Terrorists vs the rest of us

I know I've ranted about this before, but as long as they keep doing it I'll keep ranting over it. Republicans in congress are once again threatening to shut the government down, this time over planned parenthood. So, in case you are missing the logical gap here:
What they are saying is that how unhappy they are that women can receive healthcare that they are willing to hold the country hostage, AGAIN. HOW THE FUCK DO WE KEEP ELECTING THESE CLOWNS? I'm not an ultra liberal, I don't think democrats are always right, and I don't like Hillary Clinton. I'm not even the most out there feminist, though I do want equal pay and equal access to health care. However this is a trend, using terrorist tactics over healthcare. What they are saying, in essence, is that they will shut down everything if they don't get their way. Is this an appropriate way for an adult... a LAWMAKER?! to act?! I say "LAWMAKER?!" because it is questionable to call republican senators lawmakers. That's like calling a butcher a cow breeder... They're just terrorist trolls.
Here's another funny thing, Donald Trump has jumped on the bandwagon. He has made his public policy if there is an awful thing to say, be it racist, generally bigotted or ill advised he's going to be the furthest out there.
So my advice to them? Do it, show us all what terrorist assholes you are. Eventually we'll get you out of office. Keep going further, because it's going to get bad before people won't put up with it anymore. If Trump wins the nomination he'll automatically have a respectable chance of being elected president. Then we'll find out what it's like having a president further right than George W Bush. Gold sales will go up (and I wouldn't doubt that Trump is well diversified in Gold). Wait, that's it, I cracked the code. Trump is not actually interested politics. He just bought tons of stock in things that go up when a huge fucking recession hits, and the only way to be SURE it happens is to run for president.

Well, at least someone will benefit, right? I mean it's not like our country cares enough to fight this. Honestly it's like the whole country has clinical depression and keeps electing people to try and kill itself. Then it comes out for a few years and tries to recover... but some inner part just loves the look of that gun. It loves the look of that Trump (or Bush) recession. Sometimes it's easier to be sick. 

A progressive candidate: Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders announced he is running for president, and one of the first questions posed by the right was "Are Democratic voters angry enough to support Bernie Sanders for president?"
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/are-democratic-voters-angry-enough-to-support-bernie-sanders-for-president/
By right I mean to the right of Sanders, which is quite a bit of the people who control this country.
I've been watching him for years, every time both parties manage to make an ass of themselves, there he is. He's talking reasonable talk about taking care of the working class, who are after all the damn majority anyway.
So, short answer: Yes, we are quite tired of candidates that promise to take on the system, only to be weak/constantly attacked(or both). The poor in this country, and by that I mean the working poor, are tired of working hard and getting nowhere.

Long answer: Anger isn't the right word for it. To say I am angry I must feel cheated, and frankly I don't. I feel like the motivation system as it is does not work. There is no damn reason to work hard your whole life just to stay the same place your parents were. Which is why I want to drop out by 40, because I have better things to do with my life than worry about what to eat, where to sleep, and if I will have enough gas to get to work. God says to cast my cares on him, and I would like to experience a kind of security that makes that easier.

I've been crying out for change, revolutionary change, for at least the life of this blog (longer). I've been waiting for either the revolution to begin in earnest, or for change to come from within the system. I am not old enough to hold office, so I cannot be a part of the second solution. There is no viable revolution as of right now. The grassroots movements have fizzled, and it's going to take more than anger to win this battle.

Face it, the big corps aren't going to risk making us angry enough to rise up against 90% of the wealth of our country being in the hands of a small group of people and non-human entities. The Koch brothers are cool, calculating, and it is that kind of strategy that wins in the long term.

So in so many words I support Sanders. He's the best we're going to get this cycle. Yes a younger candidate would be more ideal, but Sanders has good energy, and the vitality that gives force to his message.

A word on so called "Freedom"

I don't know if it's growing up in Tea Party country or a sign of the times but I have generated quite a few problems with so called freedom. Growing up I was fed a version of history that is both centered on America and focused on portraying America (and Americans) as excellent.

