With Charlie Rangel (D-NY) being in the news so much in the last few days…..I decided to re-run a piece (seriously did I just call what I write a piece?)....I honestly don’t know what the proper term should be….article?...posting?....work of art?......For now I will use “piece” since I’m pretty sure that the word “piece” has been used in conjunction with a couple other words, by some, when describing what I do here…..Anyway, where was I?....Oh yeah Charlie Rangel. This is from October of 2009….and was written while the debate over the “Public Option” for Obamacare was being tossed around. Enjoy………..(again)
(From October 14th, 2009)
Yes…it’s true. After listening carefully to the latest events in Washington….I have decided to support the “Public Option”. I believe it’s time that all of us bind together in support of this idea. If you’re not a proponent of this “Public Option”…hopefully by the time you finish reading this, you too will agree that it is time for CHANGE....and the "Public Option" is the ONLY way to go. Please try to keep an open mind as you read…….
Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. This is the committee that is charged with writing tax legislation and bills affecting Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs. (pay particular attention to the “tax legislation” part…since as it would appear by the title…they write the laws regarding taxes) Recently Chuck had to file an amended financial disclosure report….showing a net worth of almost double what he had previously filed. Seriously?....I don’t know about you but I think I can guess my net worth…off of the top of my head…a little closer than half of what it actually is…..much less if I were having to fill out a required “disclosure report”, and had the time to do a little research. (Especially knowing that I was the Chairman of the committee put in place to write laws that pertained to those types of disclosures)…..But in Chuckles' defense I will offer a reasonable explanation….it seems that he simply forgot to list a couple of bank accounts….One was a checking account with over $250,000 in it. (Actually that is SO easy to do…I myself have done it many times, and if you’re honest you have too….)….The other was a mutual fund worth somewhere in that $250,000 range as well. That didn’t include another bank account and other mutual funds…..and other assets such as stock holdings and land that totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of another $300,000….(that’s not the neighborhood I live in)…..So the overview is this….He said he was worth somewhere around $1,000,000….when actually it was closer to twice that….If that was all there was, I would be…..well….nope…I still wouldn’t be ok with it….but happily, that’s not all that Chuckbert did……He also “forgot” to report more than $75,000 worth of rental income from a villa that he owns in the Dominican Republic….(again those kinds of things are SOOOO easy to forget)…In 2008, it was found out that Chucky was renting 4 “rent-stabilized” apartments in Upper Manhattan…..Now the fact that these places were “rent-stabilized”….and that meant that he was paying probably HALF of the fair market value....seems fair….right? I mean after all, why shouldn’t he get a little help since he’s only worth $2,000,000?
If the Chuckster were the only person in Washington that was pulling these types of shenanigans, antics, capers, dirty tricks, funny business, hanky-panky, high jinks, horseplay, mischievousness and last, but certainly not least monkey business……then I STILL wouldn’t be ok with it. And the truth is….he’s not. Washington is full of corruption……(yes Virginia….there are corrupt Republicans as well) and it’s time to vote them out of office. It’s time for term limits. It’s time that this bunch of losers, liars and tax cheats were forced to go out and get REAL jobs. There’s the clincher….if they were forced to get “real jobs” many of them would probably end up back on the government payroll…(only this time on unemployment or welfare)….since far too many of them have NEVER held a “real job”. By the way….I personally don’t count “community organizing” a real job, but that's another whole topic to be discussed at another time……It’s bad enough that you have someone who can’t keep up with their own personal finances…while serving as the CHAIRMAN of a committee that writes laws regarding taxes……..but then when it is proven that he broke those very laws….nothing is done?.....That is NOT acceptable….That also means that it is a really good chance that the Chuckmeister’s buddies in Washington are just as corrupt as he is. Maybe they don’t want anyone looking too closely at those types of things either…..possibly out of fear of what they might be hiding as well...(Enter Sen. Maxine Waters (D-CA)who said this in defense of who....by this statement...would seem to be her fellow tax cheat..."I want to tell you, there are many members who, if you go back over all of their records, over all of the years, you're going to find that there were disclosures that were not made")...Let me see if I understand what she is saying....You can't pick on him, because the rest of us do the same thing....hmmm, did I get that right?....Try that defense the next time YOU happen to be in court
Ok…..right about now you are probably saying to yourself….”hmmm…as interesting and informative as this has been….and although it could possible be one of the most intriguing and revealing articles that I have EVER read regarding the corruption that takes place in Washington D.C…….and although I agree with every word of it…..what does this have to do with the public option?” (tell the truth…..that IS what you were saying, isn’t it?....come on…..admit it, you were saying those exact words…)
Well since you asked…..and since I brought it up….I will answer your inquiry…..The “Public Option” that I am in favor of is just a little, tiny bit different than the one that is being swatted around Washington right now…..Here’s my idea…when someone like The Lone Rangel is found to be breaking the law….he should be punished. If it is found to be a law that he helped to “craft”, then his punishment should be twice the regular punishment. Anyone who is found to have known about the guilty party’s indiscretion and still did nothing…or stood in the way of said person’s punishment….would receive the same punishment as the original guilty party. Here’s the simple version…..Everyone knows that Chuck the Magic Dragon is guilty…..obviously there are many more who have know for some time….and still did nothing….those that only recently found out about his crimes and STILL stood up for him should be found as guilty as him and receive the same punishment.
