Monthly Archives: November 2011

A Public Sellout That Can No Longer be Ignored

November 30, 2011

“How a party can so nakedly represent only the top 1 percent while at the same time try to stop anything that will help the economy, and survive while doing it, is just beyond me.” – Michael Tomasky

Look for the usual talking points from those who support the GOP and the anti-tax propositions they put forward as they allow efforts to re-instate the 6.2% payroll tax on workers’ wages. The President is not only trying to keep the lower rate in place but wants to reduce it further for workers and employers and pay for it by hitting millionaires with a 3.5% surtax. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot about trickle-down economics and how allowing the wealthiest to keep all of their income will create jobs. We know that’s bunk.

The 2% payroll tax deduction that was part of the deal that the Obama administration made with Republicans last December in exchange for continuing the tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% is due to expire at the end of this year and the GOP leadership is willing to allow that to occur. These are the same people that holler for tax cuts then scream if they are reinstated to cover the deficit, calling them tax increases. And you can bet your bottom dollar they will vigorously work to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich due to expire at the end of 2012, unless the voters wise up and reduce them to an insignificant minority in this next election cycle.

As Michael Tomasky points out in his informative piece, “GOP is Set to Self-Destruct Over Payroll Tax”, the Republicans in the Senate will oppose this tax relief for most working Americans because it means the millionaires will have to ante up 3.5% of what they make over $1 million dollars to cover the revenue loss. In other words, if a person makes $1.1 million they will have to pay an extra $3500 in taxes on that $100, 000, reducing their income from $1,100,000 to $1,096,500. How will they ever keep up appearances over this tragic loss?

But of even greater hypocrisy on the part of GOP/TeaParty is that this extended tax break to the 99% will also apply to employers who net less than $5 million in revenue each year. This new deal will also give all employers a further tax break by not collecting any payroll taxes for any new hires they bring on board. The surtax on millionaires will take care of this shortfall. “So the new bill is specifically aimed at helping the job creators,” says Tomasky. “The total cost is $255 billion.” In other words, the Party that endorses the “Job Creators” in this country wants to hurt job creation.

Republicans … say (as they say of everything) that [the payroll tax cut] hasn’t done any good. But economists attest to its stimulative value. Two economists at the Economic Policy Institute say ending the holiday would reduce GDP by $128 billion and cost 972,000 jobs in 2012. The EPI is a liberal outfit, but Mark Zandi of Moody’s, who advised John McCain in 2008, agrees that raising the payroll tax back to where it was could cause another recession.

This convoluted stand by the GOP leadership isn’t so difficult to understand when you look at it from the eyes of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who informed the American public last year that “the single most important thing [Republicans] want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” This apparently entails sabotaging anything that improves the economy during this period leading up to the 2012 elections. Right now the Republicans are focused on distorting the reality that put us in this economic mess in the first place by accusing Obama of failing to have fixed what almost single-handedly their Party screwed up.

The train wreck that turned into the worst economic recession since 1929 was the result of failed GOP policies to regulate non-banking financial markets that allowed wide-spread corruption with home mortgage loans even when they were warned by the FBI back in 2004. The nation’s top law agency informed Congress then that events within that industry were posing a threat that could exceed the devastation of the Savings & Loan scandal during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

They have neatly side-stepped their complicity in this while fabricating scenarios that hold Obama and the Democrats fully accountable for everything that has gone wrong since late 2007. And since winning back the House in 2010 they have done everything they can to undo what Obama has achieved to slow the economic downward spiral while passing legislation that would pretty much reinstate conditions similar to what we had just prior to our economic collapse. Their biggest fear is that strong signs of economic recovery will develop from the Obama administration’s efforts. This would destroy the image they have created and ruin their chances to not only win re-election for themselves but to regain control of the Senate and the White House.

The payroll tax is essential to maintain funds needed for the entitlement programs, like Social Security. Reducing that tax would have removed needed funds to sustain this program but the greater need to provide financial relief for many working Americans had priority with the President and the Democrats. To compensate for the reduction in contributions, arrangements were made to resupply the Social Security trust fund out of the general fund. The Social Security trust fund you may recall has been routinely depleted by Congress to pay other federal expenditures then handing the trust fund IOUs in the form of government treasury bonds, giving this secure fund a bad image as a drain on the federal debt.

Naturally drawing money out of the general fund negatively impacted the federal deficit, that bugaboo that the chicken littles on the right ignored during the Bush years but now think is critical to our very survival. The Tea Party contingent that took over the GOP last year threatened to shut down the government if spending cuts weren’t initiated to prevent what they foolishly thought would increase the deficit by raising the debt ceiling. Obama has addressed the concern with raising the deficit however by requesting that the lost revenue that will occur if we extend the payroll tax cut be taken from those who live way beyond normal means now – the 3.5% surtax on income amounts in excess of $1 million.

To gall of Republicans who seek to eliminate hundreds of dollars from workers paychecks annually while killing a great opportunity to create more jobs is shocking. To them it is more important that millionaires not suffer the small hit on their taxes from income over $1 million. The vast number of American working families must continue to struggle so the wealthiest amongst us can continue their lavish life styles simply because one Party has signed over their good judgment to the threats of one man’s campaign to shrink government small enough to drown in a bath tub – Grover Norquist

Could it be any clearer where the hearts and minds of the GOP rest? When called to sacrifice for the improvement of our overall economy, Republicans are clearly on the side of that small segment who have vastly profited during this economic crisis as they were bailed out of their own failures on our dime.

