rage against the (communist) machine

Rage over the AIG bonuses is all the rage. AIG employees are receiving death threats, but it seems to me that this anger is misplaced. Who specifically included a provision in that allowed huge executive bonuses for companies which were bailed out on the taxpayer dime? Who should be held accountable for the AIG mess? Who keeps tinkering with capitalism and the free market? You know the answer: our Federal government.

Why was AIG deemed "too big to fail"? AIG should have been allowed to fail. I know that if my business were to go under due to management failures, no one would be rescuing me. Where is the outrage against our government paying out our hard-earned money giving billions of our tax dollars to the very people who caused the meltdown? The AIG bonuses have been receiving a lot of attention. A little bonus money is not the issue here. It has been pointed out (ad nauseum) that the $173 million dollars in bonus money paid to AIG executives is only .09 percent of the cash AIG received in the four (yes, four) bailouts the government has poured into the firm.

Washington has demonstrated plenty of phony outrage over the "excessive" bonuses the AIG executives have received. Why? The government explicitly allowed these bonuses. Why don the mask of mock surprise now? What happened to the other 99.9% of the money the taxpayers forked out to AIG? We propped up foreign banks to the tune of 52 billion dollars. Ouch. For those of you that would offer that this was necessary for the global economy, stuff it. Stuff it hard. Stuff it deep. On what planet would British, French or German firms reach into their pockets to bail out America?

Remember the $700 billion dollars we forked out over the last six months? We were told that we had to "act now" to unfreeze the credit markets by buying up troubled assets. What did the government do with our money? They didn't buy up troubled assets and the credit markets are still frozen. Congress acted (after a brief delay Republicans fell right in line) and we forked out the better part of a Trillion dollars so we would avoid a depression. TARP failed. What did we get for our investment? What about the trillion dollars we spent on the "stimulus bill"? What did we get for that investment?

Geithner (the tax avoider running our treasury) now wants "sweeping powers" to run non-banks the way the government has the power to run troubled banks. Geithner wants "speedy action" on these new sweeping powers. If I recall correctly, this was the guy that was billed as the only one who understands TARP.

Let us not forget that Geithner was the one who pulled the original AIG bailout together last year as the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Let us not forget Geithner's tax problems weren't "honest mistakes". He knowingly avoided paying his taxes for four years after receiving extra money from his employer to pay them, then signed a legal document stating that he would use this money to pay these taxes and pocketed the money instead. He paid the $34,000 after his appointment by President Obama and then, without blushing, blamed this fiasco on Turbo Tax!

The US government has no business deciding which of our nation's private firms need to be seized. This is underscored by the decision-making abilities of the administration who put a tax cheat in charge of our nation's financial system. All the government needs now is the ability to seize private businesses. We are being told again that we have to "act now" to avoid further financial meltdown. Are we paying attention? This is the third time we have been fed this line in six months to push legislation through congress.

This is communism. For those of you Che lovers who may be confounded by this concept, please look up the term. When republican Donald Manzullo of Illinois complained, "You're talking about seizing private property." and proceeded to inform Geithner that the concept (at least in the United States) was "radical", Geithner responded, "It's not radical...".

No branch of government or government entity needs additional sweeping powers to "correct the market". Let free enterprise work. If allowed to correct itself, the market will correct itself.

the (real) fairness doctrine : capitalism

Rest In Peace, old media. The Los Angeles Times reported this weekend that Conservative Talk Radio is failing in California as evidenced by the demise of some local talk show radio programs. More responsible reporting from the Times.... not.

All the while rubbing their ink-stained hands with glee, the Times does mention that lack of advertising budget is causing some of these programs to fail... This is not a rejection of conservatism fellas... its the free market working.

Inasmuch as the Times has to accept when it is time to take handouts from foreign nationals to stay afloat, or sell their corporate jet in order to get by, the radio market in California for Conservative talk show hosts has tightened. The weaker programs die off to make way for stronger of the herd.

The Times has declared this as a rejection of Conservatism. Ha. I think not.

To the Times corporation: look to your own. When you have to sell your corporate headquarters and get it leased back to yourself, perhaps it is time to look to your own. People do not go to your publication anymore to get the news about our world. For some real reporting, hear this: your circulation is down (and it can't get up). The LA Times has lost 8% of its circulation in the last six months.

