Ron Paul — No Way!

Where are these GOP Presidential candidate coming from? Are any of them part of the human race? Are they aliens from outer space? Do they even listen to themselves speak?

Watching political theater is a form of entertainment in the US — I’m watching the line dancers who call themselves “GOP Presidential” candidate wannabes. Ron Paul has been the Bride’s Maid in the GOP line dancing theater for so long that he really doesn’t have to work at name recognition.

Ron Paul is a male chauvinist pig. I don’t vote for male chauvinist pigs (nor for female chauvinist pigs).

Ron Paul is supposedly a Republican and a Libertarian. Here’s the definition of Libertarian from Wikipedia:

The Libertarian Party is the third largest^[1] and fastest growing^[2]political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration across borders, and non-interventionism in foreign policy, i.e., avoiding foreign military or economic entanglements with other nations and respect for freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries.^[3]

So the Libertarians want minimally regulated markets — but the Ron Paul branch of the Libertarians —  want to have rigid control of women’s right to choose and a woman’s control of her own body.Does  Ron Paul want to make breeding females slaves of the Federal Government?

The Libertarian Party’s political platform (2010) states: “Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.”^[39] In the early 1980s, Libertarians for Life was formed to support change in the Party’s pro-choice stance. In 1987 Pro-Choice Libertarians was formed to support continuation of the pro-choice position after Ron Paul, an opponent of abortion, decided to seek the Party’s presidential nomination.^[40]

What is it with these males (and a few wack job females) in both parties who want to turn women into slaves? Obama is no different — he has already shown by his support of Stupack’s sexist rantings that he (Obama) has zero respect for women. Obama is no different from the rest of the field of Republican candidates. Why are the Republicans even bothering — they have the man they want in the White House already.

Ron Paul you are a sick man if you cannot understand the cognitive dissonance of favoring minimally regulated  — markets, and a form of isolationism in foreign affairs — and yet you want to have absolute control over women’s bodies?

Ron Paul is a liar.

Matthew Yglesias takes on the Paul-bots and quotes Ron Paul’s hard line anti-choice stand:

Stuck in Washington as Congress faces votes on continued funding of American military action in Libya, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, making his third bid for the White House, spoke via Skype to pro-life activists convening in Jacksonville.

“I talk a lot about right-to-life,” said Paul, who called it “the most important issue of our age.”

Although Ron Paul and the Libertarian doctrine have some common sense approaches to the WAR on Drugs that the US has been involved in for the last few decades. Ron Paul has a cognitive disconnect when it comes to women’s choice and a woman’s control of her own body. Ron Paul is in league with the right wing crazies of the GOP on the subject of a woman’s control of her own body.

So Paul-bots you need to think about the man you follow — the guy has a cognitive disconnect with reality — or just plain old cognitive dissonance. What else is he lying about?

We watched a bunch of loyal zombies in 2008 support what they thought was their super hero – the Obama illusion who was presented as a comic book sort of guy who would save the world. Those were the 0bots of the last election Presidential elections. Ron Paul’s followers are members of a personality cult. Ron Paul’s fellas swarm the blogs — just like the 0bots did in 2008.

Ron Paul doesn’t think that women count as human beings.

Memphis 3 are released after 18 years

Which means that the real murderer has gotten away with murder all this time. This is what happens when a corrupt DA obeys the will of hysterical citizens and goes after the strange kids down the road. This case is also a perfect lesson in just how the witching or witch trials of the last dark ages were used to murder millions of women in Europe (and the Colonies).

A horrible crime happened 18 years ago three boys were murdered and three older boys were blamed. Six boy’s lives and the real murderer is still on the loose. There was no justice — the three boys, now men, who survived have lost 18 years.

Empty Wheel has been watching and reporting this case:

Not here; I feel nothing but sweet sorrow because, while Damien Echols (who had actually been on death row most all of the intervening time), Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin are free, a solid little chunk of the American justice system, due process and fundamental fairness was sacrificed in the process.

Let one of the three, Mr. Baldwin, speak for himself and me here:

“This was NOT justice. I did not want to take this deal, but they were going to kill Damien an I couldn’t let that happen.”

And therein lies the huge rub. The facts had never been particularly solid against these three once young men. They were brow beaten by avaricious prosecutors, sought to be lynched by a southern community ginned up on fear, horror and emotion and poorly served by their attorneys at the original trial level. In short, every facet of the American system of due process was compromised and tainted, and they have sat convicted, one on death row, ever since as a result.

Thanks to a litany of friends, motivated activist celebrities like Johnnie Depp, Natalie Maines and Eddie Vedder, and documentary filmmakers the cause of the West Memphis Three has never died. And, in fact, I would love to say that all that sweat, love and belief was vindicated today. But, sadly, that is simply not the case.

