix) of Rush, Hannity and Beck.
You were saved of course if you only got your news from the Gods of Fox News. Doing so enabled you to get a subliminal vaccination against the virus. It also gifted you with a unique clarity of vision that enables you take Sarah Palin seriously.
Woe to the rest of us who have not seen the coming apocalypse. Woe to those whose God, obviously fears not the those born in other nations, persons of different colors and political ideologies for we have been fooled.
We will be left behind and made to take the mark of the beast as all the Obama haters, racists and a heap of Republicans are lifted to Heaven in the twinkling of an eye. Or a nano-second, whichever comes first.
My friends I beseech you, for I have pulled back the veil and seen the light. Yes, only by accident did I listen to an hour of Hannity and the veil was lifted. I was immediately inspired to tune into Beck seek out Rush and was given the word. "Twitter Sarah," it said, "Twit her and confess and be filled with truth, justice and the American way."
Yes I beseech you I say. HELL, IN THE NAME OF RUSH LIMBAUGH I COMMAND YOU!
Turn from you evil ways. Disable all TV channels other than Fox news. Glue your Radios to the Angelic harmonizing of the extremist vocalizations of Gods word as interpreted by the Holy Trinity, i.e Hannity, Rush and Beck.
Take no pill not endorsed by Limbaugh for it may contain micro-transmitters that transmit every thought into the head of the beast. Seek no sobriety not endorsed by Beck lest you be trapped in never ending D.T.'s. Seek no truth other than that straight from the doctored lips of Sean Hannity lest you be exposed to the following:
Warning Will Robinson, Warning, DISCLAIMER ALERT, DISCLAIMER ALERT:
The following is in no way meant to be a reflection of my stand on the Health Care Bill. I have not read it (as a heap of other folk haven't) and do not feel qualified to take a stand at this time. It is also not to be construed to be an indication of any leanings towards any particular political party. Personally I think they are all crooks and Scam artists!
Whoa, hold the presses. Better yet, burn em. What a unique freaking concept. Learn about a subject before formulating an opinion.
Nah that can't be can it. You mean to say that if we were to sit down and actually study/research/learn about a topic we might actually have to change our minds bout how we feel about it?
Ain't happening I tell ya. Primarily because changing our minds about something is the same as saying you mean I could have been wrong about something. OH NOOOOOOOOOO..........God forbid.
Especially if it means I have to study, research and learn. All things that require time and effort when we all have so much better to do. Like running around parroting the philistines masked as the Holy Trinity of Hannity, Limbaugh and Beck would never stir us wrong would they? Of course not. Provided of course you be content drooling over "Palin" (as I have done so many an evening. So much brains in so much body who wouldn't) who they continue to refer to as "Governor Palin" as if she still holds the same legitimacy she held before she quit her low paying Governor job for the fame and riches of Fox "fair and Balanced" crapcasting.
Just as an aside could somebody explain to me how that little scenario works. You call yourself a "fair and balanced" NEWS Network and then hire some as a "News commentator" who will double as as "Party Fundraiser"???????
I'm wondering if the powers to be have read Lenin ((Russian Founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917,1870-1924) who said,
But ya know that health care bill the loudest voices have been telling us the American People do not want? Guess What? Wrong???????????? At least according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll was able to determine. Keep in mind that the Kaiser Family Foundation is generally considered fairly unbiased if not fair and balanced.
(RTTNews) - While the public remains divided over Democrats' efforts to enact health care reform legislation, a new poll released Friday found that support for the effort grew when people were advised of its key provisions.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation poll, which was conducted before the Massachusetts special election was won by a Republican, stripping Democrats of the 60th vote needed to overcome a GOP filibuster, 42 percent of Americans supported the Democrats' plan.
Almost as many, 41 percent, were opposed to the effort, while 16 percent were undecided. (ok, like this means by a majority of 1% Americans supported this plan at the time of the poll. Right or Wrong?)