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections, Budget Crisis, Corporate Influence, Jobs, Society and Politics Tags: Barack Obama, Bush tax cuts, corporate-friendly GOP, Economic Policy Institute, Grover Norquist, Michael Tomasky, Mitch McConnell, party of the rich, payroll tax cuts, raising taxes on the middle class, Social Security Trust Fund

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Want Beach Front Property? Buy Real Estate in the Sierra Nevada or Appalachian Mountain Ranges.

November 27, 2011

Could this be the Pacific Ocean view from the eastern side of Nevada in the not so distant future?

Though the denunciations by climate deniers of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming have subsided over the last year, the increase in temperatures continues none-the-less.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are building up so high, so fast, that some scientists now think the world can no longer limit global warming to the level world leaders have agreed upon as safe.

New figures from the U.N. weather agency Monday showed that the three biggest greenhouse gases not only reached record levels last year but were increasing at an ever-faster rate, despite efforts by many countries to reduce emissions. SOURCE

The evidence is mounting so fast that even a former skeptic has now joined the scientific consensus that attributes the “ever-faster rates” to man’s use of fossil fuels to run their automobiles and heat their homes.

University of California physics professor Richard Muller, who was concerned by claims that established teams of climate researchers had not been entirely open with their data … [established] the Berkeley Earth Project [using] new methods and some new data, [found] the same warming trend seen by groups such as the UK Met Office and Nasa. – SOURCE

What is especially ironic about Dr. Mueller’s study is that some of his funding came from the Koch brothers who have been paying any climate scientist who is cash strapped to dispel the overwhelming evidence that points a finger at the burning of fossil fuels for the increase in atmospheric CO2. The Koch brothers wealth comes from the products they sell related to oil, energy, chemicals and financial products.

Employing no less than 30 lobbyists in Washington, Koch Industries has lobbied to change more than 100 pieces of federal legislation. They included trying to loosen regulations on potentially poisonous substances like dioxins, benzene and asbestos. They have pushed back against restrictions on carbon emissions and funded thinktanks and groups that promote efforts to discredit climate change science. SOURCE

These lobbying efforts have payed off handsomely as many conservatives in Congress have stymied nearly all legislation that seeks to educate the public on man-made global warming or promote funding and subsidies to generate greater efforts for clean, renewable energy as the supply of finite fossil fuels are consumed . American peak oil pretty much occurred back in the 1970s yet many in Congress try to ensure the public with the false notion that there are yet untapped sources of oil within our boundaries that will make us oil independent.

One of the most recent efforts to block efforts to better inform the public on dramatic climate change, occurrences that many who study it say are the effects of global warming, is the opposition that recently blocked a request by NOAA “to reshuffle its offices to establish a National Climate Service akin to the agency’s National Weather Service.”

It asked for no new funding to do so. But in a political climate where talk of the earthly kind of climate can be radioactive, the answer in last week’s budget deal was “no.” Congress barred NOAA from launching what the agency bills as a “one-stop shop” for climate information.

Demand for such data is skyrocketing, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco told Congress earlier this year. Farmers are wondering when to plant. Urban planners want to know whether groundwater will stop flowing under subdivisions. Insurance companies need climate data to help them set rates. SOURCE

But even if all the deniers in the public and Congress converted and accepted the evidence of climate science, they may have done so too late. Things are changing so rapidly now that we may have passed the point of no return. What many climate scientists feel is the acceptable amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to slow and eventually reduce the green house effect of 350ppm was passed 20 years ago.

Governments have focused more on projected temperature increases rather than carbon levels. Since the mid-1990s, European governments have set a goal of limiting warming to slightly more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) above current levels by the end of this century. The goal was part of a nonbinding agreement reached in Copenhagen in 2009 that was signed by the U.S. and other countries.

Temperatures have already risen about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) since pre-industrial times.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Ron Prinn, Henry Jacoby and John Sterman said MIT’s calculations show the world is unlikely to meet that two-degree goal now.

“There’s very, very little chance,” Prinn said. “One has to be pessimistic about making that absolute threshold.” He added: “Maybe we’ve waited too long to do anything serious if two degrees is the danger level.”

Andrew Weaver at the University of Victoria, Granger Morgan of Carnegie Mellon University and Gregg Marland of Appalachian State University agreed with the MIT analysis that holding warming to two degrees now seems unlikely.

“There’s no way to stop it. There’s so much inertia in the system,” Morgan said. “We’ve committed to quite a bit of warming.”

So don’t sell that isolated cabin near the top of Donnelley Peak in Nevada’s Calico Mountains. Your grand kids could enjoy some sandy beach twilights listening to waves splash up against stone facings where nearby mule deer and antelope once grazed.