This is all to lead up to the idea for why America tells me we've gone to war so much in our short history. That reason is said to be freedom.

The dictionary definition of freedom is:
"the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint." (source Google)

The point I started to have some unpleasant feeling towards the word was during the two wars starting after the events of 2001. The reason as I remember it was to "spread freedom". It conjured up an image of american with a big butter knife spreading freedom like jam. Jammy goodness for all!

But wait, how can you spread freedom? It's an idea, and in actual concept has been shrinking for years (and at no time faster than right after 2001). If you ask historians the reason for the american revolution was taxation without representation. Do we have it better now? Look at the colonies still associated with the UK, are things bad there?

Meanwhile in the United States we have the greatest wealth gap in our history. Freedom in this country seems to be more about a freedom to amass large hunks of resources at the expense of others. The poor are completely unrepresented in government as money has become speech. Don't pretend we live in a democracy, that day was over a little while ago. Let's watch how long before I can't speak against our wonderful capitalist masters (heavy sarcasm).

There is no freedom so long as there are those not free to eat, or drink clean water, or live a respectable life. All the numbers point to there being more than enough resources on this planet to go around. So why don't they? Freedom. There's plenty of freedom in America. It's just a shame that it's in the hands of so few.

amusing side story

amusing side story:
The gist? If you leave Oklahoma and visit a state where certain things ARE legal, Oklahoma doesn't want you back. You can be arrested crossing the state line even if you are not intoxicated. You also are subject to lose your job, and other consequences. So please bring this up when you go begging to the feds about how you want the economy to expand how the demographic that would vacation in colorado and enjoy what is legal there are no longer welcome in your state. Also that might be worth mentioning when you go asking for prison funding. Ha, oklahoma, logic has no function here!
http://www.tulsaduidefense.com/legal-weed-colorado-can-lead-oklahoma-dui-tulsa-dui-attorney/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legal-weed-colorado-can-lead-oklahoma-dui-tulsa-dui-attorney

no eye can see, no ear can hear

Down into the depths of hopelessness, again and again I find myself here and I keep hearing the same stupid fucking thing. Everyone is always saying that it's going to get better. To the point I believe, and I'm ready to receive such a thing, and it is still coming they say, yet today is just another trial, another drag. I realize sooner or later that this promise of a better day, if we can call it a promise, is either for a day yet to come or an insincere promise.

More and more I feel that the entire set up is to build up my hope so I can continue on absorbing suffering. I get increasingly frustrated with telling people the same thing to the point that apart from communicating my utter apathy for living I don't communicate much anymore. Much of what needs to be said has been said by me many times before, I am nothing if not open about my feelings. Too often the response I receive is apathy. I act with the most kindness I can muster and all I seem to get is apathy and disinterest when I have need of help.

I've sought out pastors and local friends, girlfriends, prayer partners and doctors. I have looked under every rock trying to find answers for myself which others are disinterested in helping me find. Apart from learn patience and try and build up strength I have found few pearls of wisdom.

I know God is good and he loves me. I know he has good plans for me. I know he answers prayer. I know he forgives me.

I do not understand waiting. I do not understand this pain, it surpasses my ability to understand. I do not understand this place I am.

I am an outspoken questioner of the way things are, particularly of the conservative movement, consumerism, the christian right and many things capitalist and republican. Yet I am in the most red state in the country. I have found few confederates in suffering. I am made to feel truly alone by such entities as Fox News, local preachers who bring politics to the pulpit, and by my fellow men who proudly claim tea party affiliation. I feel like some sort of covert spy dropped in the middle of an enemy camp. As if I am a union soldier trapped behind confederate lines, or vice versa as surrounded by the enemy I truly am overwelmed by the right wing political machine. I cannot see how liberal and intelligent thought can prevail over the conservative and anti intellectual movement.

What bothers me more is that this place that is a strong hold of right wing thought seems to be a self energizing machine. Let me explain how I observe this process. The right wing organizations fix the system (locally and state wide especially) to hurt and frighten people. The pundits point to the system they broke and say "look, isn't it broken? Aren't you scared? No one is looking out for you", then you have to watch their network to find out how to survive the horrible things they say are happening. Sometimes the horrors are real. They say "isn't it awful that you don't have healthcare?", when they made damn well sure of it. They say "isn't it awful that you and others are poor?" when they are in favor of trickle down economics and other economic policy that makes sure that the poor get poorer, that debt is on the rise.

