Conservative Dream

The conservative dream is to get federal government out of our lives.What do they mean?It seems to me that they want everything to be privatized or transferred to the states.Get rid of all federal government jobs and programs. They want most of them farmed out to private industry;still payed for with tax money,but the work done by the private sector(mostly big corporations like Haliburton).Conservatives want to keep their legislative government jobs,but eliminate all others.Why?Because we the people have some control over government,none over the private sector.Government jobs pay a living wage with benefits.They don't want that.The private sector will eliminate all employee benefits,pay as little- well,operate like Walmart,or worse, if they can.Imagine a Walmart controlling everything.That's the conservative dream If successful,that's the new American dream!

Shutdown

 If the federal government is shut down,what is left?State government?Great!There are myriads of programs,laws,regulations,etc.that are implemented only by or contingent with the federal government.What happens to those?States rights advocates are only concerned with limited areas and issues,blind to the big picture.

The fact is that state government should be limited.Laws that apply or can apply to the majority of the people should be uniform,state to state;the same with policies.We would have much less government if states were uniform wherever possible.

We should not be advocating smaller federal government.We are 50 states,not 50 countries.We duplicate to the extreme with minor unnecessary differences from state to state.Individual states can hold us all hostage.If one state goes bankrupt we all suffer.It shouldn't be.How can one state have law different from the rest of the country?That is ridiculous.The whole system is ridiculous.

Federal government should be primary.State government should be minimal. We are one country.Let's act like it.Let's be a country of United states.That was the original and right intent.

We will eventually have universal health care;it's inevitable and necessary and right.Someday we will also equalize opportunity.A bigger central government can make it easier to achieve.Someday we will quit bolstering the self-appointed privileged and practice what we preach.Why can't we learn that strength in numbers supercedes strength in dollars unless we allow it to be otherwise.

And congress allows the federal government to shut down.What a disaster.We can't survive   very long without.Perhaps the anti-government advocates will be able to see that. I hope so.

What?

The consoling phrase:'and this too shall pass',also applies to pleasant things that don't require consolation.

State Fair

I can appreciate the fair vicariously.It's wonderful when others describe it.But,for me,not in person.I love it-the idea,the ambience of the fair,but I can't be there.I really wish that I could.

Syria-Red Line

Syria:How did we get to where we are?What happens now?What should we do?We should let their civil war play out(as we have in most,other than places that have a material interest,it seems).

Obama,obviously,made a mistake with his red line;but everyone has done that at some time or another.If it's a mistake,it must be retracted.Most of us have done that also.Obama's was a mistake,but what are the ramifications.The evidence that Al Assad crossed that line is either irrefutable or they're afraid that it could be;because it's not logical that Al Assad would purposely challenge the US..What would he have to gain?To show that we are not serious?Why that gamble?No,it's much more logical that the rebels or Al Quaida made it look like Al Assad had crossed the line.It would be beneficial to them;so the evidence must appear to be irrefutable.

But either way,the red line means nothing.As I said,,we have all experienced the line and retraction.If you  feel that you must draw a line,do it in pencil.

We can't act on it.There are a few pertinent asides that should be mentioned.As displayed in Iraq ,etc.,the fact collecting agencies are less than effective and the news media are notoriously inaccurate in reports.Reporters have trouble with the basics,even locations.I've worked with chemical agents,including nerve agents.Disseminated reports about these weapons have been filled with inaccuracies.I'm not convinced that we ,the public,have been given anywhere near a factual account,in any area.I do know that what we have been given does not justify a military attack,not even close;even if the legality can be determined.

We've been labelled imperialists;why must we keep substantiating that label.

Euphemisms

Egypt's military regime is justifying it's aggression against Morsi supporters by labeling them terroristss;sound familiar?  I think that most intelligent people have accepted the take-over as a coup;it's pretty hard find acceptable euphemisms for coup.But terrorists is an even bigger stretch.That's a US tactic.War on terrorism-label anyone that you want to get rid of ,a terrorist.Euphemisms come in handy.Manning &Snowden are treasonists;whistleblower or leaker of any kind,just isn't strong enough.Find an extreme enough euphemism and anything can be justified!

