WHOA!

i read the news today, oh boy!

It is really hard to make something important interesting, then all of a sudden something happens to change that.

Justice Clarence Thomas

The supremes really surprised me. i take that back. Only one of them. Chief Justice John Roberts proving he was jussmartenuf by siding with the four other sensible justices was a surprise. Roberts was an appointee of George W. Bush and i expected him to vote against this mostly Democratic legislation.

Justice Anthony Kennedy was a bit of a toss up, but he went hard right, after all he was appointed by Reagan and thinks corporations are human beings.

Justice Antonin Scalia was not in doubt, he voted to make George W. Bush president by cutting off the recount of voting in Florida in 2000 while Gore was ahead overall in the 50 states by more then half a million votes. He is a registered Republican who accepted an offer from the shrill Michele Bachman to speak to Tea Party new comers in congress and was a duck hunting buddy of Dick Cheney. No surprises there.

We all knew well in advance what Clarence Thomas was going to do, he was going to vote exactly as his wife "Ginnie" instructed him to do if he knew what was good for him and if he wanted dinner on the table, etcetera. After Clarence found out his moves were not cool enough for Anita Hill and wound up with "Ginnie" the die was cast.

You remember Ginnie, she is the jerk who had the audacity to call Anita Hill and ask her to apologize for not liking her hubbies vulgar advances. Click on the above links in case your memory need refreshing. Virginia Thomas is a product of the uber right wing nut faction of the Republican party. Her curriculum vitae includes stints as a consultant for former house leader and radical Tea Party spokesman Dick Armey. You remember Dick, he is the one who called  Gay congressman Barney Frank "Barney Fag" and then said it was just a mispronunciation. Barney said that was funny, no one ever referred to his mother as (Mrs.) Elsie Fag.

After her stint with the vulgar homophobe Armey, she moved on to the conservative "think tank" (bit of an oxymoron there) Heritage Foundation. You remember them, they are the ones who originally recommended the individual mandate that Romney used when he created "Romneycare" for the folks in Mass before he was against it for the rest of us. Then she became the head of the conservative lobbying group she dreamed up called Liberty Central. All of this and still Thomas would not recuse himself from the decision rendered today from the Supreme Court. This creep made it onto the supreme court by a vote of 48 against and 52 for. Some of the "fors" were misogynistic Democrats who preferred to believe the lies written about Anita Hill by David Brock, who was a conservative lackey who has since admitted he lied to support a right wing Murdoch conspiracy to ruin Hill and picture her as less than a lady. In atonement Brock has created the web site Media Matters, a site that exposes political lies and distortions.

But enough of hypocrisy and political double dealing.

Minutes after the decision was made public Mitt Romney made a 4 minute and 11 second address in which he used the term "Obamacare" 18 times. Now wouldn't you think anyone running for the Presidency would be smart enough to know that was not the name of the case involved? It is the Affordable Care Act, people. Affordable Care, key words that Romney hates because they have a nice ring to them. Romney also made a couple of very untrue statements, kinda like he was a Sarah Palin or Glen Beck.

Romney used the phrase "Obamacare" 18 times because much of his base stupidly hates our president and he wants to feed that hatred as he hopes it will help him get elected. If you don't know that you don't know jack.

Bottom line is this: the Roberts court today passed down a decision that is a God send for all Americans whether they realize it yet or not. Hopefully this is a stake in the heart of the heartless who wish to deny their fellow citizens healthcare, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The opponents of this bill will continue to waste precious time beating their gums about a done deal. Their main avenue of attack will be to say it raises taxes on the middle class and small business. It involves only businesses with over 50 employees who should already be covering their employees and gives those companies tax breaks for it. Also it involves individual responsibility which is usually a Republican talking point. Besides anyone who has insurance is not affected nor are those who cannot afford it.

Next we need to see that there is a medical community to support the care of all the newly insured. And regarding immigration, did you know there are almost 50,000 Indian doctors practicing in the U.S. now? But that is another story.

In the mean while we are on the right track, not perfect like single payer, but on the right track, and i will be back, trust me.

Blaze

Happy Memorial Day and God bless all those who have gone before us.

Certain things stand out in my memory. If anyone were to ask me what was my favorite movie it would be impossible to choose just one because there are soooo many really good ones that have been made.

From all those movies, there have been certain lines that have really stood out. All of us would probably agree that "make my day" or "I'll be back" are a couple of them.
One of my very favorite was from a film made in 1989 that starred Paul Newman as the flamboyant governor of Louisiana, Huey Long, and Lolita Davidovich as his sweetie, Blaze Starr.

As i remember it, Blaze was a young girl leaving home to make her way in the world as a stripper in New Orleans. Blaze sought the wisdom of her Mother before leaving and asked her if there was anything she could tell her that would help her along the way. Her mother told her "Blaze, Honey, never trust a man who says trust me".