The good folk of Tennessee were all set to string these three boys up. The legal system has failed these men and continues to fail them. There will be no apology from Tennessee and probably the cops won’t bother to find out who really killed the three boys so long ago.

Tennessee is a backward, ignorant state. With apologies to the minority who try to do the right thing.

Time for the moment of truth – Obama

LBJ — President Johnson was a good President but he continued the unpopular war in Southeast Asia. LBJ looked at the numbers and decided not to run for another term. LBJ was a leader and he might have been able to pull off a win — but at the loss of the democrat party. Who know what might have been? We had Nixon who was impeached and then President Ford and the wonderful Betty Ford as first Lady.

Obama is looking at some very bad numbers for any President at this point in his term. He has made a fool of his most ardent followers and the Democrat party is in disarray from lack of leadership. Even the fools in the Republican Party who are itching to run against Obama don’t make Obama look better.

 

“The debt deal really does appear to have demoralized the base, and the weird thing about it is that this is one issue where if Obama had done what folks on the left wanted him to do, he also would have had the support of independents. The deal has proven to be a complete flop in swing states where we’ve polled it like Colorado, North Carolina, and Ohio. And in every single one of those states a majority of voters overall, as well as a majority of independents, think new taxes are going to be needed to solve the deficit problem. ”

Here are links to two articles which have lists showing that the Obama administration is really just the third term of the GW Bush presidency.

The ultimate sin to voters and anyone with common sense is the fact that Obama continues his war on Social Security and Medicare.

Obama and Mrs. 0 preach austerity to Americans but we see no evidence that they know what austerity even means. These are two people who have had it easy compared to the vast majority of Americans. Obama bought two new buses from Canada to take his midwest campaign tour. Mrs. 0 travels on a separate plane — just because she can (evidently — because there is no other acceptable excuse).

Give it up Obama — Retire and live somewhere on a tropical island with a golf course. Leave the rest of us in peace. As I see it with Obama in the White House there will be a couple more forever wars started.

 

 

Recall Republic Missouri School Board

One of the worst nightmares women have is to be raped and then no one believes them. Then what if the woman is forced to apologize to her rapist for lying. If she were in an Islamic country she might be stoned to death or whipped to death.

What if this happens to a school girl in the US? In fact in Republic Missouri this is exactly what happened to a 7th grade student. After reporting the rape she was bullied into recanting by the adults. The very adults were were supposed to protect her. She was expelled from school and then “allowed” to return to the same unprotected, hostile and dangerous environment. The boy only had to wait until he could find a time and place to rape her again (on school property — in the library). Where was the school counselor or the school nurse — was anybody at this school standing up for the victim?

The staff of this school’s response to the second rape — not again — she is lying aging.

Her mother took her to professionals who collected the physical proof of the rape. The school’s response — still blaming the victim.

The boy was taken away — and pleaded guilty to some sort of secret charge. Is he in jail? Will he be listed forever as a sexual pervert/rapist? This is the Missouri Christian Taliban — so who knows.

Vote out the Republic Missouri School Board

Sky Dancing blog has the story here and here. CNN covers the story here. CNN’s headline calls this a “rape claim” — but since the rapist has pleaded guilty to something — then and there is physical proof of the rape. Seems like males are busy continuing to protect rapists even the ones that start as soon as they can “get it up”. Boys this age have been getting away with rape and sexual molestation for a very long time.

CBS is covering this story with more details. The school counselor is one of the school’s staff being sued. Unbelievable that a school counselor would be part of the abuse of this girl.

If you have a blog — blog this story.

Jobs and voodoo machine politics

Steampunk art has been the rage for quite awhile. You know it when you see it — Victoria era type art with modern embellishments. Some of the Science Fiction TV shows and movies use a variation of Steampunk art. Frank Herbert’s Dune books and the movies they inspired have Steampunkie type art.

Many of today’s politicians seem to be living in sort sort of time warp — their brains are back in the Victorian era and their mouths are in the modern era. Toss in some 19th century Bible goblin gook about God’s demand that women be submissive to men (similar garbage is found in the Koran) — and we have a very ugly version of Steampunk style politics and religion.

The Gilded age from which the creative concepts for Steampunk ART resembles today age of greed with two classes (very very rich and the rest of us). I really believe that art and politics are linked — and often artists pick up themes and express these themes in their artwork before non artists realize that we have entered a new era.

