Monthly Archives: August 2011

Some Views From Out There Somewhere!

Politics

A Most Ingenious High Rise Development

Posted By John Liming

My Opinion And Other Stuff
I get these little newspapers from some communities stretched out along what we call the “Bible Belt” and some of them have  the most interesting viewpoints.
This one biscuit eater says that The United States is no longer a “Representative Democracy,” but has now been  miraculously transformed (Probably by the laying on of hands) into something  called, “A Constitutional Republic.” (I never knew that, did you?
That is the line that one of my more intransigent Tea Bagger friends has been trying to feed me too. What I want to know is how did that happen after I have lived on this earth for over 70 years?  That one snuck up on me, folks!
Another one of these “Pioneer Stock” sages tells me that we do not live in a “Monarchy” in America.
O.K., I can go with that!  But I would like to add a little word of warning from the dark recesses of my unquestionably brilliant genius—If America keeps on toying with Right Wing Extremest Religious Fringe Kooks, we could end up living in a “Monarchy” here…under the stern thumb of old King James! (The Bah-Bull.).
In that world I am speaking of here, one’s status would most likely be determined by the size of your trailer, which side of the holler it is parked on and whether or not there are” flars” growing in that old commode out in the front yard.
In that nightmare scenario, some kind of Fundamentalist-oriented Religious fol-de-rol could possibly  be invoked to “Scripturalize” The Constitution and make America into a “Real” Chrees-chun (Christian) nation again. That is what I think personally. (America, of course, is not a “Christian” nation; never was…was never intended to be.)
The writer of this piece of garbage  goes on to compare our President to a “King” (Anyone remember the last “King” to sit upon the throne at the White House?) If Obama is a “King,” then that means we must have had two already…him and the other one! (To that kind of slam, I say, “Stuff it!).
In my opinion, many of those of the “Conservative” ilk have already shown the extent of their intelligence and the single mindedness  of their purpose. 

 As I see it, everything and every argument always comes down to “Obama” and what he has done or hasn’t done and how to get him out of the White House in 2012.

  As far as I am concerned, the far Right Lunatic Fringe doesn’t have a clue beyond what I just said here.  It always comes back to “Obama” when they present almost any argument at all about anything at all.

But, of course, every complaint and every argument from the far right side of the aisle always comes down to making  sure that Obama is a “One-Term” President.

I  think that too many of them are so obsessed with that ambition that they have no other agenda or any other mechanism for governing.

 I think they are all so focused on that one over-riding goal that they are, quite literally, unable to think of anything else.

(Except, perhaps, their buck-toothed hunting hound and their beer supply.)
There is a lot of rhetoric coming from the “Hound Dog and  Beer Belly Crowd”  about Obama being some kind of Marxist, Communist, Socialist whose only goal is to trash The Constitution and ram his agenda down the throats of The American People.
Many of those on the Far Right Extreme seem to be caught up in some kind of unreasoned paranoia that entertains this horrific “Conspiracy” theory about Obama being on some kind of secret mission to somehow bring America to hard-core Socialism. Many of these paranoids don’t have a clue as to why they believe this conspiracy, but they will be quick to tell you that they “Heard it on the news.” Most likely, if you press them, you will discover that the “News” they heard it on was from the Right Wing Alternative News Source–the one that manufactures a comfort zone for their kind and that has nothing to do with the rest of the civilized world.
My God, folks! As I see it, That kind of talk describes many on the far right religious lunatic fringe– not Obama. Not the Liberals! Not the Democrats! That is “Projection” talk.   That, in  my humble opinion,  is a bunch of under educated, easily led idiots  describing themselves.