Or how about what I consider the best one: "Isn't the national debt awful? How awful that we have a deficit and that we keep spending money!" When their policy for the last decade has been to create a completely useless several TRILLION dollar war, which we are still cleaning up.

The entire sum of their strategy is to make things suck, then point the blame on everyone else. What is most upsetting to the intellectual mind is not that this comes from the news, the bought and paid for politicians and talk radio. What upsets thinking people most is when other thinking people buy this garbage. When thinking people are held in thrall by complete garbage such as this. When the people who you want to help most say they don't want it because Fox news told them Democrats aren't human. We want to scream at them. They threaten to suceed and many of us are thinking "that would be nice, then you'd stop dragging those of us that want a better world down". Of course they won't. I mean who would shut the government down? Who would sabotage democrats and independents at every turn? How would the forces of capitalism keep everyone else in line? I do not know.

I know I am just one man. I do not see any purpose here. I do not see any hope. That isn't to say there isn't any, I'm just too deep in the wrong part of the battle. I pray I get out of this place soon. I'll hold on until I lose the ability to keep my grip to the hope that God will answer my prayers. Someone out there must be more powerful than the forces that stand against me. God is that someone.

Here's one idea.....

sooo...... how is this for a thought, since certain groups in this country are really hot for the idea of motivating people by threats. You know, like "defund healthcare or we shut down the government".... I have an idea for our lawmakers. I think you'll like this, if you like threats. We elected you to govern, how about you start governing or we.... I don't know, how about: Take all your money and drop you off in the third world in total poverty....... Oh, you don't like that? You have a right to take the country hostage and I'm totally crazy? Remind me how you recently decided poor people don't deserve to eat or have air conditioning. I mean let them eat cake indeed.

You chose to react to the weak and helpless with outrage that they dare not have as much money as you. You said that laziness and not working hard is what leads to poverty, so shouldn't you be in poverty? The current congress has passed no significant legislation in over two years. If I went to work and did no work except for trying to undo all the work that was done before I got there, I would get fired. I wouldn't even last a week.

Now I wouldn't make these sorts of statements if we were not who they report to. Do you know who form the majority of people in this country? The middle and lower class. Do you know who you are hurting most by shutting the government down? The middle and lower class. You pulled the economy into a standstill in the middle of the biggest economic rally in recent history. Good job, you managed to tick off your base: investors and rich people. Good luck getting your customary bribes from lobbyists next election run.

The only people I can see funding you are those people building bunkers for preppers and the manufacturers of adult diapers. Maybe Fox "News"........ you seem to be catering to THAT market.... but I've even seen some of their hosts pointing out that you aren't doing your jobs.. I mean that's bad when the people you have in your pocket see through your BS. Go ahead, keep pretending that you didn't start this.

Remind everyone that it's someone else's fault that they wouldn't give into your "Do what I say or I take down the country" strategy. Right, this country loves terrorists.... I mean I must have forgotten the major motivation of the war on terror: To find Bin Laden and take him out for a big american bar-b-q. That worked out SO well for him.

Or are you trying to show this country's enemies that they don't need to work so hard because you've got this making america scared thing covered. Does that mean we can defund the department of homeland security? Oh, and since you have now been identified as an organization with terrorist intentions can we now change the light of the IRS being extra hard on certain people? I mean the IRS has a duty to prevent the funding of terrorism, as I am told every time I talk to my credit card company.

Some economic facts

I want to illustrate how the ideas that I profess are not just ones that I have an emotional affinity for. I understand there is plenty of skepticism for liberal thought, so let me explain two liberal ideas and how they could entirely change the economy.

This effects you no matter who you are, where you live, or what you do for a living.
The two policy decisions I want to talk about are increasing minimum wages and providing quality health care to everyone.