Something about the fundamentalist and Dominionists that has bugged me is their full acceptance of modern technology — they tend to have the latest cars, cell phones, computers etc. Yet when it comes to their attitudes toward women — they are stuck in the 19th century. Also these conservative fundamentalist Dominionists are stuck back in the 17th, 18th and 19th century when it comes to their knowledge and beliefs about economic theory. The very people that Jesus would have whipped and thrown out of his temple have taken over many Churches and are demanding that the US become a Theocracy. That concept always makes me wonder who is God going to talk to and how do we know that God is really talking to that person? Which God is that person talking to — the God that is one big penis? Or perhaps the God that demands that his people kill everyone except a chosen few? Who are his people?

Dakinikat over on Sky Dancing had a most excellent rant today which she titled: Voodoo Economics on Steroids. Below is the rant I was going to add — but I decided to leave one sentence and post the rest here. Sky Dancing blog generally has at least one excellent rant every day.

My rant and I’ve bolded the part that I left — because it really is the essence of what 0bowma really is.

0bowma should have been working to understand economics — he should have been sending his wife out all over the Nation to listen to the people like FDR did Michelle 0 is too busy taking vacations & party planning to follow the example of Mrs. FDR or even Hillary Clinton.

 0bowma hasn’t really changed — grown in this job. He has expanded the war without funding this war — he surehas  learned the War President trick from GW bush. These unfunded bush/0bowma, wars according to the econ charts on deficits seem to the major driver of the current Recession. 0bowma took over just about all of GW bush’s policies — unfunded wars, pandering to the religious right, being a war prez.

0bowma is so unoriginal that his screw ups are copies of someone else’s screw ups.

He could still take the time to learn some of this stuff — but he is far too lazy and he would rather campaign. What the 0bots have given the world is someone who can only campaign.

I, for one, appreciate the effort Dak has put into her fine fine rants! I learn something new every day.

There does seem to be this idea that a two week course turns uneducated people into experts. Or winning a political office makes someone an expert — without the work. Perry the stupid (or Colbert’s choice — Parry with an “a”) is threatening a former professor of economics?? As if stupid Parry knows more?

It seems like only the stupid and the stupid ones who think they are smart are the ones  running for Prez.

When I read or listen to what any of the candidates say I want to light my hair on fire and join the professional Economists who have been screaming for a long time now. But I’d be joining the hair on fire dance as someone who knows way too much about the right wing religious nutters who have taken over the Republican Party. These people are religiously insane. These people are waging war on women, on gays and on anyone who doesn’t believe in their nutty religion. They even are against college educations — unless it is at one of the nutter colleges. 

Will the US military stand for a cut in their pension?

There are several articles about the proposed military pension overhaul. Apparently the cutbacks that the politicians want will fall on the heads of the military Veterans.

Look military pay is rock bottom and even with the perks making ends meet is still a major headache for military families. When military personnel retire at 20 or more years they have mostly likely been earning less than if they had gotten out after getting schooled and trained in the military. It is rough to take a flying leap into civilian life with little or no cash or savings. This is how it is for the majority of military. Most military families are moved constantly and most learn how to manage with one or both parents gone on long deployments.

How likely is it that current military personnel will opt to be career military if there is no pension until they are 65 or older??

The real option is to cut back on the on going wars, help the military personnel retrain and rejoin the civilian world with job assistance. Keep the promises made to the personnel now in the military — nearing that promised pension (Fleet Reserve is the Navy’s term for pensioners).

This threat could be merely theater. Threaten the Veterans — so no real cuts in the way the military industrial complex wastes money and human lives.  I don’t trust politicians and being a Navy brat (dad was career) I learned that the military lies about just about everything almost all the time.

FireDogLake blog’s take on the military pension “reform”. 

Who really won the Ames Straw Poll

The Straw poll for Presidential Candidates is a huge media event. So someone won and someone came in second and someone quit after a poor showing.

What the media didn’t share with all their headlines and personal accounts of being pushed — is that the votes are basically a farce. The straw poll is a huge money maker for the Iowa Republican party. Prime spaces are auctioned off to the candidates. The largest areas closest to the entrance are the biggest money makers. This year Ron Paul made the winning bid at $31,000. The fee to vote is $30 and some candidates pay the fee for their supporters.  In terms of organization it looks like Michelle and Ron have a well oiled team.

Iowa is also home to the infamous caucus — and the caucus system has been bought by 0bowma. The caucus system is undemocratic — it has no place in picking a party’s candidate for State or Federal office.

The political campaign season lasts forever it seems. 0bowma has already started his campaign — visiting only friendly places with high employment. OH — all at tax payer expense. We are footing the bill for the corporations puppet.

Apparently Michelle B. got fewer votes than she paid for. We are in an era when comedians deliver better news reports than the so called “mainstream news”.

