Freedoms lost.

 government, Hypocrisy, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Apr 272010
 

I was getting tired of hearing about how government is going to take away freedoms until I realized how completely true it is.

Government fire departments take away the freedom of fire to destroy anything in its path.

Government police departments deprive criminals of the ability to freely break the law at every opportunity.

Government regulators limit the food industries freedom to sell us, spoiled, poisoned, infested and dangerous food stuffs.

The Postal Service severely limits the ability of package delivery companies to squeeze ten dollars out of you to deliver a document by providing that service for .44

Government controlled traffic signals deprive us of the right to drive through any damn intersection anytime we want.

Government mandates for the use of seatbelts rob us of the opportunity to be launched through our windshields in a front end collision.

Government restrictions on the operation of a motor vehicle while completely wasted totally limits our ability to carelessly slaughter our friends and neighbors.

Government regulations ruthlessly hinder the freedom of industry to pollute our shared air and water for the benefit of their profitability.

Government safety regulations callously block the ability of corporations to sacrifice the lives and limbs of their employees in the pursuit of money.

Seriously people, we have a society, the governments role is to protect those in the society. In the history of our society and our government it is much more likely that personal freedoms were restricted or infringed by powerful moneyed interests not the Federal Government. The history of government regulation almost never proves that we have too much… Mostly it is the lamentation after a tragedy, human or financial, that more effective and comprehensive regulation would have saved lives or livelihoods.

Can the government be ineffective? Sure. Can the government be wasteful? Absolutely. Is the government an evil institution bent on depriving Americans of their freedoms? Give me a fucking break.

Try to remember

 Financial reform, government, Hypocrisy, Obama, Politics, Teaparty, Truth  Comments Off
Apr 262010
 

Bringing financial reform to the floor of the Senate has been filibustered by the Party of no, even though a scant 19 months ago the financial industry threatened to plunge the world into a global depression. It was only the extraordinary actions taken by the Bush administration with the backing of the Democratic Party that staunched a much wider crisis. It was only the continued vigilance and bold stimulus of the Obama administration that thwarted a deeper and more painful recession saving the American people from the worst of the devastation while necessarily re-capitalizing firms that recklessly drove the banking system to the brink of disaster.

And what do those who bothered to pull the financial system out of the fire have to show for their responsibility in the face of a most unpleasant task? The teaparty. An unruly, angry, misinformed mob that wants to punish those who pulled us out of the fire while granting a pass to the GOP for doing nothing then and doing less now to reign in those who actually set up and knocked down the American economy to the detriment of practically the entire electorate.

The President released the following after the unfortunate vote in the Senate today:

“I am deeply disappointed that Senate Republicans voted in a block against allowing a public debate on Wall Street reform to begin.  Some of these Senators may believe that this obstruction is a good political strategy, and others may see delay as an opportunity to take this debate behind closed doors, where financial industry lobbyists can water down reform or kill it altogether.  But the American people can’t afford that.  A lack of consumer protections and a lack of accountability on Wall Street nearly brought our economy to its knees, and helped cause the pain that has left millions of Americans without jobs and without homes.  The reform that both parties have been working on for a year would prevent a crisis like this from happening again, and I urge the Senate to get back to work and put the interests of the country ahead of party.”

It is time for fact to trump fiction, for talking points to give way to public debate for the good of the American people, if you haven’t the chops to have the debate in that forum than we shall continue to understand that your political future is far more important to you than the future of the country, its people and their financial security.

Nanook!

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Apr 262010
 

It is the birthday of Nanook… If you knew Nanook like I know Nanook you too would celebrate… No really, you would!

Happy Birthday, Nanook!

Aryanzona

 government, Hypocrisy, Prejudice, Truth  Comments Off
Apr 252010
 

SB1070 or the “Papers Please” bill which has just been signed into law in the State of Arizona is just the most recent affront in the shameful history of white prejudice in this land of the “free”.

White Europeans came to these shores more than 400 years ago, and people of color have been suffering ever since.

Slavery in the United States predated the establishment of this union by more than 150 years. Slavery was the law of the land for almost another century and was only truly dealt with it another century after that.

The indigenous peoples of this country both native American and Latino have been dealt with callously and ruthlessly throughout the establishment and expansion of our nation. Americans of Japanese decent were rounded up and put into interment camps less than 70 years ago.

Throw in recent attempts by States like California Prop 187 and the disturbing truth is that the United States of America has spent most of its history being actively prejudiced against people of color, the new Arizona law is just the most recent manifestation of that prejudice.

White people that like to think of this nation as theirs. They have recently been given far too much press protesting to take “their” nation back. White people have spent the vast majority of their time in the governance of this nation actively and openly discriminating against people of color. The burden of proof that this law isn’t more of the same is clearly on the backs of the old white people who wrote it.

Bigot AZ

 Uncategorized  Comments Off
Apr 242010
 

To the tune of Bobby McGee… apologies to Janis Joplin, none to the State of Arizona

Busted at the Home Depot, waitin’ fer a job
When I’s looking nearly colored as my genes
AZ coppers got me now, mostly cause my skin
and I don’t look like a man of means.
they pulled out my papers from my dirty red bandana
I’s telling them I was born American, n-yeah
Windshield wipers slapping time I’s, cuffed and standing in a line
Feeling like the Nazi’s treated Jews

Freedom’s just another word that ain’t for “you” brown dude
Nothing, I mean nothing honey in AZ, no no
Yeah feeling scared was easy Lord when they grab you
You know feeling scared was scary ‘nough for me
Scary ‘nough for me in bigot AZ

From the east Phoenix train yard to the depot in Tucson
The Bigots stalked and scared me to my soul
Through all kinds of weather, through everything we done
Yeah Bigots here are angry white and old
One day in April Lord, we let freedom slip away
we’re lookin’ for some justice, and I hope we find it
But I’d trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday
To be walkin’ free and proud in the sunshine