Right about now there are literally millions of people screaming (ok that number is a little off)…..actually there are 3 people asking quietly….”but what about the public option?”
Here it is…..Chuckorama and all of those who have covered up for him and made excuses for his behavior……should be stripped of their places on committees (especially chairmanships)….their seats in Congress….and then they should ALL be led out in front of the Capitol and be publicly punished. In all fairness…..I feel that they should be “placed in stocks”…so the American people can stop by and finally get a meeting with them….or do lunch…(without them hiding behind their aides)…in order to be able to tell them in person, how they feel about the job that they and the rest of our “elected officials” are doing in Washington…..I personally think that Mr. Rangel’s (didn’t see that one coming….did you?) punishment should be MUCH more severe…since he has probably helped to write laws that have, more than likely, sent some of the “little people” to prison for doing things nowhere nearly as reprehensible as his actions. I’m not sure exactly what that additional punishment should be…(I’m open to suggestions…).….but regardless what it is…..it should be the people’s OPTION for these elected criminals to be punished in PUBLIC......Yup….I’m all for that there PUBLIC OPTION……..Then Again……That’s Just Me.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
From LiLo to Lockerbie........
As much as it pains me…..I am actually going to mention Lindsay Lohan today. It seems that Ms. Lohan is doing some very hard time in a Los Angeles County jail for violation of her probation. While Ms. Lohan is only 24 years-old....her criminal history dates back over a period of several years. In May of 2007 she was arrested for DUI…..and during the arrest, police found cocaine in her possession. While she did serve 84 whole minutes of hard time for that conviction…..since that time, things have kind of gone downhill for Ms Lohan. After her 84 minutes in the hoosegow….Ms Lohan spent 45 days in an substance abuse clinic. Which by the way….seems to have been very effective….since just 10 days after being released from the treatment center……she was arrested again for DUI and driving on a suspended license. And if that wasn’t bad enough……she was found with cocaine in her pockets. Of course her defense against the drugs in her pocket was that the pants that she was wearing....weren't hers. (seriously…I didn’t make that up) Since then….she has been accused of stealing an $11,000 fur coat…..$200,000 worth of jewelry…..and being a total slut. (ok…I threw the “slut” thing in there….mainly because of the wearing someone elses pants defense). Her recent charge of violation of probation got her a 90 day sentence….of which she is expected to possibly spend up to 13 days of that sentence in jail. It has also been reported that Ms. Lohan had a very difficult weekend during her 13-day stint in the big house…..this was because she had already used up her two visits per week that were allowed……and therefore was not allowed to see her family. This story would be a tragedy…..if there were not still some hope that President Obama would provide a Presidential pardon for Ms Lohan. (We can only hope and pray…right?) Of course a pardon of that nature would probably be condemned by many right-wing radicals…..as political posturing in order for Obama to gain the 18-25 year-old skanky-slut vote.
Note to readers: Hang in there….I promise that I’m going somewhere with this……..
On Wednesday December 21, 1988……Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport on its way to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Aboard this flight were 243 passengers (189 of them Americans) and 16 crew members. Once the flight was clear of Heathrow Airport……the crew steered the plane due north toward Scotland…..and a short time later it reached its cruising altitude of 31,000 feet. Less than 5 minutes later the pilot made contact with the Scottish Area Control Centre at Prestwick, Scotland…..and that was the last transmission ever heard from Pan Am Flight 103.