How sad that even in its death throes, the Times cannot stop flailing about. Perhaps if they just reported the news, there wouldn't be a wholesale rejection of your product. I know that's a hard pill to swallow for die hard liberals who were used to making stuff up or reading stuff that was made up. I know. I know. There, there now.

The demise of your paper wasn't orchestrated by anyone but yourselves. For all of you socialists at the Times, this is how it works; you have a shitty product and the free market has rejected your shitty product. The same could be said of the conservative talk shows in California. That is OK. That, (once again) is called capitalism. Let's not pretend that this is a trend of wholesale rejection of conservatism any more than your paper wasting away is a wholesale rejection of your shopworn liberalism.

Rest in peace, old media. Have some dignity and die reporting the news. I guess there is something to be said for dying in a manner in which you lived. I guess there is something to be said for not going quietly into the night.

Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the
light.

era of entitlement : handouts for all

What does fiscal responsibility mean anyhow? To the common man, I believe this often uttered phrase means, "to live within one's means". To live within one's means, one spends less than one earns. This is the most simple of definitions, but often the simplest definitions are best.

President Obama is convening a "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" in Washington, D.C. immediately after passing the most pork-laden and largest spending legislation known in the history of mankind.

Never let it be said that our nation's leader lacks chutzpah. (Remember that the classic definition of chutzpah is the person who murders their parents and then pleads for mercy from the judge because he is an orphan.) Fiscal responsibility, to some, is a phrase which gets trotted out at a whim to point out what others should be doing to ensure economic responsibility in others and never mind what I am doing, mind your own business.

The antithesis of fiscal responsibility is the handout. handouts hurt everyone.

Obama has become a great handout champion. At his town hall meeting in an attempt to drum up support for his "porkulus" bill, Obama promised to do everything he could for Henrietta Hughes. Henrietta was homeless and needed a house and a small car. Google Henrietta Hughes for the latest as I cannot keep up with this woman's stories.

Part of the Obama administration's $75 billion dollar tax relief plan includes paying off some people's mortgages. Amazingly, read the unbiased story from MSNBC who explains why this is a good deal. People who did not read their loan agreement, bought new cars, bought more house than they could afford, people who should not have bought homes in the first place are going to get their mortgage assistance from the government. My personal favorite story is the guy who was prequalified to buy a $1.5 Million dollar condo on $20,000 per year income.

Bailing out the bankers last year was a huge mistake. If you don't think so yet, please read the story of Northwestern Bank (recipient of $1.6 Billion dollars of federal bailout money) who flew hundreds of employees and guests to LA to attend a golf tournament sponsored by the bank. The bank hired Chicago, Earth Wind and Fire and Sheryl Crowe. Not bad.

We live in the era of the handout. Who doesn't have their hand out nowadays, anyway? I work three jobs to support my family and saved for years to purchase a home, so not me. Think this entitlement concept has gotten out of hand?

• The porn industry is petitioning for a federal handout
  
• North Korea is jockeying for a handout from the Obama administration
  
• The city of Houston, Texas has proposed a program to pay off the credit card debt for those seeking to borrow a home. (This caused national outrage to the point that they replaced the original story with the backpedal story)

To be fair, President George W. Bush was a decent enough man, but lacked conservative values. Unlike his predecessor, W. was capable of keeping sluts out of the oval office and avoided getting handjo... wait... we are talking about handouts. Who in their right-leaning conservative mind would have signed into law the Family Leave Act or that boondoggle prescription drug bill?

President Obama, however, has ushered in a new era of the fully-entitled handout. Where does this all end?

I can tell you for certain who's pocket it is going to come out of.

fiddling and diddling as America burns

There are so many problems with the so-called stimulus bill it is pathetic. In addition to being laden with more pork than a McDonald's Mc-Rib sandwich the size of Kentucky, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" has (among other pet projects) provisions for the following that are sure to get America and Americans back on their feet:

2.8 billion dollars for global warming alarmists

650 million dollars for digital TV converter box coupons

300 million dollars for electric cars for government officials (including golf carts)

150 million dollars to pretty up the Smithsonian buildings

400 million dollars for anti-smoking programs and sexually transmitted disease prevention

30 million dollars to protect the habitat of a salt marsh field mouse (in San Francisco)

How befitting that congress should jam this down our collective throats on Friday the 13th? The house passed Obama's stinker even after promising to make it available in an "electronically searchable format" 48 hours before voting on it. Someone in congress had to appreciate the irony of not being able to even read this stinking mass before they voted on it, and on the most unluckiest of all days. Not one republican supported the measure in the house of representatives. Not one republican supported the bill in my house, either, but it is destined to become law.