Global Warming Has Pushed the Arctic into a New Normal

Posted by lbwoodgate in climate change, social security, aging, Climate Science/Global Warming Tags: 350ppm surpassed, Climate change, climate extremes, failure to contain CO2 levels in atmosphere, man-made global warming, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, Pacific Ocean, Richard Mueller joins climate scientists, Washington

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All in Favor of Megyn Kelly Getting Peppered-Sprayed, Raise Your Hands

November 26, 2011

In a conversation with Bill O’Reilly about the pepper spraying incident at UC Davis, FOX’s Megyn Kelly and O’Reilly pretty much down-played the incident with Kelly calling it a “food derivative”.

O’Reilly: Pepper Spray. That just burns your eyes, right?

Kelly: Right, it’s like an actual derivative of pepper. It’s a food product essentially, but a lot of experts are looking at that and saying “is that the real deal, has it been diluted because ….

O’Reilly: Yeah, they should have had more of a reaction.

Typical FOX tripe. Yes, pepper spray comes from natural peppers but you don’t stick them in your eye. Apple Juice is high in acid content but you don’t extract the acid to consume it by itself. Tobacco is also a natural product but we all know what the surgeon general says about that leafy plant.

Stephanie Queen’s post over at HumorOutcast.com that first alerted me to this imbecility informs us that “the active ingredient in pepper spray is oleoresin capsicum (OC), a natural oil found in many types of hot peppers including cayenne peppers, and experts say that an amount as small as one milligram can cause blisters and a severe reaction could lead to neurological problems as well.” We’re assuming Stephanie is referring to real experts and not the kind that Megyn Kelly conjures up.

Who are those “experts” that Ms. Kelly is referring to? The boys down in accounting who still can’t figure out why she’s paid an exorbitant amount of money as an air-head pretending to be a news commentator? FOX commentators are always slipping in such lame qualifiers to support their pretentious perceptions, declaring often that “people say” this or that to go along with the message FOX wants its viewers to accept.

But the proof is in the pudding as they say. Perhaps Megyn and O’Reilly would be willing to show their viewers just how harmless this “food product” can be. They may need a little encouragement to test their hypothesis so Nick Douglas over at his Slacatory blog has put out an on-line petition for people to sign that would prompt the blond FOX ditz and the loud-mouth O’Reilly to confirm their suspicions. You can find the petition here.

I doubt there will ever be enough signatures to convince the FOX celebrities to participate in a demonstration to show us all how innocuous they intimate pepper spray is. The people that work at that network are never liable for their insanity. Why should they be? They appeal to an audience that is equally simple-minded and to them this is their reality.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Humor, Journalism/Media, Television Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Food, food derivative, FOX, Megyn Kelly, Nick Douglas, Pepper spray, University of California Davis

4 comments

Let’s Expand the Black Friday Concept

November 25, 2011

Instead of making this a once a year event that shows an ugly image of the crowd mentality and corporate efforts to squeeze workers to garner more profits, why not expand on this concept in a more humane fashion and create an economic boost to our sluggish economy?

Black Fridays have become known as those days when retailers open their stores extra early with discounted merchandise to entice consumers. This year, many retailers are pushing back there store hours to as early as midnight, Thanksgiving Day, to hopefully gain a few extra hours to increase sells opportunities. It is understandable why many use such a tactic to help them improve their profit margins that have suffered during a time when many people are forced to cut back on non-essential expenses. Profits are essential to keep businesses moving forward and provide jobs for working Americans. But are Black Fridays really needed to achieve this.

The biggest draw for consumers is the huge discounts retailers use to move inventory that has otherwise stagnated throughout the year. With consumer budgets strained due to fewer jobs and lower incomes, Black Friday is an opportunity for them to buy many items that they would otherwise not be able to access at non-discounted prices the other days of the year. But if this is the primary reason for meeting financial goals, why is it done at this level just once a year. Why humiliate eager consumers to pack the parking lots of retail outlets hours before the doors open while forcing store employees to work longer hours that cut into a time when families usually come together to celebrate an important holiday?

Many of the large, multi-national corporations like Target and Wal-Mart are doing well profit wise. The 3rd quarter reports for this year have both of them in the black, however Wal-mart has struggled as they are confronted with issues that hurt their brand, like eliminating health benefits for future employees to keep their profit margins on par. On the other hand Target has been seeing more consistent gains due to changes that in part promote a 5% discount when people sign up for and use the retailers credit card.

These tactics could easily be used sparingly, at more reasonable hours during the day throughout the year to achieve their goals and they could just as easily be achieved by allowing people to purchase on-line rather than allow people pack like sardines in front of stores set to rush counters and the clerks who are expected to handle such mobs. These are tough economic times and it is harder now than it has been in the past for people to make the purchases they feel will still give them and their families a sense of giving and receiving at a level they’re accustomed to.

I don’t promote consumption for the sake of consumption but this economy is floundering because spending is down. By generating offers throughout the year that promotes enthusiasm with consumer buying, retailers should extend the idea of Black Friday – huge savings on popular items – throughout the year and with some convenience that more people can share in. It would go a long way in boosting economic growth and return the holiday to its traditional roots where family comes first.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Budget Crisis, Economy, National Holiday Tags: Black Friday, Christmas and holiday season, consumer spending, corporate profits, economic stimulus, Retailing, Target Corporation, Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart

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To Defend an Oath or Democratic Principles

November 23, 2011

Military enlistees affirm that they will defend the U.S. Constitution

Mitch Green over at New Economic Perspective recently composed a letter regarding the OccupyWallStreet movement that instantly grabbed my attention as a former military person.