 That is how I view that kind of stuff! (And who, in their right mind, can find fault in ‘my’logic?) (I am, after all, incontestably a linear genius according to my best estimate of my most prodigious talents.
There are a lot of those kinds of nut flakes out there already calling for a re-write of The Constitution. (To bring it more into line with what The Founding Fathers really had in mind when they drafted it.). In my opinion,  President Obama is nowhere near among these! I think the President, like most of the rest of us, is probably content with The Constitution just the way it is.
You know what I think the Founding Fathers had in mind when they drafted the Constitution?  I think they had the very document that is on display in Washington, D.C., and which has been there since the beginnings of America! That is what I think they had in mind… the Constitution that we all know and which the really Patriotic among us have loved for all these decades.
I am talking about the Constitution that our brave military personnel have put themselves in harm’s way to defend and many of whom have given their all to protect and preserve.
I am not talking about some ginned-up, phony version that some Right Wing Religious Extremest Mental Abberants  might dream up in their quest to subvert America to some wild  wish dream of some kind of  Totalitarian Theocracy.
Some of the crowd I am talking about complain that our President will do almost anything to get his way about things. I guess most of these either never knew or weren’t paying attention when some of their own ilk expressed the willingness to drive our economy over a cliff if they didn’t get their way during those awful budget cutting talks a few weeks back.
Finally, I keep hearing from these mental misfits who wrap themselves in the Flag, The Bible, and The Second Amendment  how our President and the Liberals and the Democrats and The Progressives have pushed the “Class Warfare” button.
What greater example of “Class Warfare” does anyone need than the example provided by the Right Wing Extremest Nut Bags who whack away at the national budget with the single minded purpose of disenfranchising those on Social Security and Medicare and those who have such life challenges that they need a little help from “Entitlements” designed to help them survive.
If that isn’t a clear example of one class of people waging war against another I don’t know what is.
Sometimes some of this idiocy from the know-nothings on the lunatic fringe of the far right extreme gives me a proverbial pain in the ***!
And some of them have the gonads to come on this blog and call me “Delusional?” What a bunch of jerks some of these Bible Thumpers can be sometimes! Many of the mental misfits who wear the politick of “Conservative” on their sleeve barely seem to know the time of day much less anything else.
They can never seem to understand that every policy their bunch has ever put forth has been a failed policy and that no one among them has the slightest idea about how to lead or to govern.  It is always about them, collectively and individually and never…never…never about what is best for America. (This is, of course my opinion… and the opinion of a few of my closest friends– like thousands upon thousands of them as far as I can tell.)
As I have witnessed over the years, the Far Right Extremists have always had plenty to say about what is wrong with America, but not one of them has ever come up with any sane solutions for resolving problems– not one! 

 And, in the rare instance when they do come up with a proposal, you can bet that it is always loaded in favor of Big Business and the rich and replete with ways to deny and disenfranchise everybody else. (Including the less wealthy among their own kind.)

What is your opinion?





Can Minimum Wage Be Good?

Politics

Posted By John Liming

Opinion And Other Stuff

Minimum Wage— a good thing or a bad thing?

Ask the person who has a pile of bills, a family to feed and no job.

In that situation, a Minimum Wage Job  might look promising to some degree.

So what would life be like if there were no minimum wage laws?
Well, I am sure that some Right Wing Extremists would come up with “Plenty Of Work For Anyone That Really Wants A Job” (One of their favorite sayings in my experience) and the starting wage would be 50 cents an hour—for those who “Really Want To Work!”
I can tell you from experience that when you don’t have the proverbial pot to pee in, any job– even the minimum wage one can look pretty good– for awhile, anyway. When you don’t have a cent to your name, the minimum wage can only increase your standard of living. (When you are at the absolute bottom of the heap, where is there to go but up?)
Among the optimists, there is a feeling that the minimum wage is bound to make an employee work harder. (Hey! You better get a move on there, pardner! There’s plenty of able bodied people out here just waiting to take that job of yours!)
I don’t know about that.  I would think that the minimum wage would make people feel “Used” or “Cheap” and that their work really isn’t appreciated or doesn’t amount to anything. In my view, that would make some people say to themselves, “Why should I work any harder? They aren’t going to pay me any more if I do, are they?”
But, as a Liberal, I am happy that there is a minimum wage law because imagine what the money-hungry employer could do it there weren’t any such laws? We would soon return to the age of total sweatshops in my opinion.
I have heard something that makes my blood run cold lately though.  I have heard that there are some Republicans who are pushing to do away with the minimum wage laws in certain areas such as restaurant work and for  certain health care employees such as those in lower paid nursing home work.
I know the minimum wage law probably does help to stimulate the economy a little because those who make those ridiculously low paychecks tend to spend them.  (Duhhh!) In these harsh economic times, it doesn’t surprise me at all that the people who make only minimum wage  ”Spend” all that they make at one of these jobs.
Still, I believe that receiving minimum wage is much better than turning to crime.
Actually, no Ree-Pug-Lickin should ever bitch about the minimum wage laws because I think it has been demonstrated that they actually decrease the cost of government social welfare programs by giving some kind of income to the lowest paid among us.
There are a lot of pros and cons about the minimum wage. I, for one, am glad we have the law even though I sometimes wonder if the minimum wage is actually enough to allow anyone to survive, to raise a family and secure their part of the American Dream.
My advice to anyone reading this is, “Don’t tell some of the Re-Pug-Lickins in high places that the minimum wage might do something to help someone raise themselves out of poverty.  If they find that out, they will never quit until they have gotten rid of minimum wage entirely. That is my impression folks…don’t take that as a factual statement.
But I would love to hear what YOU think about all this.
Leave me a comment.  Thanks.