Great line.

I seldom go the movies any more. Maybe 4 or 5 times a year. I went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" several weeks ago and it was a winner, looking at contemporaries of mine dealing with the discontents of aging. Penelope Wilton in a supporting role should get an oscar.  But this is not to be a movie review.

As i mentioned in a previous post, i start most of my days before daylight with a large cup of French roast and my email. i get a lot of email. From friends and family of course, and a good bit of news reporting, every major newspaper in the world is available for reading. i usually spend little to no time on the stock market and sports, as i prefer world and national events, social issues.  Some of the websites are interactive so i can even throw in a comment now and then if i wish. If i am not careful i spend too much time reading people argue with each other, kind of a you said, no you said, fest. A bit Jerry Springer even. i could cliche you and say it breaks the monotony, but i have no monotony.

A lot of the comments are from people that are reasonable and thought provoking, but there also is a fringe element of anger and hatred that is exchanged that is remarkable. A lot of the articles are sometimes predictable; there are Tom Friedman, Robert Reich and Paul Krugman, then there are Erick Erickson, Charles Krauthammer and George Will. That pretty much covers left to right, but not the far far right. There are other brilliant writers outside of the mainstream, I delight in finding them. Mark Ames is one and i have a link for you after this bit of repulsive trivia.

The far far right or the fringe does a disservice to intelligent discourse. I don't want to have anything to do with people like Charles Worley, the Baptist Minister in North Carolina who last week said they should take all the lesbians and put them behind one fence and the "queers and homosexuals" behind another fence, and humanly drop food into them till they die off. You saw it. You heard it. Here it is if you can stomach it.  Worley sermon. (please use the printed link to connect to video as the one posted somehow was removed, probably by the source.)

Disgusting people like Worley are totally irretrievable, completely out of the main stream and will not change, don't waste time trying to communicate with them. They are the fringe right that always vote Republican and most Republicans cannot stand their hateful positions. After all, if you can't trust your preacher who can you trust. These people and anyone who really believes Obama is not a bona fide United States citizen are just too far stupid to communicate with. Don Trump wants you to trust him. George Will said Donald Trump is a "bloviating ignoramus with a very low IQ". You hit a home run on that one, George. Trump doesn't know Jack

You gotta be jussmartenuf. We all understand that nothing is free. It all has to be paid for. No free lunch unless you're buying drinks or rolling the dice. There is a great sum of money out there, enough to go around, but it doesn't and we all know why. A lot of folks can't see through the smokescreen put out by biased sources. Can we really trust the sources we gather from?

Money is basically made only three ways: 1. You work for it; you paint a house, you wait on customers, you go to your office every day and keep books, teach pathology or teach school, etc. 2. You put your money or others money to work; a 401K, investment in your own lawn service or lash salon, or gamble the stock market. 3. You make money off of people; you hire a salesperson who sells your products at a profit, you pay people to do work and create a profit for you. (Of course you can inherit it, but someone had to make it first.)

So let's visit a bit about an article by Mark Ames who i mentioned above. i think it is interesting and provocative to reasonable people of all political persuasion.  It is all about how the Russian economy was looted by the ruthless oligarchs that developed when the socialist system in Russia privatized. The looting of billions and the suffering and death of hundreds of millions was the result. It goes on to tell of oligarchs here in the US who are looting our system with no reprisal. These are leading pillars of industry. You will see the parallels to our society today, they are there, shadows in our system that need light shined on them. Who are the other oligarchs in our society? Read oligarch and come to your own conclusion.

May i say at this time, i have close friends and people that i admire who are of all political persuasions, but they are not of the radical fringe. Virtually all Democrats want fiscal responsibility same as Republicans. Heck, even the right wing Forbes states that Obama is the smallest government spender since Eisenhower, would you believe it, what with all the false information being spewed by ideologues. Who ya gonna trust?

Virtually all Republicans want all our citizens to have preventive and rehabilitative healthcare along with prosperity. But we cannot simply austere ourselves into prosperity. I think the Republican party has abandoned more than half of the Republicans that belong to it, or at least abandoned them on critical social and fiscal issues. Republicans themselves decry issues such as the personal freedoms many of their party wish to destroy. So my Republican friends, let me tell you what you can do about it.

Abandon the Republican Party, at least for now. To support it is to support the radical fringe that is so vile. The party is immobilized by the radical fringe that is so angry they cannot think clearly. Join the independents and Democrats in voting for Obama this November. You know he will listen to us and you know Grover Norquist will not. Let's put America back on the right track together. The oligarchs have us divided over issues that are red herrings. Together we can focus on the social issues like health care for all and fiscal issues. Corporations and the oligarchs who control them make billions and pay little or zero taxes. We all know that is a truth, many say so themselves. We can dump the members of congress of both parties who are oligarchic puppets.