As the plane approached Lockerbie, Scotland….an explosion in the cargo hold punched a 20-inch-wide hole in the left side of the fuselage. According to experts….the disintegration of the aircraft was rapid. Not to get into gory detail...but for the sake of the story, allow me to continue……The explosion knocked out all of the power on the plane…..plunging the passenger cabin into darkness. Experts have determined that once the cockpit broke off…. the fuselage became nothing more than an open cylinder. Because of that……tornado-force winds tore up the aisles with such great force that it not only became difficult to breathe……it also literally stripped the clothes off the passengers. Some passengers were thrown to the rear the rear of the plane……. other people and objects that were not bolted down were blown out of the aircraft into the night at temperatures of −51° F. Being at an altitude of 31,000 feet…..meant that the fall of these passengers, lasted as long as two minutes. Not all passengers were blown out of the plane…..some remained attached to the fuselage by their seat belts……crashing to the earth while still strapped to their seats. Forensic scientists believe that although the passengers would have lost consciousness through lack of oxygen because of the altitude……..some of them might have regained consciousness as they fell toward lower altitudes. Some experts believe that some of the passengers and crew survived the bomb blast, extreme cold and lack of oxygen……and were still alive upon impact. The total number of fatalities from Pan Am Flight 103 was 270. This included 243 passengers (189 Americans)….16 crew members….and 11 people on the ground….who were killed as large sections of the plane fell onto the town of Lockerbie, Scotland.
After a 3-year investigation……murder charges were brought against Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi (hereafter known as just Megrahi for obvious reasons)…..a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Then on January 31, 2001, Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges…..and sentenced to life in prison. Megrahi served just over 8½ years of his sentence…..and during that time maintained that he was innocent of the charges against him. Then on August 20, 2009……he was released from prison on compassionate grounds. It seems that at the time, he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer (which we can only hope was discovered during one of his many prostate examinations while in prison). While doctors said in August of 2009 that Megrahi only had 3 months to live…..here we are almost a year later and he is still alive. Better yet….doctors are now saying that he might live another 10 years.
Is it just me…..(then again….of course it’s just me)…..or is something wrong here? Why didn’t the Obama administration do something? After all we know that the plan of this administration was to kiss every butt in the entire world so that we would find favor with them once again. (favor with the people...not their butts) So what happened? I know that Scotland is quite the “superpower”…but couldn’t we have put a little pressure on them NOT to release a man who was convicted of killing 270 people….189 of who were Americans. Why did we not find that act reprehensible…and speak out as the leader of the free-world that we are? (or at least used to be) Why didn’t we say….”Look….that ain’t gonna happen?”.
This administration has had plenty of time to speak out against…..and file a lawsuit against Arizona’s law against ILLEGAL immigration.......so why not do something similar against a country who is perpetuating such a heinous act such as releasing a convicted murderer of 189 of it’s citizens from prison? Note to Obama administration: You have failed again to uphold the job that you were elected to perform. And one more time….Americans have come out on the “short-side” of the equation.
So why did I mention Linsay Lohan? Here’s the part that many of you have endured this entire article to get to……..As much as I think that Ms. Lohan is a complete waste of space on the planet…..she WILL end up serving around 14 days in jail for ALL of the horrible acts that she has committed. Megrahi…..the useless piece of crap that he is…..served less than 8½ years for killing 270 people. Let’s do the math…8½ years is 3102 days……that’s 11.49 days in prison for each of the people that he murdered…..That is less time per person murdered…….than Lindsay Lohan served for what she did…..(and there were people outraged that she would get THAT much time) With that said…..NO…I’m not sticking up for Ms. Lohan…..but I am wondering “where’s the outrage about Megrahi?”. Why hasn’t this story been on the front page of every newspaper in the country? Why aren’t people marching on Washington over the prison release of a man who killed 189 Americans….in the same way that they protested Ms. Lohan having to go to jail for 13 days….and in the same way that so many nut-jobs are protesting against Arizona’s law against ILLEGAL immigration? Have we gone completely nuts? I can assure you that Lindsay Lohan’s court case was on the front page of more newspapers than Megrahi’s release was……and that there are a lot more people in that 18-25 year-old age group who know her story much better than that of Meghahi. Isn’t it about time for us to get our priorities in line? Not that Obama will pardon Ms Lohan……but there is one thing that is for sure…..if he did….he would be even MORE popular among those who support her release…..and of course we all know that demographic represents a huge part of those who helped him get elected as President of the United States. (pretty scary stuff huh?) After all….anyone who cares about the prison release of an Islamic wacko terrorist who killed 189 Americans…..probably isn’t going to vote for Obama anyway. Then Again ….That’s Just Me
Note to readers: Hang in there….I promise that I’m going somewhere with this……..
On Wednesday December 21, 1988……Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport on its way to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Aboard this flight were 243 passengers (189 of them Americans) and 16 crew members. Once the flight was clear of Heathrow Airport……the crew steered the plane due north toward Scotland…..and a short time later it reached its cruising altitude of 31,000 feet. Less than 5 minutes later the pilot made contact with the Scottish Area Control Centre at Prestwick, Scotland…..and that was the last transmission ever heard from Pan Am Flight 103.