As the occupy movement continues to grow in defiance of the heavy-handed police action determined to squelch it, a natural question emerges: What point will the military be summoned to contain the cascade of popular dissent? And if our nation’s finest are brought into this struggle to stand between the vested authority of the state and the ranks of those who petition them for a redress of grievance, what may we expect the outcome to be? SOURCE

We are currently witnessing in Egypt what Green’s word’s are implying can happen here. Egyptian troops that helped the freedom movement in spring this year remove strongman Hasni Mubarek is now positioning itself between those citizens and the power structure that replaced Mubarak. It seems clear that what’s going on over in Egypt is simply nothing more than the after effects of a political coup that used the legitimate concerns of the people to accomplish their ends. One man is removed but the power structure that effected the heavy handed repression from the start remains in place.

In this country each person who serves our military signs an oath that puts them between perceived adversaries and their nation.

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

As a former Marine I remember that oath but there was little consideration to the part then that referred to “domestic enemies”. There was a war being waged halfway around the world in Vietnam at the time and our focus lay there as we spoke those words.

Yet today, we guard against internal threats perhaps more than we do foreign ones. Home grown terrorist who are legitimate citizens spring up to support a radical foreign religious cause that aims to hurt innocent people. Many within private militias around the country often exaggerate the threat of government and plot to oppose what they see as a police state mentality at every turn. These internal enemies arm themselves with weapons that kill and do indeed reflect “domestic enemies” that men and women in uniform have sworn to fight in defense of their country.

But what of these citizens who pose a threat not to the general public but to the power structure on Wall Street and their allies in government? These citizens carry no weapons but the words that speak to a relevant truth which affects us all. There are those in the corporate media that would portray the OWS movement as nothing more than anarchist out to destroy capitalism.

When one really reads what the movement is actually saying however it becomes clear that these people are not out to destroy capitalism but defend it against a small elite that use it for its purposes to the detriment of the vast majority of working Americans; many who have seen their dreams of home ownership and economic opportunity slowly diminish while 1% of the income earners in this country continue to increase their gains. Many of them do this by expending much of their vast wealth to buy sources of media and politicians while establishing and funding astroturf organizations as a pretense that there concerns are really nothing more than the “will of the people”

So what can we expect of our military when it inevitably comes to that point where they are “summoned to contain the cascade of popular dissent”? Will they defend the principles of the 1st amendment as we saw with many vets in New York earlier this month? It’s one thing to take this stand however as a vet, no longer under the direct authority of the military, and those service men and women who are currently serving. Green’s comments about this makes one feel uneasy.

Just as a training collar keeps a dog in check, a highly militarized police force responds mercilessly, sharply, and without hesitation with an array of chemical warfare and thuggish brutality. And where they fail, divisions of soldiers stand ready to deliver a serious and painful lesson to all who demonstrate their unwillingness to wait for democracy.

Oaths have significance for those who take them and there perhaps is no greater oath that says you will lay your life down for your country in its defense. But perhaps this is the key component that many active service members need to take into account if it ever comes to them being faced with fellow citizens who themselves are trying to save this country from what they fear is a plutocracy.

First and foremost in the oath’s affirmations is the vow to “defend the Constitution of the United States”. The 1st amendment of that Constitution allows citizens the right … to peaceably … assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. It is expected of coursed that such actions should be within certain parameters and non-violent.

When the representatives to the constitutional convention met in May of 1787 they were very mindful of the violent rebellion that bears the name of the one who initiated it less than a year earlier; a former continental army soldier named Daniel Shay. Shay’s Rebellion was a reaction to the failure of the new government to compensate those who fought in the revolution with many of them losing their homes and personal possessions as a result.

The original oath of enlistment under the new Constitution was worded differently then than it is today regarding the part that asks that those who serve will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. This 18th century version (changed later in 1960 to its current reading) simply said “I, ____ do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) to bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and to serve them honestly and faithfully, against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever…”. The pre-Constitutional wording of the oath of enlistment had even less implication of defending “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It simply read that all enlistees would “conform, in all instances, to such rules and regulations, as are, or shall be, established for the government of the said Army.” Shay’s Rebellion made it clear that the new government may indeed need to protect itself against “enemies” within our own borders. But one could argue that it was defending the interest of the propertied class as well as trying to preserve the newly formed central government.

Peaceful protest at Kent State that criticized Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia back in 1970 turned violent when some amongst the protesters torched public and private property

This bit of insight on the oath is important for those active military who may have to decide whether or not they would be violating their oath if they decided they could not follow the commands of their superiors, including the Commander-in-Chief, when called to put down the actions of a peaceful demonstration by OWS protesters. This insight also should make it clear that OWS protesters must do everything in their power to make sure their protest remain non-violent and within the parameters suggested in the 1st amendment.