Crisis Of Common Sense?

Politics

Posted By John Liming

My Opinion  And Other Stuff

I love the American Voter because I love America!

Sometimes, however, I am amazed at how very little the average voter seems to know about how our government is constituted or how it functions.

It is frightening to me, sometimes, when I realize that a lot of Americans have no idea of the various issues when it comes time to cast a vote but that, often, they are simply relying on what someone  else has told them (Which is often wrong) or they get their political “Education” from some loud mouth on some Right Wing Extremest Talk Show– and they accept whatever this self-appointed “Expert” (Whoever it might be) has to say as if it were spoken by God Himself or something.

I am always amazed to hear how perfectly some citizen imitates (Parrots) the talking points of some ideologue while looking you straight in the face with that distant, somewhat vague and always staring- into- space demeanor that makes the statement, “Yeah! I know what I am talking about! Do I look stupid or something?” (Well,…duhh!).
One of the dumbest things I have ever witnessed is how easily those on the Right Wing Extremest Fringes have, through the use of their never-ending propaganda machine, caused a great number of Americans to question, mis-trust and  even despise our President.
There are reportedly some  Americans who still actually do not believe that our President is either a Christian or an American Citizen even though both these questions have been settled by reputable evidence more than once.

This is how effective the propaganda machine of those whose goal is to make sure Obama is a “One Term” President has been–simply because (In my opinion) that many who hear this stuff are simply too lazy or unconcerned to check the facts out for themselves by questioning and researching and digging a little.

I have one associate who shall remain un-named who is so obsessed with this anti-Liberal, anti-Obama rhetoric  that he cannot have a simple conversation without reverting to a Peck’s List of reasons the government  is corrupt or the President is ineffective.

 It is as though this individual  has been  hypnotized– which may not be all that far off the point when one realizes how Rightist propaganda can work.
It is scary, folks! Some people (Too many people in my opinion) have their heads stuck in the sand and they absolutely refuse to believe anything but what someone else has made them comfortable in believing through constant repetition of lies and half-truths.
Who is behind this mind control and mental manipulation? In my view it is most likely A great Red Plutocracy with access to  never-ending rivers  of Right Wing Extremest cash.
As a little side note here: I a always confounded as to why the Right Wing Extremists  would  choose to  refer to themselves as “Reds.”

 When I was a kid, the term “Red” was commonly used to describe Communists.  In the 1950s, Senator Joe McCarthy made it his business to hold hearings where he attempted  to bring about a great public purge of “Reds” from American Politics. That turned into an extremely negative thing and was halted before it could do damage to America.

The thing is, folks (In my humble observation) if America listens too intently to these siren songs of Utopian promise and demonization of government and the Liberals and Democrats, and puts The Right Wing Extremers back into total power again, this recession that we are now experiencing will look like a school child’s field trip in no time at all.
What do you think?

Republicans Hold Disaster Relief Hostage!

Politics

Posted By John Liming
Opinion
Republicans Demand Budget Cuts Before Help Is Given!
Republicans have said that there should be no disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Irene unless there are offsetting Budget Cuts to make up for them!
We had no problem sending a Hundred Million dollars worth of aid to Somalia, did we?
We had no  problem sending more millions to help the Japanese during their nuclear disaster, did we?
I guess it is only when Americans get hit at home that Republicans want to trade off any disaster relief they might give to the victims with more and deeper cuts in the national budget.
It’s kind of like some of The Republicans are saying, “Screw You, America!” That is my opinion, anyway.
I thought the Republicans were supposed to work “For” the People of The United States, not against them!
This callousness from members of The Administration is unprecedented in America and, in my view, it is unacceptable, inexcusable and even immoral.
Americans have traditionally stood together and helped each other in times of unexpected disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes–and volcanoes.
I don’t remember a time ever before when some government figure suggested that disaster relief should be paid for on the backs of the Middle Class and the lower wage earners and the elderly and others who are not millionaires or billionaires.
But I guess I am seeing such a  time now!
I bet nobody is thinking of asking the rich guys to chip in, are they?
Common sense  tells us that when there is a disaster of some significance, the Fed ought to step in and help the People. If that is not one of the purposes of a government, then I want to know what the Hell is!
Now is not the time to pay for disasters by tearing the guts out of other desperately needed and under funded programs designed to help people just so the wealthy can hang onto a little more of their more than abundance.
But, in the view of this writer, now IS the time to let the Republicans who are pushing this disgrace; this outrage know that enough is enough and that we aren’t going to take it any more.
Read More About It Here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-jw-stickings/hurricane-irene-eric-cant_b_937904.html
What do you think?