Ramblings

Is the latest terror threat valid?Even if it is,is the treatment valid?If it weren't for Snowden and the NSA hype would this threat be treated differently?I've thought from the beginning that something was amiss.This is not the way that a credible terror threat would ordinarily be handled.It looks to me as if the purpose is to justify
the NSA surveillance.Why the surveillance should not be addressed,I don't know.It just creates another disappointment with the Obama administration and its promise of openness-very disappointing.The irony of  the situation is that if this is a valid threat ,then it is being treated more openly,even if the response is exaggerated.That's precisely why I'm skeptical.Do the embassy closings have anything to do with Benghazi?

Why is all of the secrecy necessary?What should be kept secret?I know that NSA surveillance shouldn't be kept secret.What happened to transparency;of course,if you use a word like transparent instead of open or honest,you can be pretty certain that secrecy is close behind.Transparent usually implies a deceptive intent;at least in most cases.Secrecy is rampant;pandemic.Is Snowden guilty of treason for exposing secrecy?Who is really being betrayed?The government or the public that the government is supposed to represent?I cannot justify secrecy from the American people.There has been established abuse of this surveillance,extensive abuse.Snowden's claims have been pretty well substantiated,so it's time to investigate and abolish or revise NSA surveillance.

Privileged

The pentagon reportedly spends 1.5 billion on mansions,villas,extravagant housing for military generals and  upper military brass.While furloughing 680,000 workers because of the sequester this spending is evidently unaffected(200,000 dollar leases,220,000 dollar maintenance expenses,4 million dollar repairs,etc.).To add insult 320,000 was spent on a study that determined these expenses to be reasonable.And some complain about food stamps for hungry kids! I'm

IRS-501(c)(4)

What should we make of the IRS targeting conservatives relative to tax exempt applications?The discussion in entirety is pretty ridiculous,funny actually.PACs in general were pretty well exposed by Colbert on his TV show.;501(c)(4)s also.Any obviously political contribution creation should have been targeted and perfunctorily denied,whether liberal or conservative.According to Colbert's attorney,they didn't even need to apply,so the whole controversy was also entirely political and didn't warrant all the conversation that it inspired.We really need campaign reform!Really!

What is wrong with us?What is wrong with our society?.We need to start over,start at the beginning.Any individual,before he can do anything else,must have food,shelter,and adequate health care.Until he has those basics,his life will be consumed with that acquisition.That is the beginning!

When we talk about society,we often presume that these basics are a given and they should be.In our society,no one should have to be consumed with acquiring the basics.Sadly that's not the case.Too many are consumed with just that.

Our first concern should be resolving that problem.Everyone should have a chance.Everyone should have enough food for sustenance,somewhere to live comfortably,and adequate health care.It's unconscionable that individuals can have 60 billion+ of wealth when we have 30 to 50 million with almost nothing.It's unconscionable!.Why do we allow it ?Why do we allow Bill Gates to have 67 billion-billion! In wealth-and then laud him as charitable!How?While supposedly devoting his "life" to charity,he gained a billion dollars in wealth.That's really charitable!People,actual living people,are starving,have no place to live,no health care,and he has 67 billion and is considered charitablelHe's not.He's always cited as the classic example of the American dream!He's a classic example of America's failure.Why do we allow it!The classic examples of the American dream turn out to be classic examples of the American nightmare!Bill Gates could give 5 million people,$13000 dollars and still have 1 billion in wealth-what a sacrifice.

Give the masses a starting point.Expose these ideological entrepreneurs of the fixed free market system!The problem lies with the corporations and the rich and the ultra-rich and their control.Why do we allow them to take advantage of us, to increase their advantage.How can we be that stupid?How can we allow it to happen?How can we make the corporations give us health care and pensions and decent pay.It was that way before corporations.All of corporate profits(all!)now go to upper management.How can we,the people(sound familiar?)regain control of our lives?