The excuses used thus far by police departments to clear such encampments at Zucotti Park in Manhattan as well as numerous other OWS encampments in major cities around the country encompass the notion that these camps generate health issues and harbor “rabble rousers” who have destroyed property. There is no clear evidence from a thorough investigation that has nailed this view yet. But clearly the use of tear gas and billy clubs by police on protesters, that videos have shown posed no physical threat to the police, demonstrate that there is a mentality here that cares less about these protesters’ constitutional rights than it does about physical tactics to comply with orders from those in the upper echelons of local governments that issued them. We need to look clearly at those who issue such orders and try to determine not only their real motives but their ties, if any, with those who are being targeted by OWS protesters – the one-percenters.

A non-violent protest by peace activist protesting the Vietnam war being confronted by military police back in the early 1970’s

If in fact the protesters are non-violent and amenable to reasonable request by authorities to avoid impinging on the rights of property owners, there is a good case to be made here that tactics that utilize physical force by police or military are in fact a violation of the 1st amendment. Thus, if active duty military are called up to assist local police officials in caroling the protesters by such means, each man and woman in uniform, it seems, would be hard-pressed to feel obligated to follow such orders.

We must encourage our men and women who serve to defend our rights as American citizens to be on the guard that they do not become pawns for a wealthy power bloc that will try to portray these protesters as enemies of the state from what they really are – citizens exercising their constitutional rights. Honor your oath where those would do harm and damage to others but make a clear distinction between them and those who simply have grievances against a very small percentage of people who circumvent our laws and exploit elected offices in this country to enhance their own positions.

The GOP’s Oath to the One-Percent

Posted by lbwoodgate in Occupy Wall Street Protest Tags: defending democracy, Egypt, internal threats from OWS, military force, occupy wall street protests, protecting wealthy interests, Uniform Code of Military Justice, United States Constitution

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Hypocrite Gingrich to OWS Protesters: “go get a job right after you take a bath.”

November 20, 2011

“According to the Supreme Court, Money Is Now Speech and Corporations Are Now People. But When REAL People Without Money Assemble to Express Their Dissatisfaction with the Political [System], They’re Treated as Public Nuisances and Evicted” - Robert Reich

DES MOINES, Iowa — At an emotional two-hour forum focused as much on the candidate’s personal and spiritual lives as on their policies, six Republican candidates spoke at length Saturday about their faith but skirted direct discussion of misconduct by either twice-divorced Newt Gingrich or Herman Cain, who has faced allegations of sexual harassment. SOURCE

The attempt by the GOP to put a humble spin on people like Gingrich is understandable considering some of his multiple “sins”, but it masks a more serious flaw with the man. Gingrich will say whatever it takes to persuade the voting public, even if his actions don’t reflect the values to which he addresses. This characterization was revealed by his 2nd wife, Marianne, shortly after Gingrich filed divorce papers with her to marry a younger woman.

Following Gingrich’s unfaithfulness to Marianne she asked Newt how he could parade around the country speaking about family values during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal and be in violation of such values. Deluded with his own sense of exceptionalism, Newt told Marianne that “It doesn’t matter what I do. People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.”

In a dialogue with conservative wordsmith Frank Luntz, Gingrich told the audience that he had “been very blessed”.

Callista and I have a wonderful marriage,” he said, going on to describe his closeness to his children. “But all of that has required a great deal of pain, some of which I have caused others, which I regret deeply. All of which required having to go to God to seek both reconciliation but also to seek God’s acceptance that I had to recognize how limited I was and how much I had to depend on Him.”

This kind of faux christianity is a perfect example of why I have disassociated myself with the faith years ago and remain adamant in this conviction. Gingrich oozes here about the pain he suffered and how lacking in moral character he was, which might portend that he had gained some sense of humility. But when talking about the Occupy Wall Street protesters we see nothing of compassion and humility as he feeds the audience the red meat they want.

While mischaracterizing the movement as one that basically assumes that “we all owe them everything”, he depicts them as deadbeat, smelly bums with the denigrating comment that they all need to “go get a job right after [they] take a bath”, to which the audience broke out in a vigorous applause to.

This kind of bogus stereotyping of the OWS movement is typical of the extremist element within the GOP. It comes as no surprise that it is presented in front of moderator Frank Luntz, CEO of Luntz Research Companies that offers “Strategic Consulting and Message Development.” The message development aspect of Luntz’s company is the Orwellian use of terms that have positive meanings for conservative wish list items and negative imagery for those issues they want to demonize. The intent is to get the best bang for the buck on impacting voter perceptions that favor GOP wins. It doesn’t have to be 100% accurate. It just needs to have a hint of truth and feed off of people’s preconceived notions. “It’s not what you say”, Luntz boasted. “It’s what they hear”. I would qualify that by saying it’s what you want them to hear.

Gingrich plies this tactic and plays the audience with his fabricated Christian creds then forgets that by condemning those whom he neither fully knows or likes for their views on government cronyism toward corporate lobbyists, he is violating the ninth commandment – “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Naturally he wouldn’t see it this way but then most narcissists and hypocrites are incapable of such introspection. His compassion is also missing by mocking those who are jobless in an economy where there have been as many as 5-6 applicants for each job available. Clearly some are going to remain jobless until this crisis is corrected and some of those people may indeed be rightfully associated with OWS.