As the plane approached Lockerbie, Scotland….an explosion in the cargo hold punched a 20-inch-wide hole in the left side of the fuselage. According to experts….the disintegration of the aircraft was rapid. Not to get into gory detail...but for the sake of the story, allow me to continue……The explosion knocked out all of the power on the plane…..plunging the passenger cabin into darkness. Experts have determined that once the cockpit broke off…. the fuselage became nothing more than an open cylinder. Because of that……tornado-force winds tore up the aisles with such great force that it not only became difficult to breathe……it also literally stripped the clothes off the passengers. Some passengers were thrown to the rear the rear of the plane……. other people and objects that were not bolted down were blown out of the aircraft into the night at temperatures of −51° F. Being at an altitude of 31,000 feet…..meant that the fall of these passengers, lasted as long as two minutes. Not all passengers were blown out of the plane…..some remained attached to the fuselage by their seat belts……crashing to the earth while still strapped to their seats. Forensic scientists believe that although the passengers would have lost consciousness through lack of oxygen because of the altitude……..some of them might have regained consciousness as they fell toward lower altitudes. Some experts believe that some of the passengers and crew survived the bomb blast, extreme cold and lack of oxygen……and were still alive upon impact. The total number of fatalities from Pan Am Flight 103 was 270. This included 243 passengers (189 Americans)….16 crew members….and 11 people on the ground….who were killed as large sections of the plane fell onto the town of Lockerbie, Scotland.
After a 3-year investigation……murder charges were brought against Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi (hereafter known as just Megrahi for obvious reasons)…..a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Then on January 31, 2001, Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges…..and sentenced to life in prison. Megrahi served just over 8½ years of his sentence…..and during that time maintained that he was innocent of the charges against him. Then on August 20, 2009……he was released from prison on compassionate grounds. It seems that at the time, he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer (which we can only hope was discovered during one of his many prostate examinations while in prison). While doctors said in August of 2009 that Megrahi only had 3 months to live…..here we are almost a year later and he is still alive. Better yet….doctors are now saying that he might live another 10 years.
Is it just me…..(then again….of course it’s just me)…..or is something wrong here? Why didn’t the Obama administration do something? After all we know that the plan of this administration was to kiss every butt in the entire world so that we would find favor with them once again. (favor with the people...not their butts) So what happened? I know that Scotland is quite the “superpower”…but couldn’t we have put a little pressure on them NOT to release a man who was convicted of killing 270 people….189 of who were Americans. Why did we not find that act reprehensible…and speak out as the leader of the free-world that we are? (or at least used to be) Why didn’t we say….”Look….that ain’t gonna happen?”.
This administration has had plenty of time to speak out against…..and file a lawsuit against Arizona’s law against ILLEGAL immigration.......so why not do something similar against a country who is perpetuating such a heinous act such as releasing a convicted murderer of 189 of it’s citizens from prison? Note to Obama administration: You have failed again to uphold the job that you were elected to perform. And one more time….Americans have come out on the “short-side” of the equation.
So why did I mention Linsay Lohan? Here’s the part that many of you have endured this entire article to get to……..As much as I think that Ms. Lohan is a complete waste of space on the planet…..she WILL end up serving around 14 days in jail for ALL of the horrible acts that she has committed. Megrahi…..the useless piece of crap that he is…..served less than 8½ years for killing 270 people. Let’s do the math…8½ years is 3102 days……that’s 11.49 days in prison for each of the people that he murdered…..That is less time per person murdered…….than Lindsay Lohan served for what she did…..(and there were people outraged that she would get THAT much time) With that said…..NO…I’m not sticking up for Ms. Lohan…..but I am wondering “where’s the outrage about Megrahi?”. Why hasn’t this story been on the front page of every newspaper in the country? Why aren’t people marching on Washington over the prison release of a man who killed 189 Americans….in the same way that they protested Ms. Lohan having to go to jail for 13 days….and in the same way that so many nut-jobs are protesting against Arizona’s law against ILLEGAL immigration? Have we gone completely nuts? I can assure you that Lindsay Lohan’s court case was on the front page of more newspapers than Megrahi’s release was……and that there are a lot more people in that 18-25 year-old age group who know her story much better than that of Meghahi. Isn’t it about time for us to get our priorities in line? Not that Obama will pardon Ms Lohan……but there is one thing that is for sure…..if he did….he would be even MORE popular among those who support her release…..and of course we all know that demographic represents a huge part of those who helped him get elected as President of the United States. (pretty scary stuff huh?) After all….anyone who cares about the prison release of an Islamic wacko terrorist who killed 189 Americans…..probably isn’t going to vote for Obama anyway. Then Again ….That’s Just Me
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
It's Time For Everyone To Go Back To The Playground…….