Blame it on the corporate lobbyists says Steven Pearlstein

Steven Pearlstein: Blame for financial mess starts with the corporate lobby

Pearlstein has hit so many nails on the head with this one column that it is nearly impossible to paste three paragraphs. Go read this quick lesson on the dangers of mixing Wall Street and politics. There was a very good reason why Corporations were heavily regulated during the Great Depression and why Wall Street and the Corporate lobby needs to be regulated — with perhaps a huge wall put up between Corporations and Politicians. Bottom line the vast majority of politicians are whores.

Here’s how Pearlstein begin his essay and it keeps the pace up for three pages. Pearlstein — you are my new hero.

Want to know who is to blame, Mr. Big Shot Chief Executive? Just look in the mirror because the culprit is staring you in the face.

J’accuse, dude. J’accuse.

You helped create the monsters that are rampaging through the political and economic countryside, wreaking havoc and sucking the lifeblood out of the global economy.

Did you see this week’s cartoon cover of the New Yorker? That’s you in top hat and tails sipping champagne in the lifeboat as the Titanic is sinking. Problem is, nobody thinks it’s a joke anymore.

Did you presume we wouldn’t notice that you’ve been missing in action? I can’t say I was surprised. If you’d insisted on trotting out those old canards again, blaming everything on high taxes, unions, regulatory uncertainty and the lack of free-trade treaties, you would have lost whatever shred of credibility you have left.

My own bill of particulars begins right here in Washington, where over the past decade you financed and supported the growth of a radical right-wing cabal that has now taken over the Republican Party and repeatedly made a hostage of the U.S. government.

Pensions – Middle Class and political myths

Can you feel the fight going on over the bones, the left overs?

There is a whole lot of theater, misdirection and flat out lying going on. Republican politicians and Democrats are mostly concerned about protecting the status quo — protecting the vast wealth of the very wealthy who fund political campaigns for the offices which make the politicians very wealthy. We don’t see very many middle class or poor holding Federal elected office. Once the election lottery is won it is a full time job to keep the money flowing to fund the re-election campaign.

The middle class is the golden goose and the golden goose is under attack. We are in the third age (sort of like the times of J.R.R. Tolkien) of greed. There was the Gilded age of the late 19th century, when wealth was very lop sided. There were the very very rich and the rest of the citizens. The second age were the roaring 20s — vast wealth for the few and vast poverty. We are in the third age where the top 10% hold more wealth than the bottom 90%. It is the very wealthy who fiance the bloody political campaigns — and the politicians who make sure that their sponsors keep their millions and billions.

The middle class more taxes than the upper class and the poverty class. However remember that even those below the poverty line still may sales tax and any other state and local taxes. By eliminating the jobs held by the middle class — they aren’t paying as much in taxes as when there is full employment. If there were more well paying jobs — more money would be going to the government. This is why we are seeing so much fighting over the bones — the golden goose middle class can’t fuel the government when they are being kicked and abused as the newest members of the poverty class.

The middle class has been shrinking for some time. Wages haven’t kept up with inflation and health care insurance costs more every year with bigger deductibles and higher co-pays. While the middle class are having a hard time — image how those below the poverty line manage to cope? Meanwhile the Religious right is attempting to make poverty a sin — Only people God disapproves of are poor. God loves rich people — according many who call themselves Christians.

This is where cognitive dissonance must be giving middle class and poor near retirement age blinding head aches. Key words nearing retirement age. Many companies and government bodies promised pensions if the employee remained with the company for x number of years. The military got soldiers and sailors to re-enlist with promises of pensions. There was also the deal that the employee paid x amount into the pension plans with the employer adding to the pot. In the 1980s we saw the merging frenzy — companies buying and selling divisions or each other — and what happened to the pensions? That will be the mystery waiting for the baby boomers when they retire — will the promised pension still be there?

In Rhode Island pensions are being told that they are lucky to get $10,000 per year.

In 2009, in the United States of America, the poverty threshold for a single person under 65 was US$11,161; the threshold for a family group of four, including two children, was US$21,756.

Public employees in many places in the US are held in contempt because of pensions promised to them by the local governments. So the “Have Littles” are now fighting the “Have a little more”. This is happening just as the baby boomers begin to retire.

Here is what is already being written about the Baby boomers who began hitting the magic age of 65 this year:

If you add 65 years to January 1st, 1946 you get January 1st, 2011.

The moment when the first Baby Boomers reach retirement age has arrived.

The day of reckoning that so many have talked about for so many years is here.

Today, America’s elderly are living longer and the cost of health care is rising dramatically.  Those two factors are going to make it incredibly expensive to take care of all of these retiring Baby Boomers.