He further mocks their efforts by ignoring the fact that the private financial sector, which much of the discontent of the OWS is aimed at, was responsible for the current high jobless rate when they engaged in unethical practices that sent the economy into a downward spiral. And this falls on the heals of the recent revelation that Gingrich was profiting from Fannie Mae as this crisis was looming.

The “smelly” part of his comment was just an added dig to further demean the character of these people who have forced themselves to forego the luxury of a bath they are accustomed to in their determination to stand and be recognized for their popular views.

Gingrich’s mean-spirited comments do not reflect the Christ-like virtues of reaching out to the less powerful and disenfranchised groups. He is the man with a log in his eye criticizing others. Missing is the “mercy” mentioned in Matthew 5 that christians are expected to extend to “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”.

Pretending to be the victim who has earned millions as a former lobbyists, Gingrich would depict as undesirables those who would also like the opportunity to access the great wealth he has attained. To him though they are merely trying to steal what he has gained from his connections as a Washington insider. Gingrich is part of that coterie that benefits from a “revolving door that shuffles former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists just as the door pulls former hired guns into government careers”, gaining privilege, power and money.

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections, Occupy Wall Street Protest, Wedge Issues Tags: Fannie Mae, Frank Luntz, gop candidates disparage OWS protesters, Marianne Gingrich, Newt Gingrich, political corporate revolving door

6 comments

My Life as a Tom – A Perspective

November 20, 2011

How About Some Holiday Humor?

If real turkeys could talk, how might they view this holiday.

Why do I start feeling uneasy when the leaves start changing colors? What is it about this time of year that creates a need for me to put my life in order? Here I am, without a care amongst my peers and being fed very nourishing meals. I do begin to worry that my thighs are becoming overly plump, however. That can’t be a good thing. And I get to lollygag around in a sheltered enclosure, somewhat crowded but appearing to thin out more and more each day. Can life get any better?

I can recall my days as a young poult. I haven’t been here that long but it was a happy time with all my kin. And yet, there’s been this dread that all was not well either. I began to see less of the older relatives and more and more new turkeys would arrive from places unknown. Poor things would look half-starved. That would change of course as they were “fattened up” so to speak by our great accommodations and generous hosts here at Turkey Trot Farms.

Rumor has it that there is a great feast that ultimately we will attend. There will be a large gathering of people who will stand over us with looks of adoration and anticipation. We will be the center of attraction and many will rejoice later that day about how satisfied they were with us. So why do I have this propensity to worry and feel an inexplicable, uncomfortable warmth about me?

I appear to have favorable views by my human providers. Each day they give me a physical work over and seem delighted that I am progressing to their great satisfaction. Just last week I received a recognition that everyone is gobbling about. It’s a nice shiny medal engraved with the salutary “Grade A” on it that my human admirers seem to take exceptional glee with. It did hurt just a bit though when they stapled it to my wing but that is perhaps necessary to prevent any theft or loss. Some of my younger cousins do appear to be grudgingly envious of it; not to mention I really don’t have a safe place I can keep it.

I feel good about my surroundings and yet there is an air of foreboding. I sense it more each day when my human caretakers visit our abode and then leave with some of my friends and relatives. Perhaps I just have an excessive sense of anxiety. Why would I feel angst at the fact that I am well tended to and well-nourished? I am relatively young and I have my whole life before me.

Oh look! There are my human friends now and it appears they are heading my way. I wonder what joy they will bring into my life today?

Have a Safe and Full-filling Thanksgiving Holiday !

Posted by lbwoodgate in Humor, National Holiday Tags: Holidays, Thanksgiving, thanksgiving feast, Thanksgiving humor, Turkey

10 comments

Herman Cain is in the “Dog” House?

November 19, 2011

It’s Saturday. Time for a little weekend humor

Duane "Dog" Chapman

It has been reported that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain will begin receiving protection from the Secret Service at his campaign’s request. Cain’s campaign and Secret Service officials will not say what specific incident or concern prompted the authorization, but according to a NBC news report “those involved in the evaluation for using taxpayer dollars this way determined that ‘there’s clearly some credible threats’.”

However, there are rumors leaking out that Duane “Dog” Chapman has a bounty on Herman Cain’s head after he allegedly made inappropriate sexual comments to the Dog’s wife, Beth, at a fund-raiser. Mrs. Chapman is a very well endowed woman and told Cain her and her husband would like to support his campaign. Cain was heard to reply, “Only if I can support my face between those skin pillows of yours”.

Beth and Duane Chapman in wedding photo

Cain claims there was a misunderstanding and that he was merely stating that there was something about her that reminded him of his wife’s garden patch back in Georgia.

He may have a point

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections, Humor Tags: Beth Chapman, Bounty Hunter "Dog" Chapman, Cain's sexual gaffes, Duane Chapman, Herman Cain, Secret Service, United States Secret Service

6 comments

Celebrating the Occupy Movement in My Hometown

November 18, 2011

So I finally got off of my lazy, support-from-a-distance tush and joined my local Occupy group here in Denton, Texas yesterday. There was a national effort to have all Occupy movements stage protests marches and meetings celebrating the 2nd full month of this movement initiated in New York’s Zucotti Park back in September. With a crowd of about 60 people I thought the Denton Occupy group represented itself well as we all gathered at the steps of the County Courthouse on the town square.