But we must do this together, we're all in it together. Out of many, one. Think about it

I'll be back. Trust me.

Everybody's Got One

Happy Mother's Day Mother, wherever you are.
Mother passed on May 25, 1984, coming up 28 years ago later this month. I miss her regularly. She was born August 14, 1909 in Muskogee, Oklahoma of truly pioneer stock.

Mother was 11 years old before women in the United States had the right to vote, prior to that time they were legally second class citizens. On August 18, 1920, Congress finally ratified the 19th amendment giving all women the right to vote. Even at that the vote in the Senate was 56 for and 25 against ratification (weren't those 25 a stupid lot?). It seems unbelievable that this obvious civil right was denied to women for so long but it was.  Even after ratification by the needed 3/4 of the 48 state legislatures, it wasn't until 1984, 64 years later that Mississippi, the last of 12 hold out states, finally ratified it making it 100%.

The civil rights act of 1964 giving our Black citizens the same rights as Whites was also a torturous path to passage. We all have seen the pictures of George Wallace, the Democratic governor of Alabama, standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama refusing to allow Black students to enter. We also remember Lester Maddox, the Democratic governor of Georgia who kept a supply of axe handles in his restaurant to beat Black patrons should they try to enter. Maddox, by the way, did not win a majority of the popular vote and was appointed, not elected, by the Democratic state legislature of the time.

My how things have changed. This broke the back of segregation in our country and was the pivot point that turned the deep south away from the Democrat party and President Lyndon Johnson who led this Civil Rights Act, and turned the deep south into majority Republican states. To say that racial, religious and sexual preference prejudice does not exist in the south today is a lie, i know because i live there. Heck, 45 years ago racial intermarriage was against the law in 14 states.

Today we are confronted with this same incredible obstinacy that borders on class stupidity in denying members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) communities the right to their inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. Thank goodness most of these obstinate people will make the change and act to support this freedom because in their hearts they know it is the right thing to do. They know this human right is guaranteed to ALL Americans in the Declaration of Independence. Inalienable means something that cannot be taken away and cannot even be given away. Anyone who stands in the way of this inalienable right is on the wrong side of history. If you don't know that, you don't know jack.

The GLBT community has been the whipping boy for a large segment of people all of whom may not be aware of the bigotry involved in their denial of recognition.

This right is overdue and regardless of how many states vote to outlaw this inalienable right like North Carolina just did, that is only temporary. I would say that North Carolina just showed its ass, but a great many people there voted against this prejudice which is proof that change is coming and this vote will not stand. Freedom and Liberty is coming for all as sure as the sun will rise in the East. The obstinate will not accept this easily, i am sorry to say. It will be tested in the Supreme Court but the right to same sex marriage is coming as sure as the next rain.

This bigotry too shall end, you just need to be jussmartenf to understand it.

Happy Mothers Day, Mother. You taught me well.

Conspiracy or Fact?

There are conspiracy theories and then there are conspiracy theories. They abound, particularly with the advent of the internet.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death. Was it accidental? Was it suicide? Was it murder? After all, Marilyn was allegedly having undercover rendezvous with JFK and maybe RFK. All this arranged by Frank Sinatra and Frank did have ties to the mafia, no theory there. So did the mafia rub out Marilyn as she was getting too hot for comfort with her rendition of "happy birthday Mr. President" at his birthday gala?

Next year is the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Was it the work of a single warped mind? Simply a coincidence that Oswald was in the right place at the wrong time for Kennedy or was it something more, concocted and constructed during one of Oswald's trips to Cuba or Russia? After all, Oswald was married to a Russian, wasn't he?

And more recently, the twin towers. Were they actually a set up deal by the C.I.A. to create a cause to attack Iraq? Didn't both Bush and Cheney, being oil men, have a plan to take over the Iraqi oil production? After all, they hated Hussein and Hussein hated them and they did say Iraqi oil would pay for the cost of the war, didn't they? They did say there could be "mushroom clouds" over the U.S. if we didn't do a preemptive strike, remember?They didn't attack Cuba who has no oil, did they?

And then there are the Chemtrails that most folks mistake for contrails. You know, the cloud like streaks that follow airplanes at high altitudes. Are they really contrails or are they chemicals being sprayed by the government in conspiracy with Rothschild empire as a genocidal pogrom against the middle class?