However, the poll found that a majority supported the bill more after hearing about some of its elements.(O.K. so now your above 1% majority for, minority against. And why I am writhing this I am flogging myself for the effort knowing that Hannity, Limberg and Beckhave already ripped this appart and proven it wrong and themselves as usual, intellectual Gods. Hmmm, Does that make FORMER Gov. Palin a "Godette?")
On hearing that the bill offers tax credits to small business owners to help them offer health insurance to their workers, 73 percent said they were more supportive of the legislation.(oh God please take pity on the poor souls of open minds who upon being capable of learning are also able to think for themselves)!
A large majority, 67 percent, said they were more supportive of the bill when told that it included a national exchange to help individuals and small companies buy affordable health insurance, while 63 percent said a ban on exclusion of coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions made them more supportive.
All told, the poll found that 17 of the bill's 27 major provisions made a majority of people more supportive of it, while only two provisions made them feel less supportive. (blasphemy, heresy, the poll is obviously flawed. But then again they may have accidentally polled a couple people who rememberAIG (for a good read: NY Fed to be subpoenaed for AIG bailout docs. Move comes after Fed told bailout watchdog not to give files to House panel), Travelers, Allstate, and State farm of Katrina and the good care and quick response they provided their clients during the disaster, choke, choke!) Yepper them poor bastards would have skewed the poll results wouldn't they? People shouls only be allowed to take poos that swear on a Bible to give the answers pollsters want, dont'cha think?)
The requirement of most Americans to buy health insurance was one such negative provision with 62 percent saying that made them less supportive, and just more than half, 51 percent, said the bill's $871 billion cost made them less supportive of the bill. (Maybe we could ask some bank executives for a loan)
"It's one thing to talk about the public's perception of health care reform legislation, which right now is in some ways negative," said Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman. "But it's another to tell people what's actually in the bill and when you do that people are more positive." (OH MY WORD. Did they just intimate that the Holy Trinity could actually help to "EDUCATE" the public as opposed to misleading them for FUN and PROFIT!)
The poll also found a stark partisan divide in opinions about the Congressional proposals, with 64 percent of Democrats supporting the measure and 76 percent of Republicans opposed. (Unfortunately the Democrats, Libertarians and others have not yet found a trio of demigods to which they can plug into like "Captain Picard and the Borg." I'm quite sure they will though, they have a start with Oberman and Maddow on MSNBC).
Independents were slightly opposed to the measure, with 42 percent against it and 41 percent supporting. However, 52 percent said it was more important than ever to enact some kind of reform.(Yippee Kiyay for that 52%. At least they have a clue).
Seniors leaned against the Democrats' proposals, with 48 percent opposed, 37 percent in favor and 15 percent undecided.
However, only 37 percent of seniors were aware that the bill includes a provision to help them afford prescription drugs by closing a 'donut hole' in Medicaid prescription drug coverage. Some 60 percent of seniors said that provision would make them more supportive of the legislation.(one might ask oneself, or not, why is it that 63% of seniors were unaware of something that would have such an impact on their lifestyles. I mean like don't we have a press? Don't we have "News"? Are these 63% being held captive in a nursing home cafeteria or something? My personal experience is that the elderly are generally more informed than other demographics. Could it be that those who claim to be the purveyors of knowledge, awareness, all things of importance and once in awhile news some how missed something?)
by RTT Staff Writer
Now for all them folk that have or can afford insurance such as the likes of those whom we vote to represent us have made sure that they have (and I suspect Rush, Hannity, and Beck have as good if not better), well I be happy for you and I would suggest you not support a bill that might help to ease the misery of some of your inferiors.
And to all them folk what ain't never been in a situation where such insurance has be needed, I pray your good fortune continues but ask you to remember, "but for the grace of God go YOU.Add to Technorati Favorites"
One has to wonder if the tea party participants are aware that, unless they are already rich, they are cementing their future as "serfs"?