A group of about 15 young men and women marched from their Occupy base at the University of North Texas, about a mile away, and joined the crowd I was with on the square, with chants of “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation”.

All of the young speakers were enthusiastic and determined in their efforts to see the movement sustain itself here in Denton and supporting the larger movements across the country in cities like New York, Oakland and Dallas. Much of what they spoke to addressed the need to hold both political Parties accountable to see that a level playing field between the have and have-nots in this country is not destroyed any further than it already has been.

Voices were raised about the attacks of many who support the 1% who seek to eliminate public sector and union jobs like teachers, fire fighters, police officers and sanitation workers while pointing out the serious discrepancies in pay and the social contributions between them and those of corporate CEOs. One young man spoke to the concern that the Occupy movement is not a place but a list of ideas and grievances that impact the 99%.

It has been my understanding that the movement does not represent an attack on capitalism itself but an attack on those who abuse it as they get richer and richer while the standards of the once vibrant middle class erode more and more each month with jobs shifting to cheaper labor markets abroad and benefits being significantly reduced or eliminated with those jobs that most still hang onto here in this country.

The school district employees here in Denton face such a standards reduction as the budget restraints from a GOP state legislature kicks in at the new year. Their health insurance will change from one that has a 80-20 payout on it as you worked to fulfill your deductible. That means they could expect the insurer to pay 80% of doctors visits, prescription drugs and other out patient services before the deductible was met.

The new insurance package they’re being handed now still expects a healthy premium payment but pays nothing until the deductible is met. Looking at what best serves our needs we thought the package with the $3000 deductible would work best as far as premium payments were concerned. But the notion that either of us will have a total of $3000 dollars in doctors’ bill is absurd which means we have to pay for everything out of pocket with no help from the insurance company who expects to be paid over $700 a month in premiums just for the privilege of being there in case their are catastrophic conditions that do exceed $3000.

Think about that for a second. We would put out over $8000 dollars in premiums each year and never receive any benefits from our insurer for doctor visits and medicine. This is but one indication where the disparity between the wealthiest 1% and everyone else stretches the ability to sustain a normal life. To avoid this cost without benefits I have decided to allow my wife to drop me from coverage because I will be eligible for Medicare coverage in a little over two years. We will take the difference it costs me to be on the policy and stick in our tax-deferred IRA, having it build up equity as it sits there for us if we do need it in an emergency. I can only hope that such a catastrophic situation does not arise before I reach age 65.

Though not publicly aired at this gathering, many of these young men and women have to be concerned that there high dollar education they are working on may not pay off in this down job market, leaving them with high student loans to pay off. There was dismay expressed by one young woman however that the so-called American dream is no longer a reality for their generation.

I was inspired by the energy of these young men and women. They remind me so much of the generation of my youth as we too fought the status quo that suppressed minorities and women’s rights and allowed a war in Vietnam to go unchecked for too long. It took years for our movement to accomplish what we did but change did come. I am hopeful that the same can be achieved through the efforts of this generation who seek to keep alive the aspirations that my generation sought to establish.

They are firmly and properly planted in the belief that there is power in the actions of individuals coming together and pushing aside what seem like immovable obstacles. I am encouraged by their vitality that they will succeed and am also more resolute now to be there to support their efforts in deeds as well as thoughts.

A member of my generation expresses encouragement at Denton’s Occupy rally on the square

Posted by lbwoodgate in Occupy Wall Street Protest Tags: celebrating Occupy Wall Street, Dallas, Denton, New York, Occupy Denton gathers at town square, poor health insurance coverage for Texas school district, the 99%, University of North Texas

12 comments

One Conservative at Least is Hearing the Complaints Coming From the OWS Protests.

November 16, 2011

“From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multi-millionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations.”

It might come as shock to those on the right who read this that these are not the ramblings of an anti-Capitalist, left-leaning Democrat. They come from a report recently released from the office of ultra-conservative Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn. Coburn states in his report entitled Subsidies of the Rich and Famous, that as “families across the country [are] struggling to make ends meet during these economically trying times, many are left with few options so they are turning to the government – some very reluctantly – for assistance.” Some may recall that it was Coburn who single handedly blocked the efforts of the full Senate in 2010 to extend unemployment benefits to the millions of people who had lost their jobs as a result of the financial collapse of the free-market.

Coburn is also part of the Republican bloc in the Senate where minority leader Mitch McConnell has stated that the “single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” Thus, every effort where the Obama administration has attempted to alleviate the plight of “families across the country struggling to make ends meet”, has been blocked by Senator Coburn and the rest of the GOP.

Coburn’s report is not testament to any shift in political views regarding government aid. He still lamely claims that taxing the rich because they “are getting too much of the economic pie … is no different than taking a dollar from one pocket and putting it into another in the same pair of pants.” That would only be true if the wearer of those pants was also a millionaire. Entitlement programs and aid grants that provide a safety net for the poor and unemployed during tough economic times is hardly money that goes to people who really don’t need it.

But unlike many of his Republican/Tea party colleagues, Coburn appears to have seen the writing on the wall from the ever growing and popular Occupy Wall Street movement that has brought home the reality of the vast income disparity between the wealthy 1% in this country and everyone else.