The answer, of course,is in government.We,the people,must take control of the government.Corporations and the rich and ultra-rich that they have created ,are quickly obtaining complete contol of the government,rather governments at all levelsand we have allowed it.Part of the reason for their success is the intense anti-government propaganda that they disseminate-and it's good.They have most of the country believing that government is the problem;it is ,but not in the way that they say.The problem is that we don't have a government that represents the people.we have a government that represents the corporations and the rich.If we can't stop it we will have Big Brother and it will be because of our own doing!Don't believe the propaganda!Don't!Government can be our savior, if it is our government.If we don't take control now,it will take a revolution later and success may not be possible.We must demand campaign reform now,before it is too late.I hope it's not too late already!
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Love and lust

Lust is immediate.Love takes time.Sometimes love begins with an afterthought and after lust has diminished.And strangely enough,lust can be revived.

Faith and Logic

Faith should be introduced only after logic has been exhausted.

Police chases

Why,in this communication age,would or should there be police chases.I could never understand them.They almost never end well,almost always bad.The collateral damage is usually extensive and usually involves the innocent.The chasee  doesn't have much of a chance,but he wouldn't anyway.He can be easily tracked and cornered.

So why is it continued?I've talked to policemen and they generally agree that a chase is inefficacious.The only reason for continuance seems to be that the police like to do it.It's obviously spurred somewhat by movie glamorization.Anyway,chases aren't necessary and probably never were.So,police depts.,why not stop them now

Presidential campaigns

It just dawned on me,presidential campaigns beginning so early are a product of the media!They are the ones that force the early start!Because they have a dearth of interesting  material,they push the beginning of the presidential campaign and aspirants join.It's ridiculous,but everyone seems to join and perpetuate.Let's resist-please!Don't get sucked in!

Religion

It's past time to address organized religion.Religion has run it's course,at least in it's present form.Religions are created because we can't visualise the absence of life.We need to account for after death.It would be OK if religion adressed only that,but no,it must control life-and not propitiously.Organized religion espouses rationalization.It can do anything,no matter how irrational,in the name of whatever god  has been invoked.All is forgiven with repentance.

There is really little difference  between religions and cults,other than the leader being less identifiable in organized religion;less so in catholicism(pope).All of the leaders profess to be the instruments of an imaginary supreme being and use that status to influence their subjects through devious manipulation.They molest and extort and control...almost absolutely.

The leaders are the religions creators through their self-designated representation of an obscure deity.Why would anyone believe them?But,strangely,many do.How these self-iappointed representatives gain the credence that they do is baffling.They manage to acquire a power that is dangerous.They,consequently,are dangerous.Organized religion is dangerous.

Organized religion must be addressed.Most people know this.They simply ignore most of the the impractical tenets.But the politicians still use it to manipulate and distract for their own ends.Organized religion is one of the biggest impediments to logical progress
in our society and needs to be tempered.We need to work toward that end.

Marriage

Why all of this talk of gay marriage.The discussion should be about marriage itself.Why do we need marriage.I have never considered marriage as necessary.Take away all of the legal and religious ramifications pertaining to marriage and what do you have?An agreement between individuals.We can have that agreement without all kinds of relative laws and regulations.We don't need all of the laws and punitive or beneficial regulations associated.

The talk should be about abolishing legal marriage
It will go away by itself,probably in the next generation,so why not do it now?Marriage,as it is now,simply perpetrates the complications it creates:divorce,unnecessary laws,religious animosity,tax regulations,ad infinitum.Keep an agreement if you like,but"divorce" it from all of the associated laws and regulations.Let's accelerate it's inevitable demise".