Freedom’s just another word that ain’t for “you” brown dude
Nothing, I mean nothing honey in AZ, no no
Yeah feeling scared was easy Lord when they grab you
You know feeling scared was scary ‘nough for me
Scary ‘nough for me in bigot AZ

La da la la la, la da la la la da la
La da da la la la Bigot AZ yeah
La da la la la, la da la la la da la
La da da la la la Bigot AZ yeah
La da la la la, la da la la la da la
La da da la la la Bigot AZ yeah
Lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo
Lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo
Lo lo lo lo lo lo Bigot AZ
Lo lo lo lo lo lo Bigot AZ

Lord you call it your freedom, call it your land
You step on rights just because you can
And and a Bigot oh, and a Bigot AZ yeah
Lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo
Hey hey hey Bigot AZ, lord.

La da la la la, la da la la la la la
Hey hey hey Bigot AZ yeah

Rules of the road, er street.

 government, Hypocrisy, Politics, Teaparty, Truth  Comments Off
Apr 232010
 

Logic dictates that the “free market” is an accident waiting to happen. Sensible rules of the road are necessary to ensure our freedom. Think about it for a moment, the highways, freeways and streets have rules and regulations to make things work smoothly and protect everyone.

we do not yield to the larger vehicle.

we do not race each other to see who can get through the intersection first.

in finance the lack of concrete rules and the cops to enforce them is not “freedom” …

its anarchy.

its dangerous.

its stupid.

it ruins lives.

and it is exactly what the GOP advocates.

George Santayana said those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it…

I say that if you can’t remember who crashed our economy a year and a half ago you have no business legislating it’s reform.

Net Neutered

 government, Net Neutrality, Truth  2 Responses »
Apr 202010
 

There is literally nobody in the political, social or economic spectrum reading THESE words who would benefit from the defeat of net neutrality. If you don’t believe me than there is nothing I can say because you are so completely ignorant of the technologies that you are discussing as to be pointless in the debate, should it be based in fact.

Net neutrality is the freedom of all to access what they want without bias or diminished bandwidth… That is all.

With all due respect, if you don’t agree, it is not a difference of opinion, you are just wrong, no really, you are wrong.

Trickle me Elmo

 government, Hypocrisy, Obama, Politics, Taxes, Teaparty, town halls, Truth  Comments Off
Apr 152010
 

Well America it is tax day and suffice it to say that this day among all days in the calendar inflames the passions of those who pay taxes, those who avoid taxes, those who benefit from taxes and those who feel abused by taxes.

This particular tax day was brought into sharp contrast for me when I had a minor Twitter kerfuffle about tax breaks for small and large companies in America.

My instincts lean towards more tax breaks for small companies and fewer for the large strictly on the basis of the assumption that large companies are already very well represented and therefore have more advantage built into the system than small companies. The surprise for me was when I received via twitter the following challenge “if large companies have income freed up, they hire new employees. Not political. FACTUAL.” I did not even take a moment to think before I replied from what I knew to be true from twenty plus years in the trenches of making small businesses survive in the real economy… Companies hire on demand, profit has NOTHING to do with the acquisition of personnel.

It may be true that companies will retain personnel longer in a down economy based on the profitability of the company but the notion that a company will hire additional personnel due to tax incentives that increase profitability is not only wrong it is insulting to anyone that has ever run a business, large or small.

“Trickle down” economics is an insult to thinking people everywhere the only possible benefit is in a moderate slowdown where the financial windfall could forestall the severance of employees in a recession mild enough that such a delay might blunt the dip to the point of insignificance… or in other words, trickle down only works to save jobs on the way down, not to create them on the way back up.

The argument that large companies cannot afford to pay their fair share in the way of taxes to this nation that is so good to them washes only as a measure of triage, the rest of the time the tax benefit will find its way into the bonuses of the executives that negotiated the tax break, not into the employment of someone who could add to real economy of the nation.

No justice for peace (prize)

 diplomacy, government, Hypocrisy, Obama, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Apr 132010
 

The conservative half of the political spectrum pretty much had a heart attack when Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace prize. They were aghast that such an honor be bestowed upon one that had only just arrived on the national stage. And even though the President received the award with these words…

“I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations – that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize – Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela – my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women – some known, some obscure to all but those they help – to be far more deserving of this honor than I.”

There were many that ridiculed the choice despite the language that the Nobel Committee cited in their recognition of Obama.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

In hindsight of the historic Nuclear Security Summit it seems that the Nobel Committee was prescient. I’m betting that the right doesn’t bother to acknowledge the utter brilliance of the choice now.

h/t @geolarson2

Rain on your charade.

 GOP, government, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, MediaFail, Obama, Politics, Truth  1 Response »
Apr 122010
 

The right says that Obama makes us less safe… It is my true pleasure to rain on their charade.

Thousands more Americans have survived the first year of the current administration than that of Bush/Cheney.

Obama insisted that the United States would not employ torture, a policy that makes it more likely that our soldiers and citizens will not have to suffer torture.

The world has a much higher regard for the United States now that we have a president that has respect for the rest of the world.

China is now willing to cooperate on sanctions against Iran, something the previous administration could never have achieved.

Obama has just negotiated the largest nuclear reductions in decades, a move that adds to our security both physically and fiscally.

Forty seven world leaders have just convened at the request of president Obama for the express purpose of securing loose nuclear materials, a commitment the Bush administration could never have secured from so many and a initiative that makes the whole world more secure.

Rhetoric is just rhetoric, facts are facts and the facts are that those who have been spouting the meme that president Barack Obama has made this nation less safe have something other than our safety on their agenda.

Consider your charade officially rained on.

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