Republican "Poor" Pay More!

Uncategorized

Posted By John Liming

Opinion

I am of the opinion that many who vote Republican have no earthly idea they are voting for higher taxes for themselves.

The normal rhetoric from the Right is usually “Cut Taxes, Cut Spending!”

 So I see why a solid Republican would vote that straight ticket most of the time. But, the fact is that when a “Poor” Republican (One who is not a member of the elite wealthy class) votes for Republicans, that faithful follower is actually voting for the privilege to pay even more taxes.

“And how does that work?” you ask?

The vast proportion of those “Tax Cuts” that you heard so much about during the Bush Administration and which you are beginning to hear about again (“Extend The Bush Tax Cuts”) actually went to the great corporations and the wealthiest few percent of Americans.

 If you are a common, ordinary, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Citizen type of Republican, you may have seen a few dollars whacked from your overall tax bill but guess what?

When the state in which you live or the community in which you reside raised their taxes, you lost most of any benefit you might have gained due to the so called “Bush Tax Cuts.” It was eaten up in these incremental raises at the state and local levels. (Or in local School Levies.).

Are you paying some kind of new “Fee” to your state or local government for something?

 Where I live, it is a new “Fee” for garbage collection and a graduated increase in our water bills to cover sewage system improvements over the next few years.

If the “Poorer” Republicans where I live had ever realized any benefit from those “Bush Tax Cuts,” it has long since evaporated.

You know, folks, if somebody “Up There, Somewhere (Washington perhaps?) could get their heads on straight, some of the tax loopholes for corporations could be tightened up and those who make all those millions could be asked to contribute just a small amount more, we might see a reduction in taxes down here where the “Real” people live and work every day.

So, I might be wrong, but if these things were to happen, the Less Wealthy Republicans could see some real tax relief along with the Liberals and everybody else. Wouldn’t that be peachy keen?

But you know what folks? It ain’t gonna happen unless people get together and make it happen.

That is what telephones, telegrams, I-Pads, Computers, e-mail and all that stuff is for: to bug your elected Representatives in Congress and let them know that you want a piece of that tax break pie too– one that you can taste!

What do you think?

Can A Balanced Budget Be Forced?

Politics

Posted By John Liming

My Opinion And Other Stuff

I have had credit problems of my own so I can sort of understand what the Federal Government is going through right now with the money crunch and all.  I learned my lessons  the hard way. I didn’t budget my money and I overspent and actually went bankrupt. It was a horrible experience!

I had at least 18 credit cards and the habit of just flashing that plastic whenever I wanted something got too easy.  It got much too easy! In fact, it became so automatic with me that I got into a $41,000 hole real quick.  I had dug the hole myself and I found that I could not climb out of it.  It took me 17 years to get my credit firmly re-established again. I do not recommend this kind of experience for anyone, much less The Fed.

So now, I guess many of our friends on The Republican side of the fence want to pass what they call “A Balanced Budget Amendment” to The Constitution of The United States– a law that would, for all intents and purposes, make it illegal for America to run deficits.
Well,folks, in my opinion, The Republicans have never yet worked out any kind of financial plan that has ever benefited the common ordinary “Man-In’The-Street” (The Joe Public types– you know, Mr. and Mrs. Everyday Main Street American…).


 I am thinking that if they want this “Balanced Budget Amendment” as much as they seem to, then there must be something about it that will create a few new millionaires at the expense of The Middle Class and everyone else except the wealthy. In my opinion, if this were not true, the Right Wing Extreme wouldn’t probably have the slightest interest in a “Balanced Budget Amendment.”


Here are some of my views on why the idea of a “Balanced Budget Amendment” would put undue strain on the government and is, like most of the cockamamie ideas from the Right, completely unacceptable:


(1)  If we had such an amendment and we got into an emergency situation such as war or another depression, we would need lots of additional money to get through and we would be restrained by Law from printing it or borrowing it and many would suffer or die.