Size of government

In my opinion,the federal goverment is much too small.Yes,I said much too small!The U.S. has progressed to a point where we need more uniformity.We just don't need and shouldn't want all of the separate forms of government that we have.States should have much more unifomity.Why should states be like separate countries?Why do we have different speed limits from state to state?Why do we have different laws from state to state?It's ridiculous.

Why do we need state,county ,and local government-all different?We need more uniformity,not less.This obsession with competition impedes progress.We don't need govermment competition.We are one country,not 50 countries.Everything should start from the federal government.We need a  bigger,stronger federal government!

Entitlements?

Entitlements must be handled within the respective funds.They are separate entities and should be treated as such.Fund surpluses should be invested in retrievable assets that can be used be used by the fund.Social Security and Medicare have their own budgets so why should they be part of the general budget?Treat them as separate entities.

Social Security problems can be easily be solved.Simply apply FICA taxes to all incomes and all types of incomes.Many things could be revised in current pension plans,especially public plans,that could that could affect social security,but that should be discussed in a separate segment.

Medicare funding can be improved immediately by letting Medicare D negotiate with drug companies.Lowering the age of eligibility,strangely enough,would also be benificial.Eventually we will have a universal plan anyway.It's inevitable.I hope that we don't have to wait for a world plan.

Social Security and Medicare

With all of the talk about sequester,why do the conservatives keep referring to SS and Medicare as part of the budget problem?They aren't even part of the sequester and shouldn't be.They are both self contained programs that aren't supposed to be part of the budget and shouldn't be;so,conservatives,quit already!

Guns,Guns,Guns

I was watching a debate(?) on guns.If the participants would have had access to guns,I think they would have shot each other!They almost came to blows but,fortunately,that's a little too personal.

As I watched ,I also thought that it's a big mistake to assume that most gun owners or purchasers are responsible,law abiding citizens.Just look at our elected officials and their propensity to abide by the law.

Crazy

NRA members(leaders) say that mental health takes precedence over the prevalence of firearms in gun violence.None of those speaking out in support of guns seems particularly stable.HSBC laundered money for drug cartels and committed numerous other serious crimes but we won't or can't prosecute.AIG stockholders are suing the US because they think their bailout was too costly; and we don't want to regulate anybody.Are we all crazy?I think that none of us is mentally stable enough to own a gun!

NFL ref strike

The NFL referee strike reveals some things about unions and strikes.The general public usually knows little about the businesses and workers and issues involved in a strike.But the public knows about football.This strike shows us what a union can do and why strikes occur.

How would refs be treated without the union?How were they treated before they unionized?I always think back to the '50's and '60's when talking about unions(when they had strength).Since sports related unions are relatively new,this strike is similar to strikes then.It reveals why unions were beneficial to workers and why group action was needed to counter exploitation.

The first thing that is revealed is that union workers are usually better than non-union workers.It's not easy to simply replace the workers.Also apparent is the propensity for companies to run roughshod over workers,especially corporations or a conglomorate of owners(NFL)-pay them as little as possible,allow no benefits or as little as as it takes to keep the workers(usually because of unionized competitors),pick and choose workers with no regard to descrimination,favoritism,etc.

The NFL strike allows us to look at  potential employer greed and their disregard for employees.We've seen examples of this disregard as unions have declined and are eliminated.Employers are very good at exploiting public opinion.They do it with reverse psychology.They publicize benefits that their employees have that others don't as if they don't deserve them...and the public responds as if they don't deserve them.Instead of thinking that they should have the same benefits,they sympathize with the employers-illogical,but that's what happens.You'd think that they would want a union and those benefits,but it seems to work in reverse-crazy.

The NFL strike ended because the replacement workers couldn't replace;not unusual,but much more visible because it's the NFL.As I stated before ,union employees are usually better,simply because union protection allows them to gain experience.

Unions aren't perfect,but they're necessary to counter employer exploitation,discrimination,and greed-especially greed .employees should benefit from company success and the only way to do it  is with organization.Without it almost all profit goes to managerial salaries and bonuses.

Unions are necessary!The NFL strike is an example.