His report is a worthy attempt to show that “welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations.” His report aptly demonstrates that billions have been going to millionaires over the last decade for things like tax write offs in the form of farm subsidies to people who neither actively work or even live on a farm to some 60,000 wealthy individuals who have filed for Medicare Part B with modified adjusted gross incomes of $1,000,000 or more.

He also makes a great case for means testing of all entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and Unemployment benefits. In 2009 over 38,000 people with adjusted gross incomes of $1 million or more, collected $1,142,204,000 in Social Security benefits, an annual average of $30,780 for each recipient. Though that’s a wapping amount for most income earners it is only about 3% of those who made $1 million each year and about 0.30% for those who made over $10 million.

Granted, even some millionaires paid into the social security trust fund during their lifetime as wage earners. But with high unemployment rates today where there are fewer workers available to contribute their share through payroll taxes and the aging baby boom generation starting to retire, the strain on the trust fund has created a deficit in receipts for the first time in nearly 30 years. The system is capable of paying 100% of benefits until 2036 but if we don’t make necessary adjustment it will only be able to pay 75% of benefits after that. Means testing would reduce the payout to millionaires and even eliminate benefits for some, providing needed revenue for those wage earners who depend on Social Security benefits as their sole source of retirement funds. “Returning the purpose of the program to a need-based service instead of one available universally may help keep Social Security solvent for future generations”, says Coburn

Medicare/Medicaid is in even worst shape than Social Security because of the increase in high health care cost and fraud abuses by health care providers. For millionaires to apply for this entitlement program when their resources allows them buy some of the best health care coverage that the private sector offers is ludicrous. According to Forbes reporter Janet Novack last month, a “couple on Medicare with a $428,000 AGI will benefit from a 13 percent decrease in their Part B premium payments. At the same time, the majority of Medicare Part B participants who pay the lowest premiums will see their monthly premiums increase slightly, offsetting the first cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase recipients have seen in about 3 years.”

To deplete these vital resources for low income and handicapped individuals in order to prevent a millionaire’s resources from diminishing is ludicrous. How many of these very wealthy people have referred to Medicaid/Medicare as a “socialist” program that is depleting tax payers of their hard-earned wages?

Fraud is apparently rampant within the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Program too. This entitlement program that also receives contributions from wage earners through their payroll taxes as well as employer contributions, serves to alleviate the loss of wages when workers have been laid off for reasons other than poor performance. Without these benefits many families would be strapped to pay for food and rent until they can find other work. Yet Coburn’s report showed there were those collecting unemployment benefits who were “also earning millions of dollars in the same year. In 2009, the Internal Revenue Service reported that 2,362 millionaires collected a total of $20,799,000 in UI. Eighteen individuals reporting an adjusted gross income of $10,000,000 or more also received $12,333 on average in UI in 2009, for a total of $222,000.”

Angela Wade, who has also reported on this at her Blue States blog has broken the benefits down cited in Coburn’s study to show just how much revenue is being lost for essential social programs to people who are far from being in need.

$18.15 million in child care tax credits

$74 million in unemployment checks

$89 million for preservation of ranches and estates

$316 million in farm subsidies

$608 million in business entertainment deductions

$9 billion in retirement checks

$21 billion in gambling losses

$28 billion in mortgage breaks for mansions, vacation homes and yachts

Though it is encouraging to see Senator Coburn present such a detailed outline of the waste of needed government revenue going to people within the top 2% of income earners in this country, it will be interesting to see if this just a head jerk to feign concern about the need to correct such abuses that occur through federal subsidies and policies that neglect to prevent unethical practices by those in the top tier income groups.

His conservative creds are still locked into the notion that “government policies intended to mainstream wealth redistribution are undermining these principles” that expects “everyone to contribute and to demonstrate personal responsibility”. Yet the expectations one sees coming from this study suggests that Coburn is not in the same camp with other Republicans who see the removal of existing tax subsidies as onerous “tax cuts”.

Coburn has boasted that this study is the first comprehensive effort that has revealed how nearly $30 billion in giveaways and tax breaks has fleeced the American taxpayer. We can only now hope that he will step up to the plate and vigorously defend this data and convince his fellow Republicans to step away from their pro-corporate entrenched view of supporting the haves to the detriment of the have-nots in our country. Or will we see him wilt in the face of the strong opposition from the right-wing extremists who have taken over the Grand Old Party of Lincoln?

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections, Budget Crisis, Economy, Financial Reform, Health Care Reform, Jobs, Medicare/Medicaid, Occupy Wall Street Protest, Society and Politics Tags: billions in subsidies for millionaires, Coburn, fleecing American tax payers, gop gaming the system in favor of wealthiest 1%, Medicare, Mitch McConnell, Republicans, Senate, Social Security, Tom Coburn

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Monthly Archives: November 2011

All in Favor of Megyn Kelly Getting Peppered-Sprayed, Raise Your Hands

Let’s Expand the Black Friday Concept

To Defend an Oath or Democratic Principles

Hypocrite Gingrich to OWS Protesters: “go get a job right after you take a bath.”

My Life as a Tom – A Perspective

Herman Cain is in the “Dog” House?

Celebrating the Occupy Movement in My Hometown

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