First I want to talk about wages. Wages and tips are how most people in my country measure success in their career. There is an illusion that education creates opportunity, but anyone with eyes knows that isn't true. Education helps form your mind into something that can grab opportunity, and I want to talk about that more at a later date. What I want to talk about now is what would happen if you raised minimum wages. The answer might surprise you.

Raising minimum wages is controversial because there is a pretty big economic myth out there that raising the wages of the working class will raise the cost of the product, and therefor cost of living will go up. There are those that will tell you raising minimum wage is a zero sum game. If we lived in a world that had fewer than ten thousand people in it that would be true. The economy is more sophisticated than that however. The fact is when you put faith and confidence in the producers the producers get more comfortable. When the producers get more comfortable they start going out and spending money. That money will be back in your pocket before you can say dividends. It requires a large enough view to see that the economy getting better helps every business.

Here is another uncomfortable fact you may not have thought about. There are many products that people want to buy right now but cannot afford. We have been trying drive down costs so that a larger percentage of the population can afford our products. What if we drove up the average budget of households? What sort of effect do you think that would have on sales? Do you think that people would be less afraid and more comfortable buying products? I'm sorry, that was a rhetorical question and I respect you enough to confess that. Happy people spend more money. End of story. This is why people who have had a few drinks generally buy more drinks. When the worry slips away so do the purse strings. If more people had less worry about whether they had enough to pay their house payment, or put gas in their car they would have less stress. Less stressed people spend money much better. This means better products, and this means surprise: higher profits.

Now about health care.
This gets a bit more complicated. Here is the short version of the story: healthier people are better able to pay bills. Medical debt is out of control, at least in america. Most people who face bankruptcy face it due to mounting medical costs. Which may not initially worry you. After all, you aren't eyeballs deep in medical debt. Wrong, debt doesn't disappear. The debts that don't get payed off get passed on to the paying customers. Which means that health care is more expensive than it should be simply because not everyone is paying for it. You are paying for universal healthcare, in fact you're paying way more than such a thing would cost. You're paying for it because poor people go to the emergency room uninsured and never pay. People run up huge lines of credit with hospitals and never pay. This costs YOU money. So why should you want universal healthcare as an investor? Read on and I'll tell you.

 If you didn't give away your service for free so much, what do you think that would do to the balance sheet? If you had millions of paying customers willing and able to pay whatever it took to get well, don't you think that would improve the status of medicine? Furthermore assuming you are in a developed nation this would mean you could offer even more expensive and profitable cutting edge techniques. You could offer them to more people and increase your profits. You could change the public opinion of you from penny pinching and uncaring to being the benign business leader you want to be seen as.

The choice is yours, you can make decisions based on short term greed and what you've done before, or you can make decisions based on what the next step for the market is. I shouldn't have to tell you which CEO has his face on the cover of Forbes, it's not the one who did what daddy and everyone else did. He did something new, something bold, something that changed how people thought about the world. This is why the richest man in the world brought us the PC, and the people sliding in after 5th place are the Walmart heirs. Microsoft has changed with the times and even when it has made mistakes like Windows Vista it bounced back. It tries new things and it's a winning company for that. Walmart only stays afloat because it's workers are all on food stamps. They only get new stores because they make sweetheart deals with city governments. If you took away public aid there would be no Walmart. But there would be a Microsoft. End of story.

a little bit of outrage

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/10/07/house-gop-plot-obamacare-shutdown/
well, at least we know that these people have some honesty.... in that the shutdown has been a plan from day one. This just smacks of terrorism, I have tried REALLY hard not to call it terrorism, but hey, if the shoe fits. When you THREATEN, and then DO take down the government, you are a successful terrorist organization. You have said that if the american government doesn't do EXACTLY what you want you will destroy the country. You will crash the economy. You will put people out of work.

I actually find GREAT irony in the fact that for the last 18 months every republican I talk to says "if they implement Obamacare jobs will be lost" and I kept saying "wait and see". I thought they meant the law would lead to employers slashing salaries or number of employees. I didn't know they meant "look if you liberals give people healthcare I'll shoot the government down". I would have been more active in politics. I would have told them that our country has never negotiated with terrorists.