Hedge Fund Managers only stay hedge fund managers by being good hedge fund managers and good hedge fund managers get rich. They do this by running money for those who are really, really, really rich. They are not investment vehicles most people who might read this are able to participate in. Many require as much as a million dollar initial investment. And no, you can't even come close to this level of investing in an etf (exchange traded fund or mutual fund). Hedge funds generally do not have as many government restrictions as the investment vehicles the common man has available to them. In other words, the playing field is not even!
Then, some of us think we know what "rich" is, when in reality many of us have no idea. But just for illustration, from:
according to travel and liesure; Yacht Rentals, Villa Rentals, "Experimental Excursions", Luxury Cruises, Vacation Home Rentals, Spa Services.. (and have you seen the price of Cristal these days?). The cost of the AVERAGE high net worth individual’s summer spending on these luxury items was $1.2M.
Summer Activity
Average Planned Spending
Yacht rentals
$384,000
Redecorating
$129,000
Villa rentals
$106,000
Experiential excursions
$103,000
Jewelry/watches
$94,000
Luxury cruises
$92,000
Charitable giving
$82,000
Vacation-home rentals
$82,000
Out-of-home spa services
$61,000
Summer entertaining
$56,000
I personally can not remember a time when I planned on spending 1.2 million on a summer vacation. Can You? And since this is America, the home of free capitalism, I can not or will not begrudge those who can the fruits of their labors. After all as the article states, "America is cranking out multi-millionaires at a record pace."
However that same article states the following:
What’s scary is that doubling the amount of people who have more than $10M per household (from 300K to 600K) means there’s $3,000,000,000,000 less available for the other 98% of the of the households as MONEY IS A COMMODITY and can only be possessed by one person OR another.
My suspicion is that you and I, me anyway, are in that "other 98% of the households." This article goes on to say that,
While you hear a lot of talk of wealth creation for all, our M1 money supply (before the Fed stopped measuring it’s out-of-control growth) was adding "just" $1Trillion a year to the global economy. If the wealthy households gained $9T in value over the past 10 years, EVEN WITH THE FED MINTING AN AVERAGE OF $500B PER YEAR IN NEW MONEY, then the other $4,000,000,000,000 HAD to come out of the other 98% of US households.
and
One of the great tricks of our economy is that there are avenues of wealth creation that are available to those of us who are already rich that are denied to those of you who aren’t.
Keep in mind that the article being quoted is written by a "Hedge Fund Manager."
Now if you have the kind of money being talked about above you are probably not going to concern yourself much with the price of gas at the pump or how many MPG's your vehicle gets. In fact you probably haven't pumped your own gas in awhile.
So you are not going to bother yourself with silly details like, "how is it that we are driving fewer miles, oil inventories are increasing even though we imported 2,041,000 barrels perday less than we did last year, yet the price of gas continues to rise? The mentioned figures coming from:
which goes on to state:
See, this solves everything! By paying double for crude and other commodities we can have a "recovery" even if those damn poor people refuse to buy because there are plenty of things they HAVE to buy and we, my fellow top 10%’ers, can MAKE THEM PAY! Do you care that a 20-gallon tank of gas went from $35 last year to $55 last week - of course not, we spend that at Whole Foods (WFMI) on peanut butter…
The magic of commodity inflation, especially on the essential commodites like food and energy (which are not counted as inflation by the Fed since it’s "non-core") is that the average people cannot cut back. Sure they may put off buying new sneakers or a new shirt or replacing the stove but THEY’VE GOTTA EAT and they NEED to drive their cars (unless, of course, they have [snicker] public transportation) so let them desperately try to cut back their consumption by 17% -- WE’LL JUST CHARGE THEM DOUBLE!
That is how we are "fixing" the economy.
Now there are many that would have us believe that our current dilemma has been brought about by one party/administration or the other. The spin and propaganda mills on all side are good and very adept at co-opting popular solutions and calling them their own idea. In fact it is possible that our best chance at revolutionary change has been stolen from us by "tea baggers" (For which there are two definitions. Google them and determine which one fits.) who can not even identify "Rick Santelli"(The first to call for a tea party) or define "socialism."