There is a often-repeated historical tale of Nero the Roman emperor playing the fiddle as Rome burned. This is not held to be historically accurate as the fiddle, supposedly, was created many hundreds of years after the fire. That said, the image of an emperor "playing the fiddle as Rome burns" is a powerful description of those in power having little regard for the real suffering of their constituents.

In order to swallow this analogy, one has to picture Obama as an emperor. OK.

Nero was truly an early liberal opportunist, as he built a 100-300 acre palace on the ground peppered in the ash of his people and their homes. Taking advantage of a tragedy is the true earmark (wink wink) of the modern liberal opportunist too. In the end, arson or accident does not matter to the fire's victims. They're gone. The arsonists who created this particular fiscal fire that rages in the American homeland were hardcore leftists in the Carter administration who forced banks to give home loans to unworthy Americans.

That's right, unworthy. Unworthy means, (liberals: this is for you!) not deserving. That's right. Liberals: think about this. Some Americans don't deserve to buy a home. Even though owning a home is the American dream, not everyone deserves to own one. Here's the kicker, liberals: the criteria for owning a home has nothing to do with what color your skin is or where your pappy is from. The Americans who don't deserve a home loan are those who cannot afford to pay back the loans! If this means that a bank in a predominately hispanic or black neighborhood can't give out loans to most of the hispanics or blacks who apply for a loan at their bank, this is not racist, it is common sense, and fiscally responsible behavior.

Even though we know who set this particular modern fire, let's put that aside and focus on the rape of the taxpayer after the fire. At least one-tenth of Rome was burned, by historical accounts. Nero did open his palaces to those who were homeless (free housing) and provided food to those who would starve (welfare) while he built a new palace on the burned areas (pork project) while blaming the Christians for the "arson" (misdirection and scapegoating of the enemies of the state). There was a "report" of Nero having set the fire himself. As a result, Nero burned Christians, crucified them, or sent them to be thrown to the dogs, according to Tacitus,

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted
the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called
Christians by the populace"

Nero wanted a new palace built in the center of Rome and took advantage of the fire to fulfill his pet project at the expense of the Roman people. He raised taxes to fund his pork project. Our modern eco-friendly liberals would applaud his enterprising and green solution for renewable energy. Rather than harnessing messy fossil fuels or economically unfeasible and unproven wind or solar power, Tacitus again describes Nero's treatment of the Christians,

"Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired."

Well done. No, literally. those Christians were well-done!

Nothing provides soft white reading light like a Christian!

Hey diddle diddle! If only Obama was just playing the fiddle while America burned. Perhaps my liberal colleagues with a brain would offer here a comment about those who go shoe shopping during natural disasters or those who read books to children during terrorist attacks on our country.

Not to be outdone by inappropriate behavior during disasters (conservatives, I kid!), liberals use this "historic opportunity" (they love this phrase) to fund and enrich every liberal legislative pork and bbq-sauce wet-dream project ever known to Nancy Pelosi and her gang of partisan thugs. A $30 million dollar earmark for salt marsh mouse habitat restoration and golf carts for government officials is reprehensible. Promising people a chance to see and read the bill before it goes to vote and then immediately forcing the vote is un-American. Labelling this legislation the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" is downright disgusting. (Note: I didn't say "surprising").

Nero is perhaps best known for being his disgusting and depraved sexual proclivities, and I am not above making this kind of comparison to the modern emperors in our government (even since Bill Clinton left office.) However, I find it important to note:

The legend that Nero "fiddled" while Rome burned began many centuries after Nero's time and is referring to how Nero fiddled away his time on frivololity. As a noun, "fiddle" came to refer to a violin (not invented for many centuries after the great fire of Rome), but as a verb, "fiddle" originally meant to avoid one's responsibilities, or to commit fraud. Befitting?

The Romans were free of Nero when he committed suicide at age 31. When will we be free of our oppressive emperors? After the great fire of Rome, the plight of the Christians did not matter to those who were now ash buried under Nero's shining new temple. Perhaps we will be so to those who inherit America after it is ravaged by the great fiscal fire of 2009 AD.