The only silver lining is that who they are is coming forward. We now know they aren't lawmakers, they are lawbreakers. Honestly it should be criminal to purposefully sabotage the economy. It should be, but, well you know all about white collar crime.

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so look, let's pretend, for a moment, that reducing spending is what this whole shutdown is about. I saw a clip with Rand Paul and he said essentially that. If that was the case wouldn't there be a potential for compromise if we just trimmed the budget even more? If we placed cuts on already existing programs that aren't adding value to our economy, would that not be a reasonable compromise?

Look the debt is a problem that should have everyone worried, because if we keep going farther into debt there may be some consequences. I've had to balance a budget before and I know what the first thing that gets cut is:expenses that do not improve my income picture. I'm just grasping randomly here but a great example is the military industrial complex. We are producing billions of dollars of weapons we don't want to use. I'm not saying stop the research, or keeping a good base of troops trained, I'm saying cut this thing, it's not making you any money.

The ONLY way that the military makes sense from an investment standpoint is if you can somehow use them to create revenue. Since looting is pretty well hated I don't think that works.


I'm not saying that's the only solution, I'm saying that you need to start looking at cutting other areas. Getting people healthy is a GROWTH market, it's reinvestment that will pay huge dividends. I think that if we cut spending and the republicans said that was what they wanted all along then this whole thing could be over by the end of the day tomorrow.

small update

oh, small update, I have talked with the office of my congressman and alerted them to my concerns. I do not know whether they were being sincere or not (and at the moment it's hard to measure responses given the amount of not informing us the government is doing), but my needs were heard. I was informed, politely, that the congressman had the duty to protect the interests of all of his constituents. I issued a challenge, which is what I will say to the whole debate:
If Obamacare is crazy socialism that is going to shut down the country, let it run for a few months. Let people see your predictions come true. If you accurately predicted that the end of work for the lower and middle classes is the results then I guess the public support for you will raise and you can win control of both houses and the presidency. That would give you free reign to continue to deregulate business and cut taxes for the rich, while cutting aid to the poor. This strategy has worked SO well for you, shouldn't you ride it to it's assured success?
I mean surely you are smart enough to realize that if you keep the government shut down you will see the result of it in midterm elections and lose what influence you have. If our credit rating drops because you couldn't handle a simple political matter, the public will turn on you like a pack of blind dogs. I want a strong opposition party, I believe that two opposing parties is the best way to keep the other party in check. I don't want your party to lose all influence in the government, so please don't act like such idiots that we can't keep you in office.

a few of my political snippets.

I've been writing quite a bit on politics, and I just want it here as well as there. I hope that makes sense.

So first they said: get an education and experience and you'll make enough. Then I met hundreds of workers with bachelor's degrees, masters degrees and PhDs living under the poverty line. I've seen people who have given 20+ years to a company put out on the street because keeping them on was too expensive.

Then they said that there was assistance for when people are going through hard times. They vote more of that away every day. I was on assistance for a little over a year, just food, but it made all the difference when I had it. I actually took a cut in the money I made to go back to work. For over 2 years I have worked my butt off trying to make it. At the moment all I have to show for it is experience, wisdom and a stronger faith. I will overcome, because I am strong.

When I do climb out of this situation I'm going to remember this. I'm not going to let you do to the next generation what you've done to mine.

Anyone in America who thinks the poor are poor because they aren't working hard enough has never worked fast food. They have never met someone working two jobs and still not making ends meet. They have never had to choose between a roof over their head or food. They have never had to wonder how much longer they could eat in a given situation. They either haven't been there or they have forgotten.

