POLITICAL: Thinking about the anti war vote in Congress

Sunday, August 1, 2010

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? —- Mohandas Gandhi

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=223945

Wars and U.S. Congress: Now what?

By David Swanson

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On Tuesday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill already passed by the Senate that funds a $33 billion, 30,000-troop escalation in Afghanistan. The vote was 308 to 114. What could the good news possibly be?

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Maybe everyone will eventually come around to Ron Paul’s version of a “plan” (i.e., hop on the first thing smoking going in this direction). There’s a reason that Afpak is called the graveyard of empires.

We have to be like Switzerland, a big fat old porkypine! Don’t tread on me.

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POLITICAL: Rangal highlights the idiocy of the draft

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/can-this-man-be-saved/

Can Charles Rangel Be Saved?
Saturday, July 24th, 2010 – by Jazz Shaw
Rangel’s ethical woes have cast doubt on the 40-year veteran’s future in the House.

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Don’t count on any significant backlash from the voters. Rangel’s various ethical problems have been well known for a long time now, but he continues to win reelection with astronomical margins. Take a look at the map of New York’s 15th District some time. Unlike many vast, rural districts around the nation, the 15th is one of the most compact you will find. It runs along a roughly seven mile stretch of the Hudson River, taking in Fort George, Harlem, and Marcus Garvey, as well as grabbing a few plots of land out near LaGuardia Airport.

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As a little L libertarian have no use for any politicians and bureaucrats of the Empire, but, like a stopped clock, Old Charlie is right every year when he submits his “military service draft” bill. The All Volunteer Army allows the Gooferment to wage wars without the ugliness of the Vietnam era draftees upsetting the serfs. A draft does have the value of making sure that everyone, except the elite who always wiggle out, has a stake in any undeclared war. And, it continues to highlight that the Gooferment has not ended the draft. It still keeps all the infrastructure and the political no show jobs with lucrative pensions around. SO Rangal highlights the idiocy of the whole situation. Year after year. Reminds me of the Spanish American War Telephone Tax!

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POLITICAL: Follow the money

Sunday, July 25, 2010

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=181549

How Congress makes Americans sick
Walter E. Williams
Posted: July 21, 2010

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The Fanjul family of Palm Beach, Fla., a politically connected family, has given more than $1.8 million to both Democratic and Republican parties over the years. They and others in the sugar industry give millions to congressmen to keep high tariffs on foreign sugar so the U.S. sugar industry can charge us higher prices. According to one study, the Fanjul family alone earns about $65 million a year from congressional protectionism.

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Price supports and price ceiings are political payoffs to someone. You just have to follow the money. Cui bono?

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POLITICAL: Time for the USA, like the USSR, to disintegrate

Saturday, July 24, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods149.html

Just Say No
by Shawn Macomber

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Thomas Woods: I’m interested in political decentralization as a way of bridging ideological divides, even if I realize that for most on the left federal supremacy is like their bread and butter.… Still, the Kirkpatrick Sales of the left do exist – people who favor farmers markets and say things like ‘Small is Beautiful’ – and there is a growing number on the right who also feel the political scale has gotten too big. That is what needs to be cultivated on both sides. It can be done. You know, I bet I could find some Vermonters who basically want to let Vermont be Vermont.

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Of all the states that could secede, imho Vermont could be the best suited to going it alone. I made Vermont the destination of the heroic children of my dreams in “CHURCH 10●19●62”. The State is loaded with advantages and people who are pre-disposed to “independence”.

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Reinke, Ferdinand J. “Chapter Eighty Six — Rest in Peace.” CHURCH 10●19●62 (978-0-557-08425-8). Vol. 2. Lulu. 279. Print.

“It’s a dangerous world out there. And, we don’t have the luxury of wasting any asset. Life is changing every day. Vermont has to change with it. I see all sorts of changes coming. Children will no longer waste the first 25 years of their lives. Adults will no longer be tossed on the rubbish pile for the last 50 years of their life. Vermont is going to become the economic miracle of the Northeast. It has natural advantages that will make it possible. Think the Switzerland of the New World.”

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POLITICAL: Can’t women stop “war” anytime they get their act together?