Had enough? All right then try this one on for a fact. Let's see if you are jussmartenuf to get it. There is a conspiracy by many of the billionaires of the United States to gain control of the government for their personal benefit. There always has been and there is today. In your gut you know that. Heck, this is old news. Even back in the 30's as FDR was trying to put in safeguards for the middle (and poorer) classes such as the Glass-Steagall Act and the Social Security Act, the Republicans led by Senator/financial powers such as Prescott Bush were trying to prevent them. You remember Prescott, he begat Bush #41 who begat Bush #43 all part of the American elite aristocracy that still battles rights for the individual. In 1999 they repealed the Glass-Steagall act and the world wide financial melt down and eleven trillions of dollars of middle class investments lost overnight was the result.

Now the Republican mantra is Social Security is bankrupt and it is not.

Let's just take two billionaires to illustrate our conspiracy point. The Koch brothers of Kansas are two of  the richest people in the world. They are estimated to have fortunes in excess of 30 billion dollars each. Their fortunes combined would make them the richest person in the world. They started out rich, as their Daddy made a fortune with Joe Stalin in Russia in the oil and gas business before WWII. Every year the Koch Brothers hold closed meetings at exclusive resorts where they invite a small number of very powerful guests. Guests that include governors of states, like Rick Perry of Texas; Supreme court justices, like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas (both of whom voted to allow corporations, like Koch Industries  to make unlimited secret donations to the political interests they choose); the head of the United States Chamber of Commerce (which really is simply a lobbying organization for Industrial giants); and varied other billionaire controllers of industry. Their goal is to influence the laws of our country to their personal benefit. The ALEC http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/xchg/justice/hs.xsl/15044.htm templates of state and federal laws they want enacted originate from these meetings.

In order to get what they wish for they need to destroy many, if not all, of the benefits of the middle class such as social security and medicare.

Photos from Rolling Stone

I know, you think this sounds nuts, but it is not. Hear me out. Let's just take Social Security and Medicare for example. Why would these billionaires want to destroy them? To increase the bottom line profit of their companies and make themselves richer is why. Hasn't every billionaire simply wanted to make more money? Romney is not even a billionaire, just a third rate 250 million dollar man who makes over $20,000,000 per year and pays less taxes then you do (and no social security or medicare payroll taxes). His fortune will continue to grow as you cannot even spend that much money unless you are running for political office and are willing to fund your own way. Romney is funded and supported by, among others, the Koch brothers through their vast network of so called "think tanks" and political action committees (PAC's) with patriotic sounding names such as "Americans for Prosperity" and "Freedom Works" into which they have poured tens of millions of dollars to influence your vote and destroy collective bargaining rights for the American worker while demonizing the worker as the problem in this process.

On any company income statement, which lists both income and expenses, the largest expense of almost any company is payroll. The amount paid their labor forces is in the trillions of dollars annually for corporate hires in the U.S. The social security and medicare taxes corporations must pay for these workers is 7.45% of payroll. That is $74,500,000,000 for each trillion in payroll that drops immediately to the bottom line to be cut up and added to the assets of the industrial leaders. When you multiply that times the several trillion dollars in payroll for the middle class it begins to add up. This means more $50 million bonuses for their execs, more summer and winter palaces, more and larger yachts and jet aircraft, helicopters to get the kids to school. Sure there is a pittance for the small investor, but it is all paid for by the middle class citizen, their buying power is reduced, their quality of life is reduced by that same amount. Many of these companies do not pay dividends and the Koch companies are privately held, not even on the stock exchanges, so you could not participate in their profits if you wanted to.

You would think the Industrial giants would understand that if they supported more wealth for the middle class it comes back to them in spades through purchase of their products, whether raw materials or finished products. Henry Ford figured that out, but these people don't. The key word is avarice which is greed for extreme wealth and the power it brings.

The Kochs along with other billionaires like Sheldon Adelson who funded a Republican candidate, who wanted to spend taxpayer money to establish a colony on the moon while reducing food aid to the poor,  with $20 million bucks. There are many many more billionaires like these, we can get to them at another time, but you know the type, the ones who smear through innuendo and distortions like Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.

(Pictures of Koch Industries home offices in Wichita Kansas and a port terminal of Koch Industries.) http://www.kochind.com/

These billionaire industry leaders own the Republican Party (and a large chunk of the Democrats too), or at least a large portion of it and the financial industry owns the rest. (You do know that the financial industry in the US is twice as big as the manufacturing industry, don't you?) Many in the financial sector just want to privatize social security, not destroy it, which is Wall Street code for run it through their system so they can skim a few hundred million of it every year as a handling cost. The Republican party even makes a big deal about how they are more business friendly and the Democrats are not. You have heard these pitches yourself.

In November you will have an opportunity to vote for middle class American workers or for the Billionaires of industry who in the search of more riches have sent our jobs overseas. Industry, not government, is the culprit in American manufacturing job loss, but industry would have you think otherwise.

If you can't see and understand this you don't know jack.

Stay tuned. I'll be back.