Listening or reading much of the media would have us believing that the current economic difficulties are recent, but are getting better and will get even better if only we listen to those who are paid and profit from our believing one side or the other. We would submit to you, that the real power has a vested interest in keeping us at each others throats so as not to focus on who is really to blame. All of us. Consider the following:
We're uninformed. The healthcare smackdown—sorry, "debate"—is Exhibits A, B, and C. The soaring cost of healthcare is a problem that affects most Americans. It's shrinking paychecks, squeezing small businesses, bankrupting families and swelling the national debt. Yet outraged Americans seem most concerned about fictions like death panels and government-enforced euthanasia, while clinging to the myth that our current system of selective availability and perverse incentives somehow represents capitalist ideals. But let's take a break from that burdensome issue to examine the likelihood that President Obama was born in a foreign country and hoodwinked America into believing he was eligible to run for president.
People who lack the sense to question Big Lies always end up in deep trouble. Being well informed takes work, even with the Internet. In a democracy, that's simply a civic burden. If we're too foolish or lazy to educate ourselves on healthcare, global warming, financial reform, and other complicated issues, then we're signing ourselves over to special interests who see nothing wrong with plundering our national—and personal—wealth.
education. American 15-year-olds score below the average for advanced nations on math and science literacy. But don't worry, our nation's future leaders are still ahead of their peers in Mexico, Turkey, Greece, and a few other places.
to which we will add the reference to poverty as we are convinced ignorance breeds poverty which we prefer to refer to as "economic slavery."
Poverty. The U.S. poverty rate, about 17 percent, is third worst among the advanced nations tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In that sample, only Turkey and Mexico are worse.
to which we will add this quote from"4 Problems That Could Sink America", as we believe it contributes to both, "ignorance and poverty":
Kids in Asia spend the summer studying math and science while American mall rats are texting each other about Britney and Miley. "We need a different mind-set," says Guillen. "People need to invest more in their own future. Instead of buying stuff at the mall, spend the money on evening classes. Learn a language or skills you don't have."
I recently interviewed entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, who transformed his father's neighborhood liquor store into a $60 million business anchored by the Web site winelibrarytv.com. An overnight success? Hardly. Vaynerchuk has big plans, and he works at least 16 hours a day to achieve them. "If you want to work eight hours a day," he says, "you're going to get eight-hour-a-day results. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't want to hear you bitch about money if you're only willing to work eight hours a day."(emphasis ours).
The tea party ranters who argue for free market capitalism and those that would warn us against socialism need to understand something, to a certain extent free market capitalism is partly responsible for getting us into this mess and we are already a socialist state! The difference being that we would replace the word "state" in the definition by the term "Corporate/Government alliance" though we would prefer "gang of politicians and bankers."
By one measure, the government already plays an outsize role in our so-called free-market economy—and it has little to do with the recession. Economist Gary Shilling has calculated that 58 percent of the population is dependent on the government for "major parts of their income," including teachers, soldiers, bureaucrats, and other government employees; welfare and Social Security recipients; government pensioners; public housing beneficiaries; and people who work for government contractors. By 2018, Shilling estimates, an astounding 67 percent of Americans could be dependent on the government for their livelihood. The implications aren't comforting.
maybe individual rights activists could learn from the left,
and cash for clunkers-situational conservatism) and the number of individuals I know working for state agnecies or agencies that receive funding from state agencies who as part of their employment agreement are prohibited from participating in political demonstrations and you can see that for all our blathering we are already more "there" than not !
1950 is the starting point for Schillings calculations. Harry Truman (D) was President and 29% of the American Population depended on the Government. By 1980 that number had grown to 61%.