Some of my favorite childhood memories are from the times that I spent on various playgrounds. Think back with me for a moment……There were swings…monkey bars…and of course, the merry-go-round...as well as tons of other fun stuff. Right about now…I know that some of you are wondering where I’m headed with this…and others of you are wondering if I have completely lost my mind. Which ever category you might fall into…...please indulge me for a moment and read on……
As I reflected on those times as a child that were spent at the playground….I started to see that not only did we get a great deal of exercise (unlike a lot of kids today)…..I also realized that there were also a lot of life lessons learned through those activities as well. For example:
In our society today there are far too many people who want the government to take care of every little detail of their lives…with very little...if any effort on their part. I can assure you that this attitude of entitlement that is running rampant in our society today was NOT learned on the playground. As a kid, if you wanted to swing on the swing set, you had to put some effort into it. You had to lean back and pull on those chains…shift your weight…and as you did that….you realized that the more effort that you put into it…the higher you would go in the swing. Among those of us who put a lot of pride and effort into our swing set activities…there was also a certain amount of competition to see who could go the highest. That competition would often allow you to excel beyond what you could do on your own…(that is, if you really wanted to win).
Now I do remember that there were a few kids who were fine with letting others push them in the swing…..but I cannot remember a time when one of the “pushed people” ever won a competition for being able to swing the highest. Why? Because they were content with whatever came without effort on their part. Sadly, as many of those people became adults…their ideals didn’t change much since their days on the playground…..Well with the exception that now they are content to let the government “push them in their swing” (i.e. take what the government will dole out to them for little or no effort on their part)….If that wasn’t bad enough....many of them also seem to have a great deal of contempt for those who have put in the extra effort to “swing” at a level that is a lot higher than average. Even worse that all of that....is the fact that among liberal politicians, there even seems to be this idea that rather than telling the “low swingers” to work harder so that they too can swing high…we should restrict the “high swingers”…so that everyone is equally low. (In Barack Obama's own words that would be "spread(ing) the wealth around")
While most all of the playground activities had implications that have carried over into adulthood…….there is one other activity in particular that I want to mention…..and that is the merry-go-round. I’m not talking about some fancy, mechanical ride with wooden horses and music…..NO…I’m talking about the little one that 5 or 6 people could get on. Now the key to making this type of merry-go-round work was pushing. Everyone would stand on the ground….circle the merry-go-round….grab one of the curved metal bars and start pushing it in a circle. Once the merry-go-round was turning at what seemed like somewhere around seven gazillion miles per hour….THEN you could jump on and ride. One thing that every kid knew was this……you could only ride for so long, before it would stop. Then you had to get back off and push again….(that is, if you wanted to keep riding) Another interesting thing about the merry-go-round was that anyone who didn’t want to push the merry-go-round….didn’t get to ride. Oh they might get away with it for a little while, but eventually….even as kids…we knew that “there ain’t no free ride”. Picture this scenario (and I can honestly say that I NEVER saw this happen on a playground)……All the kids get on the merry-go-round and sit down. No one pushes….they just sit and wait for it to start moving….Then when it doesn’t move, they can’t figure out why….so they just cry that no one wants to push them. (Sounds kind of dumb when you say it that way, doesn’t it?) Well it’s no different than what’s going on in the government as we speak. Private sector jobs are being lost by the tens of thousands…..and yet the government is hiring by the tens of thousands.....….
And here’s the problem with that....If we keep going in that direction… eventually there wont be anyone left to push the merry-go-round. If the government chases all of the businesses out of the country because of over-regulation and higher corporate taxes….where is the money going to come from to pay for all of those millions of government workers?...(that includes politicians)...Remember, someone has to push the merry-go-round. At some point…if you aren’t pushing….you need to get off of the ride. Even as kids we knew that eventually the merry-go-round stopped if no one pushed it. That of course is a nice way of saying that we have to cut taxes....not raise them...and limit government spending. This includes (but is not limited to) cutting back on social programs….stopping illegal immigration…..and limiting un-employment benefits to a reasonable length of time (yes I did say that)….It also means limiting the number of people that it takes to do a government job, to what would be acceptable in a "like-job", in the private sector. In short….if you want to swing then put the effort into it….If you want to ride the merry-go-round, you have to do some pushing. We don't need to hire three people to do the job of one...just so we can make the employment numbers look good. There are a lot of people like me who are really tired of pushing the swing and the merry-go-round for everyone else. As far as I’m concerned….it’s time to go back to some of the wisdom of the playground. Then Again….That’s Just Me.