Meanwhile, the sad truth is that the vast majority of Baby Boomers have not adequately saved for retirement.  For many of them, their home equity was destroyed by the recent financial crisis.  For others, their 401ks were devastated when the stock market tanked.

Meanwhile, company pension plans across America are woefully underfunded.  Many state and local government pension programs are absolute disasters.  The federal government has already begun to pay out more in Social Security benefits than they are taking in, and the years ahead look downright apocalyptic for the Social Security program.

If we are not careful all of these Baby Boomers are going to push us into national bankruptcy.  We simply cannot afford all of the promises that we have made to them. (bold letter by me.)

This appears to be from some sort of right wing end of the world type blog.

Could it be that there is an attempt to turn citizen against citizen — young against old? Also somehow the right wing crowd and 0bama sort of forget in their zeal to reduce or eliminate Social Security that the young will also become old and need to retire. Every year as the retirement age is increased by the politicians I can see how the younger generation really wonders if retire & retirement will still be part of the American vocabulary.

Apparently there is money to be had in pension defunding. Remember ENRON — the company that knocked Californians to their knees? Seems like one of the crooks got out with money and now he’s a Texas trader.

John D. Arnold, a former Enron Corp. trader in Texas who became a billionaire by buying and selling natural gas, is bankrolling a group supporting changes to limit California’s pension-fund obligations.

Arnold, who formed hedge fund Centaurus Advisors LLC in Houston after leaving Enron, started a foundation that Meredith Simonton, a spokeswoman, said has given $150,000 to the California group.

The organization set up by Arnold and his wife, Laura, a lawyer, plans to be involved in pension-overhaul efforts around the U.S., Simonton said by telephone from Houston. State and local governments confront “massive financial distress” from the gap between assets and promised benefits, she said.

The message seems to be clear — you old folks cost too much. Go find an ice flow, live volcano or jump off of a boat — but find a cheap way to die. Also governments and employers are not to be believed when they promise pension (if there are any pensions open to new hires any more??)

Meanwhile the upper 10% cannot be taxed — it is the will of God.

———

Meanwhile back at the White House — the political hacks/advisers are planning to do little or perhaps nothing about JOBS.

0bama is the absolute WRONG person for the job of President at this time in history. He just doesn’t have common sense and empathy.

If you’re pro-Obama you’re an idiot, on the payroll, or evil

Link goes to a short essay by Ian Walsh. That headline says it all.

Never ending political campaigns

Most of us were raised hearing that USA USA USA is the best. Well of course we hear what we want to hear — so yes the USA is the very best at everything. Lately we’ve been hearing some very sour notes — that perhaps the USA isn’t perfect.

How about the never ending political campaigns that seem to happen only in the US? Seems like the only people who run for higher office are the ones who love the never ending campaign. Some political opinion makers and twisters and hacks tell us that although one individual is rather stupid about economics, education, creating jobs — never mind this politicians is a “natural” at campaigning.

0bama has been campaigning for office for so long that he really doesn’t do anything else. He flies around the country on tax payer money building his war chest for the next campaign. He really hasn’t had time to learn about economics or how the political system in DC works. He isn’t alone in his stupidity and lack of empathy with the vast majority of Americans. We witnessed another litter of politicians of the Republican breed “debate” in Iowa. Most of these candidates have been campaigning for months (years) already.

American political campaigns are obscene in the amount of money and time that is taken away from the real bread and butter issues WE the people deal with on a daily basis.

Shall we have an honest campaign by selling the politicians to the highest corporate bidders? Then we will know up front and without a doubt that every politician will be representing the interests of their pay masters and not the people of America.

But then there is a name for the politics of America — it is called Political Theater. Never mind that the majority of Americans live from pay check to pay check and something like 60% couldn’t come up with $1,000 in an emergency. The aim of the vast majority of politicians is to keep the gap between the top 1% and the bottom 99% as wide as possible.

Yves Smith has an article on Salon:

Income inequality is bad for rich people too

The wealth that has accrued to those in the top 1 per cent of the US income distribution is so massive that any serious policy program must begin by clawing it back.

If their 25 per cent, or the great bulk of it, is off-limits, then it’s impossible to see any good resolution of the current US crisis. It’s unsurprising that lots of voters are unwilling to pay higher taxes, even to prevent the complete collapse of public sector services. Median household income has been static or declining for the past decade, household wealth has fallen by something like 50 per cent (at least for ordinary households whose wealth, if they have any, is dominated by home equity) and the easy credit that made the whole process tolerable for decades has disappeared.

The never ending political theater continues to take our attention away from what is really happening.