During those years the following served as President:
33
Harry S. Truman
1945-1953
Democrat
34
Dwight D. Eisenhower
1953-1961
Republican
35
John F. Kennedy
1961-1963
Democrat
36
Lyndon B. Johnson
1963-1969
Democrat
37
Richard M. Nixon
1969-1974
Republican
38
Gerald R. Ford
1974-1977
Republican
39
Jimmy Carter
1977-1981
Democrat
Schillings states that from 1980 to 2000 American dependence decreased.
Presidents serving during that time were:
40
Ronald Reagan
1981-1989
Republican
41
George Bush
1989-1993
Republican
42
Bill Clinton
1993-2001
Democrat
In 2000 the trend reversed. Presidents during this time period have been:
43
George W. Bush
2001-2008
Republican
44
Barack H. Obama
2009 -
Democrat
So from 1950 to our present dependency on the government there have been 6 Democratic Presidents and 6 Republican Presidents with arguably the largest government expansion occurring under George Bush (R). If you view this chart you will see that record debt was incurred consistently under Reagan, George Bush 1 and George Bush 2 .
So we could use these illustrations to demonstrate that despite what you may be led to believe Republicans have been largely responsible expansionist government policies which of course would prove the holy trinity of Rush, Hannity and Beck liars and send the rest of the extreme right into apoplectic fits.
However it is not our intention to place blame on one party or the other as our contention is the blame lies elsewhere and things are never as simple as we would like them to be. There are many variables that would need to be factored in. Make up of congress and the Supreme Court over those years and international conditions as examples. It is also stated:
but it reversed course after that, and it seems poised to keep going up. The size of government has generally held steady since 2000, but globalization, technology, and other factors have led to weak private-sector job creation over the past decade. And that was before the recession destroyed more than 8 million jobs. So the government has employed an increased share of Americans. The other big change since 2000 has been a near tripling of food-stamp recipients, as low earners got left out of the housing and stock-market booms and then suffered worse during the recession.
As technology advances, baby boomers age, life span is extended and we continue to imprison more citizens than any other free nation on earth this situation will only get worse. The public burden is going to naturally increase dramatically unless we adopt policies policies most currently reject such as euthanasia and setting up death farms as per the movie Soylent Green (circa 1973).
So just exactly where does the blame for our current situation lie. Not on President Bush or President O'bama we would contend. Voting records from the years 1960 to 2008 as reported by the Federal Election Commission. Data drawn from Congressional Research Service reports, Election Data Services Inc., and State Election Offices ( as inaccurate as they may be when you read the footnotes), show that in over half the two year election cycles less than half the population bothered to vote.
Out of the numbers of persons that did vote we must ask ourselves, how many voted along party lines as opposed to how many were truly informed as to the issues? Based on some observations I fear the answer to that question may be the scariest of all.
Furthermore if we add to Schilling's,
58 percent of the population is dependent on the government for "major parts of their income," including teachers, soldiers, bureaucrats, and other government employees; welfare and Social Securityrecipients; government pensioners; public housing beneficiaries; and people who work for government contractors. By 2018, Shilling estimates, an astounding 67 percent of Americans could be dependent on the government for their livelihood. The implications aren't comforting.
the numbers of persons dependent on the income of the listed above we believe we can prove that America has already entered into a socialist state ruled by a Corporate/Government Alliance consisting of the "privileged few".
The proof would be to ask those supported by the listed jobs above who say they are free market capitalist and against socialism to quit their jobs.
I suspect we would find that the loud mouths that claim a desire for freedom and independence would be quickly shut by the desire for safety/security! And yes, we are cognizant of the need for a certain
number of Federal and State workers. Just not at the expense of constitutional rights.
We the People are to blame for our current situation.
I know a gentleman that just recently traded in his Gas Guzzling truck for a new gas guzzling truck, paying cash with help from the Governments Cash for Clunkers program.
Ironically this particular individual worships at the holy trinity of Rush Limbaugh, Shawn Hannity and Bill O'rielly And will argue to death any issue that even smells of a tad of "liberalism".