As I reflected on those times as a child that were spent at the playground….I started to see that not only did we get a great deal of exercise (unlike a lot of kids today)…..I also realized that there were also a lot of life lessons learned through those activities as well. For example:
In our society today there are far too many people who want the government to take care of every little detail of their lives…with very little...if any effort on their part. I can assure you that this attitude of entitlement that is running rampant in our society today was NOT learned on the playground. As a kid, if you wanted to swing on the swing set, you had to put some effort into it. You had to lean back and pull on those chains…shift your weight…and as you did that….you realized that the more effort that you put into it…the higher you would go in the swing. Among those of us who put a lot of pride and effort into our swing set activities…there was also a certain amount of competition to see who could go the highest. That competition would often allow you to excel beyond what you could do on your own…(that is, if you really wanted to win).
Now I do remember that there were a few kids who were fine with letting others push them in the swing…..but I cannot remember a time when one of the “pushed people” ever won a competition for being able to swing the highest. Why? Because they were content with whatever came without effort on their part. Sadly, as many of those people became adults…their ideals didn’t change much since their days on the playground…..Well with the exception that now they are content to let the government “push them in their swing” (i.e. take what the government will dole out to them for little or no effort on their part)….If that wasn’t bad enough....many of them also seem to have a great deal of contempt for those who have put in the extra effort to “swing” at a level that is a lot higher than average. Even worse that all of that....is the fact that among liberal politicians, there even seems to be this idea that rather than telling the “low swingers” to work harder so that they too can swing high…we should restrict the “high swingers”…so that everyone is equally low. (In Barack Obama's own words that would be "spread(ing) the wealth around")
While most all of the playground activities had implications that have carried over into adulthood…….there is one other activity in particular that I want to mention…..and that is the merry-go-round. I’m not talking about some fancy, mechanical ride with wooden horses and music…..NO…I’m talking about the little one that 5 or 6 people could get on. Now the key to making this type of merry-go-round work was pushing. Everyone would stand on the ground….circle the merry-go-round….grab one of the curved metal bars and start pushing it in a circle. Once the merry-go-round was turning at what seemed like somewhere around seven gazillion miles per hour….THEN you could jump on and ride. One thing that every kid knew was this……you could only ride for so long, before it would stop. Then you had to get back off and push again….(that is, if you wanted to keep riding) Another interesting thing about the merry-go-round was that anyone who didn’t want to push the merry-go-round….didn’t get to ride. Oh they might get away with it for a little while, but eventually….even as kids…we knew that “there ain’t no free ride”. Picture this scenario (and I can honestly say that I NEVER saw this happen on a playground)……All the kids get on the merry-go-round and sit down. No one pushes….they just sit and wait for it to start moving….Then when it doesn’t move, they can’t figure out why….so they just cry that no one wants to push them. (Sounds kind of dumb when you say it that way, doesn’t it?) Well it’s no different than what’s going on in the government as we speak. Private sector jobs are being lost by the tens of thousands…..and yet the government is hiring by the tens of thousands.....….
And here’s the problem with that....If we keep going in that direction… eventually there wont be anyone left to push the merry-go-round. If the government chases all of the businesses out of the country because of over-regulation and higher corporate taxes….where is the money going to come from to pay for all of those millions of government workers?...(that includes politicians)...Remember, someone has to push the merry-go-round. At some point…if you aren’t pushing….you need to get off of the ride. Even as kids we knew that eventually the merry-go-round stopped if no one pushed it. That of course is a nice way of saying that we have to cut taxes....not raise them...and limit government spending. This includes (but is not limited to) cutting back on social programs….stopping illegal immigration…..and limiting un-employment benefits to a reasonable length of time (yes I did say that)….It also means limiting the number of people that it takes to do a government job, to what would be acceptable in a "like-job", in the private sector. In short….if you want to swing then put the effort into it….If you want to ride the merry-go-round, you have to do some pushing. We don't need to hire three people to do the job of one...just so we can make the employment numbers look good. There are a lot of people like me who are really tired of pushing the swing and the merry-go-round for everyone else. As far as I’m concerned….it’s time to go back to some of the wisdom of the playground. Then Again….That’s Just Me.
Friday, July 9, 2010
"Free Speech" or "Hate Speech"?..................
First of all let me say that I support freedom of speech….even though I personally believe that it is possible for a person to cross that thin line between “free speech” and “hate speech”. Here’s the problem; If we did have a line drawn that would differentiate between the two….who would get to draw it? Remember that once you start down that “slippery slope” of regulating “hate speech”….you can easily slide into the regulation of “free speech”.
Right about now, some of you are asking yourself…”Where is he headed with this?” (OR you could be asking yourself……”How come wrong numbers are never busy?”)…..At this point….I choose to answer the first of those questions.