God have mercy on us all. And the salt marsh harvest mouse, too.

state-sponsored child rape

Ah. Nothing like enlightenment. The grand mufti of Saudi Arabia (pictured at left) has publicly promoted government-sanctioned child rape and enslavement? What a guy. This, my internet audience, is spiritual leadership.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh (Saudi Arabia's top cleric and grand muff) says... "A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her."

Really Sheik? Really? Unfair to her? Really? Some might say somewhat snarkily that every ten-year old girl dreams of the day she will be wedded to and bedded by an old goat like you, Sheik. Have no fear, child protectors! When "marriage" (I mean come on) happens to an eight year old girl, an enlightened society will insist that a forty-seven year old "husband" sign an agreement not to rape her before she is physically able to be raped.

...Virginia may be for lovers, but Saudi Arabia is apparently for pedophiles.......

Some might say these guys are living in the stone age, but I hesitate to judge their society for this type of thing. Isn't it ethnocentric of me to call this type of edict barbaric? I guess we would hear from moderate muslims of the world speak out against this if it were wrong or offended them. I'll make sure to post links to the justifiable outrage of the moderate muslim world leadership as soon as word is in about their reactions to this (and after they announce to the rest of the world who they are and why they have kept quiet for so long). I am also waiting to report for the outcry and outrage from our ever-vigilent child protectors, the liberal. Let's hear from the Polanskyites in Hollywood about this. When is the we americans lack tolerance and understanding drama coming about this one? I can see it now. We can call the picture, "Not Without My Child-Whore"

(I'm back... I threw up in my mouth a little bit and had to swallow... no literally... I am playing at being cavalier about this subject but it actually just made me physically ill)

On the positive side, I guess this will help out with recruiting. My understanding is that many virgins (I believe the exact count is specified) are available in heaven for the successful extremist, but why should one have to wait?

Some might throw their show at this, but this just seems kind of "wrong". Is it still OK to believe in "wrong"? I am interested in some feedback on this. I guess I will have to become more "tolerant" and adjust my world view to accomodate our stalwart compadres the Saudis.

All right, government sponsored child rape and pedophilia is in, but cracking open children's skulls to get access to their brains for dining is still out! (prohibition includes raw and cooked children's brains). I mean it. I am drawing a firm line in the swirling sand dune on this one. We have to have some standards. Don't we?

Mean What You Say, Even if You Must Be Mean

The language we use helps us cope with the harsh realities we have trouble facing. Euphamisms obfuscate and misdirect. What happened to pain old stark speech?

George Carlin did a routine about how the relatively simple and straightforward term, "shellshock" became watered down over time to the inscrutable "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder". He argued that when it was called "shellshock" everybody know that the soldier had, over time, gone into shock by the explosions raining down around them.

Some have referred to this process as the "pussification" of our language. For those of you still paying attention, our official spoken and written language is still English.

So important are the words we choose and yet, who decides what the words mean? If I hurl the wrong expletive during the commission of a routine beating I am administering to some lout, the act has now been transformed from an old fashioned ass-wuppin' into a HATE CRIME.

George Orwell's works were rife with this theme. In his works, thought was controlled by controlling language. If there were no words to express a crime, the existence of crime would be controlled. 1984 and Animal Farm should be required reading for all.

Mean what you say, even if you have to be mean.

when is it time to push our precious snowflakes out of the nest?

Answer:

After they are adults. When it doesn't happen, it can be understandable in certain circumstances..... to a point.

Parenting and child health has some interesting things to say about these relationships. Another article that introduced me to two new terms; "kiddults" and "adultescents" both specifically refer to this phenomenon. An Australian documentary series, The Nest refers to a guy who lives at home to maintain a certain lifestyle. His dad was interviewed for the show ironing his son's shirts.

What would you say to the father of the son who purchased (or leased) a luxury car while living at home? Let's assume the car was all about the status. What would you say to a live at home son who asked his dad to pay for an expensive wedding ring for his fiancee? What would you say to a dad who paid for the ring?

How is this kind of behavior going to help the child in the long run? In the long run, if your children aren't self-sufficient long before you are gone from the planet, then you have failed as a parent. ouch.