Now this gentleman keeps current on the news and all the conservative issues, which of course is how he became aware of the cash for clunkers program. A billion dollar government program that is supposed to serve two purposes, stimulate consumer spending (i.e. bail out car companies and dealers) and get guzzlers off the road thereby improving the environment.
These two goals are accomplished in two ways, taking money from one segment of society and giving it to another and requiring that the vehicle you purchase gets an increase in mpg of at least a whopping "4 miles per gallon".
And then maybe not. After all if Insanity is defined as "doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results" then Motorcycle Rights Organizations ain't learned jack and the words "adapt and overcome seem to be a bit wasted."
In fact the far right, you know, the dudes and dudettes that enrich the likes of Shawn Hannity and Rush Limbaugh as they "talk, talk, talk," their way all the way to the bank, have a long ways to go to catch up with the activism of the far left.
Consider the article posted here about eco-terrorists and Animal Rights Activists. And if ya make it back here consider the following:
Most of the movements that have created actual change for the rights of individuals have been instigated by the "left" and eventually the "right" came around. Oh damn, I just heard a bunch of lock and loads on that one.
But it does seem a bit ironic to me that while the right is preaching tithe to the triad, i.e. government, corporations and bankers the "left" has historically been in the streets fighting. Now you can argue that all you want to just as the "right" would have you believe that Global warming does not exist, just as many would argue that creationism is based on sound science and I can chew gum, talk on a cell phone and drive a car at the same time, cause I be special smart and talented. Hmmmmm, I wonder if the top of the food chain of "free market capitalists" believe that "all men are created equal?"
Ain't there a heap of them at the moment with their hands out to the government? Blaming Obama the whole time? Jeez the hypocrisy can be overwhelming at times.
When Bright Futures was launched in 1997, it provided 42,319 scholarships for just under $70 million. Eleven years later, the cost to the lottery’s coffers has ballooned to more than $436.1 million, with 169,895 students benefiting from it, according to FloridaStudentFinancialAid.org.
'Reverse Robin Hood'
Eight years ago, the program was likened to the infamous hero of English folklore who robbed from the rich to give to the poor — only Bright Futures doesn’t involve wearing tights, and its actions, according to two researchers’ findings, are quite the opposite of Robin Hood’s.
University of North Florida economics professors Mary Borg and Harriet A. Stranahan explored who funds Bright Futures and who reaps its awards in a study they conducted in 2000.
Ultimately, they concluded that the program was “tantamount to an income redistribution program from non-white, low-income, uneducated households to white, rich, well-educated households.”
The reason for this, Borg said, is because the lottery is a regressive form of revenue, since its flat rates to play take a bigger chunk of income away from those with lower incomes than those with higher incomes.
Additionally, her research showed that minorities, people with lower incomes and the lowest educated, tended to spend the most on the lottery, in effect funding Bright Futures.
This wouldn’t be a problem, however, if those people were the ones whose futures were getting brighter as a result of the program, but Borg and Stranahan’s research also concluded that those same people are the ones who are least likely to receive Bright Futures.
“Minorities with lower incomes and lower-educated parents tend to have lower test scores due to their having fewer advantages at home,” Borg said. Without high enough SAT and ACT scores, students cannot receive the scholarship.
Of course when it came to cutting budgets this year no body wanted to touch this program. Oh no, a republican state wanting to do away with "welfare to the Rich". God forbid. No, no, no, lets cut all those touchy-feely, feel good programs, you know like rehabilitation for inmates? Substance Abuse treatment for those who can not afford it as we build more and bigger and more expensive to run prisons?????????
And why is that nobody can get rid of pork in the Federal budget??? Because everybody wants it!!! Democrats and Republicans alike.
Now do not get me wrong. I am not necessarily advocating for the tactic's of the "ecoterrorists". Got enough problems without the gestapo knocking at the door. "I am not arguing for Socialism and against free market captialism".
But there is a phrase that comes from somewhere. Let me see what is it, oh yeah something like "One Nation Under God with Liberty and Justice for All". Hmmm, where did that come from anyway???