While everyone has the right to say pretty much whatever they want….other than doing something like yelling “fire” in a crowded theater…..(By the way….what about yelling “fire” in an almost empty theater, is that ok?)….it seems that the media…and the liberal left….have taken it upon themselves to draw that line that doesn’t exist constitutionally between “free speech” and “hate speech”. I have given MUCH thought to what I am going to say next……and although I know some people will be offended…let me assure you of these two things: (1) I do not say it to be simply to offensive or controversial….and (2) Regardless of the fallout….I will stand by what I am going to say…..So here we go…..
I have noticed over the last couple of years….that when folks from the Tea Party Movement gather at rallies…..they are often criticized as racists by the mainstream media….even when they don’t make any kind of racist statements. It seems that just the fact that they are against ILLEGAL immigration….that in and of itself constitutes being a racist…and of course, most major media outlets find that newsworthy. Forget that there are Federal laws against ILLEGAL immigration…and that the Tea Partiers are most often just showing support for candidates who feel that those laws should be upheld…. (How racist can you get?....Isn’t that disgusting?)
Then you have a couple people like Maurice Heath and Paris Lewis….probably better known as King Samir Shabazz and Malik Zulu Shabazz. These two fine upstanding young men are leaders in the New Black Panther Party. National Geographic has described the New Black Panther Party as "a militant hate group headquartered in Washington, D.C., that seeks to redefine the black struggle for equality and demand liberation from what it sees as white supremacy." Malik has been quoted for years (of course...NOT by the mainstream media) saying some of the most outrageously racist things that have ever been uttered in the history of mankind. Things that would have probably made Hitler cringe. But not to be outdone…..it seems that King (or is it Samir?) has been saying some pretty outrageous things himself…….In case you missed it, here is a transcript of parts of one of his speeches. Before you criticize me for taking these statements “out of context”….please tell me in WHAT context these things are acceptable……
“I hate white people, all of them……every last iota of a cracker, I hate him……
We didn't come out here to play this game…..There's too much serious business going on in the black community to be out here sliding through South Street with white dirty cracker whore (expletive) on our arms……And we call ourselves black men with African garb on…..What the hell is wrong with you, black man? ……You had a (unintelligible) with a white girl on your damn arm……You want freedom? You are going to have to kill some crackers….You might have to kill some of they (sic) babies.”
As incendiary as these remarks are…..you WON’T see this on network news….or CNN or CNBC…My question is “Why Not?” They have no problem showing a peaceful Tea Party Movement rally and adding their own commentary of how racist those people are….so why not the Shabazz twins? It doesn’t take a journalist to translate the message of King Samir Shabazz’s statements…..this is one time that it truly does “go without saying”. Let's compare the Tea Party Movement's stand against ILLEGAL immigration....and Shabazz's stand FOR killing "white people".....While I know that there are Federal laws that SUPPORT being against ILLEGAL immigration...I'm pretty sure that there are laws AGAINST killing "white people".
Here’s an idea….and here is also where I will probably be criticized by many people. Every time I hear that racist rant of Samir Shabazz….I think to myself…”Hmmm…what would happen if it were a white Tea Party person saying these kinds of things?” Does anyone think that it wouldn’t be the lead story on EVERY network? In the words of that racist Sarah Palin……”You betcha”. Just in case you’re not with me so far….I took the liberty to change a few key words to see if it is any more offensive. Lets take a look…….picture a Tea Party person standing in front of a crowd saying this…….
“I hate black people, all of them……every last iota of a nigger, I hate him……
We didn't come out here to play this game…..There's too much serious business going on in the white community to be out here sliding through South Street with black dirty nigger whore (expletive) on our arms……And we call ourselves white men with American garb on…..What the hell is wrong with you, white man? ……You had a (unintelligible) with a black girl on your damn arm……You want freedom? You are going to have to kill some niggers….You might have to kill some of they (sic) babies.”
Are you offended yet? If it took the second version to offend you…..then I would say that it is a VERY good chance that you might be a racist (AND an idiot)…and you need to take a good look at your personal and moral values. Why? Because BOTH versions are as offensive as it gets. Because BOTH versions are reprehensible. Because BOTH versions are racist and unacceptable in any civil society. While we established earlier that there are no laws against EITHER of those versions…..I doubt seriously that you will find anyone from NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN or CNBC reporting on the words of Mr. Shabazz…..and you certainly wont hear a peep about it from the ranking mainstream “race pimps” Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton…….just don’t let that second version get out…..because THAT (of course) would be racist and unacceptable....Right? Then Again….That’s Just Me
Right about now, some of you are asking yourself…”Where is he headed with this?” (OR you could be asking yourself……”How come wrong numbers are never busy?”)…..At this point….I choose to answer the first of those questions.