Saturday, July 24, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/glass10.1.html

War, Women, and the Taliban
by Charles Glass

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Minerals, new commanders, new local collaborators, new strategies. All are failing, not only to win the war, but to persuade the American and European public to support it. What else is left? Alas, women. Just when you thought there was no reason to prolong the nine-year war in central Asia, along comes a new excuse. A CIA memorandum of 11 March, “Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led Mission – Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough,” (posted on Wikileaks) puts the propagandists’ case: “Afghan women could serve as ideal messengers in humanizing the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] role in combating the Taliban because of women’s ability to speak personally and credibly about their experiences under the Taliban, their aspirations for the future, and their fears of a Taliban victory. Outreach initiatives that create media opportunities for Afghan women to share their stories with French, German, and other European women could help to overcome pervasive skepticism among women in Western Europe toward the ISAF mission.” Hey, if no one is marching to Washington’s drumbeat on defeating terrorism, why not change the tune to “I Am Woman”?

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Shouldn’t women always be against war? The initiation of force? And, can’t they stop it anytime they want?

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Reinke, Ferdinand J. “Chapter Forty Six — Good woman gets the pic”. “CHURCH 10●19●62 (Volume 1)” 978-0-557-08387-9. M ed. Vol. 2. Lulu. 263. Print.

“No, Miss Marie, in our new world run by women, there will be no sex discrimination. We control the box.” With no hint of self- consciousness or shame. “Dear, that’s not a nice way to say it. And, box is very crude. I’m sorry I used it but I was … incensed that war should happen. Maybe you could say ‘we control the future generations’?” “OK, but those balls will be blue before I let my man start another war.”

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POLITICAL: Stephanopoulos misses the point

Saturday, July 24, 2010

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/07/obama-vilsack-jumped-the-gun-on-sherrods-ouster.html

George’s Bottom Line
Reporting and Analysis from Anchor of Good Morning America and ABC News Chief Political Correspondent George Stephanopoulos
President Obama Said Sec. Tom Vilsack ‘Jumped the Gun’ on Shirley Sherrod’s Ouster
July 22, 2010 6:49 PM

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Interview President Obama said Secretary Tom Vilsack rushed to judgment when he dismissed Shirley Sherrod from the Department of Agriculture amid charges of racism.

“He jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles,” Obama told consumer correspondent Elisabeth Leamy in an exclusive “GMA” interview.

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Don’t forget that George is a life long D, a Clinton operative, and committed liberal.

Shouldn’t the media be reporting on a “leadership” and “managerial” failure?

In a high visibility blunder, shouldn’t the Secretary of Agriculture be fired?

And, this bozo — the AgSec — is in the Presidential line of succession. He should be removed ASAP. Should a disaster happen and he’s President, he demonstrated he can’t handle the job. DOn’t we need an Ambassador to Upper Slobobivia? Or Lower WhoCaresIchstan?

That’s if you believe this whole little bit of theater? Or was it a misdirection election tactic?

To quote Judy Judy, my legal tutor and one self-descibed “smart cookie”, “I wouldn’t believe you if your tongue came notarized”!

Remember who the racists are here!

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POLITICAL: Take only “Local” campaign conributions and publish them

Friday, July 23, 2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100715/ap_on_bi_ge/us_investment_banker_fraud_1

Ex-Clinton fundraiser gets 12 years in prison
Thu Jul 15, 11:04 am ET

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NEW YORK – A wealthy Manhattan investment banker who was once a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other big-name Democrats has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for bank fraud.

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So why isn’t there any penalty for the political beneficiary of this “crime”?

There has to be a better way.

I haven’t heard anything better than restricting candidates from accepting money from outside the district that they seek to represent and “publishing” all sources of any funds or in kind services. That way we’d at least know who’s buying what politician and how much influence they are likely to exert on some politician. Simple, effective and efficient. No diktats or bureaucrats required. Call it the “Honest Politician” pledge. And, it up to the politician to demonstrate compliance. Maybe we can setup the “Honest Politician Society™” to preserve the standard and sue politicians who make the claim but don’t follow the principles.