This is one person reminding you, being poor is not a punishment. The poor did nothing wrong. Not being born to the right family, or knowing the right people, or having a talent that happens to be exploitable for large chunks of cash isn't criminal. We should stop treating people who struggle as if there was something they did wrong.
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Oh, incidentally, my congressman is Congressman Jim Bridenstine. I will be campaigning against him in the next election I have that option. I don't care WHO it is. You could run a rabid slobbering dog, the worst a dog can do is bite you, not take down your economy. I have contacted Mr Bridenson and in so doing discovered he is an Eagle Scout. This is the first time in my life someone has made me truly ashamed to wear that title.
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So, I'm seeing a trend here, Democrats are doing what people think should happen (2 have donated their salaries during the shutdown), Republicans claim they've done nothing wrong (yeah... insert snarky remark about terrorism), and the American people are pissed. This is taking it beyond what we have been seeing for the last year, which was manufactured crisis following manufactured crisis. I swear the strategy is to keep us in fear and that will keep us supporting them. It's also clear ONE party completely sucks at public relations (you know who you are). The same party also has a remarkable amount of them who seem unconcerned with their election results next year. Fact is that I plan to run a campaign to get my idiot congressman out of office. Normally I would be busy working, but since mine is among those holding the country hostage I guess he wants the people in his district to know that we can't keep having this man represent our state.Good job! You have successfully convinced me that I need to play a more active role in government.
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had to reboot my browser while researching government shutdown, it froze up.
"Your government did not shut down properly, would you like to restore your previous government?" Yes, chrome, yes I would.
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I happen to agree with this. Being poor shouldn't be a crime, though it's certainly treated like one in this country. Just going to the grocery store it's obvious that prices are going up, and wages aren't. In just 7 years I've seen my wages go from being more than enough to not nearly. I'm spending all my time in an education which I'm praying will somehow land me a higher earning job, not everyone can do that.

(M) When it comes to making sure people in need are fed and can provide for themselves, we have only three options;

1. We can Raise The Minimum Wage, and force corporations to pay a living wage, so that a full time minimum wage job will provide the lowest standard of living but will still be financially viable without Government assistance.

2. We can subsidize the corporations by providing government assistance, essentially paying for the corporations to rob their employees. We're already doing this instead of forcing corporations to pay a living wage, and because of it the corporations are raking in record profits while the poverty rate is rapidly rising, and the middle class has almost disappeared.

3. We can do nothing, and let the poor and starving turn to crime to support themselves, if they're not already dying on the streets from lack of food and water. If you're not a fan of either of the first two options, and most conservatives aren't, this is the option you're choosing. Whether it's your stated position or not, if you don't agree with the first two options this is what you're suggesting.

Conservatives are constantly claiming that charities would step in to fill the void if Government assistance was no longer available, but anyone familiar with how underfunded most charities already are knows that's a delusional fantasy.

I find it appalling that the party which opposes raising the minimum wage is the same party which wants to eliminate government assistance. The GOP's message to the poor is clear; your survival doesn't matter. It's time we showed the GOP the same consideration.

Why I don't care about your republican scare tactics

So, at the moment I am trapped in a red state, which for those of you out of the know means that I have access to the worst healthcare, education and government in the country. My senator is Inhofe. I have voted against him FOUR times. I wish I was overstating things by saying that I think that a well informed chimp would be an improvement. The main reason is that every time I see his name on the news he's doing something stupid. Today was one of those days!

So sometime yesterday afternoon our new friend Ted Cruz started filibustering because he wants to use the government shutdown scare tactic to force defunding of Obamacare. Now, let's take this at face value. This is a very rich man getting very very upset because poor people might get healthcare. The gall, if they live long enough they might climb out of their holes. This is at the same time as the Republican party attempts to defund food stamps. Because you know, people who eat because they can't afford food are leaches. Look, we have emotional issues here. He just got done after 21 hours. When I read the news support it said Inhofe was supporting him. At first I thought "Why would he do that? Doesn't he realize none of his constituents want a government shutdown?" Then I realized that he is in the position that he will never lose his seat. The Democrats gave up on this state a long time ago. Most liberals move, I know I will if I get the chance.

Look, they aren't going to defund Obamacare. The funding is set aside already and the bill already passed. Obamacare hurts no one other than big insurance. I think what we are really working on right now is setting up the complete loss of control by the Republicans in a year. Oh, and of course the fact that no one in government who affiliates with them can win a major election. The country, it would seem, is shifting to the left. When the center is considered the left, I guess we're all commies.