While everyone has the right to say pretty much whatever they want….other than doing something like yelling “fire” in a crowded theater…..(By the way….what about yelling “fire” in an almost empty theater, is that ok?)….it seems that the media…and the liberal left….have taken it upon themselves to draw that line that doesn’t exist constitutionally between “free speech” and “hate speech”. I have given MUCH thought to what I am going to say next……and although I know some people will be offended…let me assure you of these two things: (1) I do not say it to be simply to offensive or controversial….and (2) Regardless of the fallout….I will stand by what I am going to say…..So here we go…..
I have noticed over the last couple of years….that when folks from the Tea Party Movement gather at rallies…..they are often criticized as racists by the mainstream media….even when they don’t make any kind of racist statements. It seems that just the fact that they are against ILLEGAL immigration….that in and of itself constitutes being a racist…and of course, most major media outlets find that newsworthy. Forget that there are Federal laws against ILLEGAL immigration…and that the Tea Partiers are most often just showing support for candidates who feel that those laws should be upheld…. (How racist can you get?....Isn’t that disgusting?)
Then you have a couple people like Maurice Heath and Paris Lewis….probably better known as King Samir Shabazz and Malik Zulu Shabazz. These two fine upstanding young men are leaders in the New Black Panther Party. National Geographic has described the New Black Panther Party as "a militant hate group headquartered in Washington, D.C., that seeks to redefine the black struggle for equality and demand liberation from what it sees as white supremacy." Malik has been quoted for years (of course...NOT by the mainstream media) saying some of the most outrageously racist things that have ever been uttered in the history of mankind. Things that would have probably made Hitler cringe. But not to be outdone…..it seems that King (or is it Samir?) has been saying some pretty outrageous things himself…….In case you missed it, here is a transcript of parts of one of his speeches. Before you criticize me for taking these statements “out of context”….please tell me in WHAT context these things are acceptable……
“I hate white people, all of them……every last iota of a cracker, I hate him……
We didn't come out here to play this game…..There's too much serious business going on in the black community to be out here sliding through South Street with white dirty cracker whore (expletive) on our arms……And we call ourselves black men with African garb on…..What the hell is wrong with you, black man? ……You had a (unintelligible) with a white girl on your damn arm……You want freedom? You are going to have to kill some crackers….You might have to kill some of they (sic) babies.”
As incendiary as these remarks are…..you WON’T see this on network news….or CNN or CNBC…My question is “Why Not?” They have no problem showing a peaceful Tea Party Movement rally and adding their own commentary of how racist those people are….so why not the Shabazz twins? It doesn’t take a journalist to translate the message of King Samir Shabazz’s statements…..this is one time that it truly does “go without saying”. Let's compare the Tea Party Movement's stand against ILLEGAL immigration....and Shabazz's stand FOR killing "white people".....While I know that there are Federal laws that SUPPORT being against ILLEGAL immigration...I'm pretty sure that there are laws AGAINST killing "white people".
Here’s an idea….and here is also where I will probably be criticized by many people. Every time I hear that racist rant of Samir Shabazz….I think to myself…”Hmmm…what would happen if it were a white Tea Party person saying these kinds of things?” Does anyone think that it wouldn’t be the lead story on EVERY network? In the words of that racist Sarah Palin……”You betcha”. Just in case you’re not with me so far….I took the liberty to change a few key words to see if it is any more offensive. Lets take a look…….picture a Tea Party person standing in front of a crowd saying this…….
“I hate black people, all of them……every last iota of a nigger, I hate him……
We didn't come out here to play this game…..There's too much serious business going on in the white community to be out here sliding through South Street with black dirty nigger whore (expletive) on our arms……And we call ourselves white men with American garb on…..What the hell is wrong with you, white man? ……You had a (unintelligible) with a black girl on your damn arm……You want freedom? You are going to have to kill some niggers….You might have to kill some of they (sic) babies.”
Are you offended yet? If it took the second version to offend you…..then I would say that it is a VERY good chance that you might be a racist (AND an idiot)…and you need to take a good look at your personal and moral values. Why? Because BOTH versions are as offensive as it gets. Because BOTH versions are reprehensible. Because BOTH versions are racist and unacceptable in any civil society. While we established earlier that there are no laws against EITHER of those versions…..I doubt seriously that you will find anyone from NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN or CNBC reporting on the words of Mr. Shabazz…..and you certainly wont hear a peep about it from the ranking mainstream “race pimps” Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton…….just don’t let that second version get out…..because THAT (of course) would be racist and unacceptable....Right? Then Again….That’s Just Me
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