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POLITICAL: Gooferment waste (but then I repeat myself)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/underemployed-overpaid-states-shell-unemployment/story?id=11118137

Labor Dept. Estimates $7.1 Billion in Overpayments to Unemployed
Overpayment Figure Increases From $4.2 Billion the Previous Year
By ALICE GOMSTYN ABC NEWS Business Unit July 9, 2010

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While many Americans are feeling the pain of expired unemployment benefits, some have gotten a good chunk more than they were legally eligible for.

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Gooferment screwup number what?

You can’t make this stuff up.

They can’t even give out money without screwing it up.

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POLITICAL: An unholy attempt to fix the Constitution in a back room! Cui bono?

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/07/mass_may_join_e.html

Mass. may join effort to bypass Electoral College
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

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Supporters are waging a state-by-state campaign to try to get such bills enacted. Once states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (or 270 of 538) have enacted the laws, the candidate winning the most votes nationally would be assured a majority of the Electoral College votes, no matter how the other states vote and how their electoral votes are distributed.

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The political elite are seeking to rewrite the Constitution via backroom deals and open conspiracy to disenfranchise the “small states”.

When will we learn NOT to mess with the wisdom of the Dead Old White Guys. They were possible the smartest men ever assembled in one lucky place at the right time in history. We can go thru the Amendments passed, and one unpassed, as a litany to pure collective stupidity.

The Political Effete and the Party Powerbrokers would love nothing better than to have to win the popular vote in California, Chicago, New York, and host of other corrupt places to be assured of a national win. Ballot box stuffing and recounts on a National basis would become the norm. Argh!

The Electoral College was put in to protect the small states. The Constitution would have never been adopted without that design. I don’t know if they intended it, but it does firewall ballot box stuffing. Go ahead and stuff all you want in Massachusetts, you’ll only get 12 Electoral votes. Now if this change was adopted, that stuffing could determine the national election. Ever read any stories where there were more votes than registered voters (Say “hi” to Al Franken) or a large “graveyard vote” (Sam Rayburn and LBJ) or “voting machine breakdowns” in the non-machine party’s precincts? How about “keep counting until you get the answer you want then stop”?No, that could never happen in America!

And who is to tabulate and certify that grand total that all the conspiratorial states will use to determine their votes?

Argh! How stupid can we be!

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UPDATE 01 August 2010

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/08/01/massachusetts_for_palin

Massachusetts for Palin?
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / August 1, 2010

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IT IS Election Night, 2012. The polls have closed. State by state, the votes are being counted, and gradually it becomes clear, to the bottomless horror of some voters and the unbridled delight of others, that Sarah Palin, the Republican presidential nominee, has bested President Barack Obama in the popular vote nationwide.

In Massachusetts, where Obama crushed Palin in a 79 percent landslide — the most lopsidedly anti-Palin vote of any state — “bottomless horror’’ doesn’t begin to describe the political reaction. For in 2010, Massachusetts joined the National Popular Vote compact, making a commitment to cast all of its electoral votes for the presidential candidate receiving the most votes nationally, regardless of the results in Massachusetts. The compact took effect in December 2011, when California became the 15th state to join, thereby uniting enough states to control a majority of the Electoral College. Now Massachusetts, the bluest of the blue states, must award its presidential electors to a candidate Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly opposed.

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ROFL!

Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the Republicans, to prevent a repeat of FDR’s four terms, term limited Ike. And, has dramatically altered the political landscape by making the President a “lame duck” in his second term.

That’s the best example of political stupidity.

The above Palin scenario would be absolutely hysterical.

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POLITICAL: Pick representatives from the jury duty rolls

Sunday, July 18, 2010

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100717/D9H0OT580.html

Obama slams GOP for obstructing economic progress
Jul 17, 7:06 AM (ET)
By JULIE PACE

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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is taking aim at Senate Republicans, accusing them of playing politics with measures that would extend benefits to the unemployed and increase lending to small businesses.

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BUZZ, “barbara streisand” alert!

The R’s have NO power; the D’s control the House, the Senate, and the WH. They can’t stop squat. So if you can’t get your own party to agree, don’t blame it on the other guys!

“FRANKLY, MY DEAR, I DON’T GIVE A DAMN” about your excuses!

Time to vote everyone out.

How about we pick representatives from the jury duty rolls or,even better, the unemployment line? At least we’d be giving a job to someone who needed it!

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