(2)  The government cannot control the timing of many needed expenditures  such as the extra unemployment compensation needed to cope with a recessionary trend and this would be disastrous if the government were prevented from borrowing to meet emergencies.


(3)  There is no way to achieve a balanced budget without such horrors as increasing taxes (The Great Republican Nightmare) or slashing the very life out of Medicare, Social Security or Medicaid.(The Great Republican Goal).


(4)  A Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution might very well give Supreme Court Judges power to control the budget through their ability to declare what is constitutional and what is not.  We certainly do not need Judges legislating from the bench.


What is your idea about it?

Emergency Food Shortages?

Politics

Posted By John Liming

My Opinion & Other Stuff

A growing percentage of American Families, stricken by some of The Right Wing Extremists’  incursions into their lifestyles, are finding it more and more difficult to afford food.

Can you believe that there are actually people in America who cannot afford to feed their families? We are supposed to be the richest nation on Earth and we can allow this? It is heart breaking, in my opinion.

A lot of these families are those who once enjoyed the security of a decent job with decent wages and the promise of some kind of future before some of  the Right Wing greed mongers came along and shipped their livelihoods overseas for cheaper labor.

I have this old buddy who I recently re-discovered online who is a strict Republican and Tea Party supporter who, for the life of him, cannot understand why he should support “People who choose not to work and to take advantage of America’s great opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty.” (He has never had to struggle and scrape. And that, in my experience, is just how callous and cold and uncaring some of those on the Right are today.)

The good part– if there ever can be a good part– is that, sooner or later, some of the arrogant from among those same kind of “I’ve Got It Made And Why Should I Care?” Right Wingers will find themselves in the street in need of help and then we will see who stands against helping those who are in most need of help, won’t we?

 I have seen it before. I have seen the puffed up, the vain and the proud among those on the Far Right Extreme lose their virtual behinds because they trusted the Ree-Pug-Lickins too much.  Guess who is first in line for food handouts and cash assistance when that happens?

The Emergency Food Assistance thing can only get worse, folks. It looks like there has been as much as a 40 percent cut in funds for these kinds of programs (In some areas of the country) because of the blindness and cold-heartedness  of some of  the budget whackers up there in Washington and elsewhere. That’s the story I am hearing anyway.
 I hear that those who provide Emergency Food Aid to the unemployed and the other multitude of American Needy are often now being told to do with less and like it.
This must be  hard news for some of the relief agencies to hear, especially in the face of the fact that demand for such assistance has grown by as much as almost 50 percent in some areas of the country over the last few years.
Yes, folks, as some of  the Ree-Pug-Lickin economic geniuses work their magic on the American pocket book, we see more and more little kids and their moms and dads struggling just to find enough food to make it through the hard times. 
 But, according to some of those Ree-Pugs I have been dealing with, it is those families own fault that they are in the condition they are in and “Why should I have to pay my hard-earned money in taxes to help people who won’t help themselves?”
When I hear that kind of talk from some Bible Thumping Right Wing Extremest and I challenge them as to what we are supposed to do about the needs of the poor, I find very quickly that none of them seem to have any answers except an answer designed to defend their own greed and unconcern.
 Oh yeah! They are quick to condemn and criticize the less fortunate, but they absolutely cannot seem to come up with any kind of solution to the problem of want and need!
This one well-meaning but obviously totally obtuse Right Winger said to me, “Well, it is the job of the churches and the people” to take care of these kinds of needs. It is not the job  of the government!”
Yeah, right!  I have personally been in a position to have to ask a few churches for this kind of help and guess what? I was told on more than one occasion that “Charity Is Not The Work Of The Church” or “I’ll Pray Fer Ye But I Ain’t Got Nothing To Give You.” That, in my experience, is how “Churches”are going to fill the need.
 And, as for the cockamamie notion that ordinary people are somehow going to provide for the needs of their less fortunate neighbors without  any kind of government involvement? Forget It! Ain’t gonna happen!
In the way I see things, the only way America is ever going to solve the problem of hungry families is for America to make sure that greedy Right Wing Extremers can’t get their grubby, greedy hands on the American Purse Strings…and that, my friends, means “Vote Democrat!”
The people in Ohio and Wisconsin and Illinois know what I am talking about. They don’t need to be reminded of what their Ree-Pug-Likin votes did for their economic well being!  That is why there is “Recall and Repeal” fever in those states right now.
What do you think?