WEAK WEEK FOR HARD TALK OF SOFT ON TERROR

People who think Obama is soft on terror are listening to neo-con chicken hawks who think we can take over the entire middle east, make them all do what we want because God is on our side. Newsflash, they think the same thing. Every attack creates more terrorists than it kills, not less. They seem to really think you can "kill 'em all!" that you could actually wipe out a whole other way of thinking or culture. It's never happened in the history of the world, and it never will. Nevermind that actions speak louder than words and that Obama has done more to combat terrorism than the other world leaders combined. Because he won’t call all Muslims terrorists or attend photo ops it means he supports the terrorists.

You know who was really soft? Who suffered all kinds of abuse and attacks, all kinds of degradation. Who never fought back or sought revenge. Who never tortured or killed anyone?

. . . Jesus.

Somali pirates taken out, Osama Bin Laden killed, numerous terrorist leaders taken out with drone strikes, rescue operations launched, forced Assad to hand over chemical weapons, stood up to and stymied Putin, forced change in Iraqi leadership, confronted and contained ISIL,

 . . . . Yeah, weak on foreign policy.

BOOTS FOR BOEHNER

"An F-16 is not a strategy, someone's boots have to be on the ground."
- John boehner.
How about I buy you a pair of boots Mr. Boehner?
Given who's in the most danger here I say the boots on the ground should be Iraqi, Syrian, Jordanian, Saudi Arabian, and maybe even Iranian . . .
I say we all send Mr. Boehner a pair of boots seeing that he is so eager to see "boots on the ground" in Syria. So let us start a campaign; everyone who's tired of these professional chicken-hawks who can't get enough of sending other peoples' children to die in some foreign hell hole send John Boehner a pair of boots so he can be the first one "one the ground". Who is with me?

Just send a pair of boots, any old boots will do to :
John Boehner 1011 Longworth H.O.B. Washington, DC 20515
add a little hand written note to the effect like "Dear Mr. Boehner, here are the boots you requested, Have a nice trip."

© C. Erich Dunne,  september twenty-fourteen.

SNAP CRITCISM AND POP – ULAR MYTH.

SNAP cuts today! Soon to be followed by much, much more cuts over the next two years!
Hey, GOP! Jesus said "Suffer the little children. . ." not "Make the little children suffer!"

No, the system isn't perfect -but show me the one that is. They should be looking for and eliminating [and in some cases prosecuting] cheaters, but they don't want that. They want to punish everyone by just cutting the program all together. They should verify people when they apply, Investigate others when the have cause, but thoroughly investigating everyone would probably cost more than it would save. I would rather a few cheaters get through than to deny someone in real need. Plus with  all of the financial abuses [wage inequity, investment scamming, unfair and exorbitant fees, corporate tax breaks and refunds for paying no taxes in the first place, and outright theft] committed against the people in this country by banks, wallstreet, corporations, and credit card companies, poor people getting food stamps doesn't even make my top ten list.

If even a tenth of the fake outrage and scorn that is heaped upon the the poor was directed at the corporate robberbarons that caused the financial collapse that cost the world trillions, it could make a real difference.

©  C.  Erich Dunne. november, twenty-thirteen.

THE TWENTY–NINTH DAY

I heard a very interesting and enlightening way of thinking about the effects of global climate change and why it is so important to act on it now.
Imagine a nice tranquil lake. One day a single lillypad appears on the lake. The next day there are two lilypads, the day after that, four. then on day five there are eight, and on day six there are sixteen and so on and so forth.

(day 8;128, day 9;256, day10;512...)

And they keep doubling every day. There is still plenty of room, so you hardly notice the problem.

(day13 =4,096, day14 =-8,192, day15 =16,384. . . )

Now, the lake will be completely full (you don't want that to happen, it will choke off and kill the lake!) on the 30th day.

(day19 =262,144, day20 =524,288, day21 =1,048,576. . . )
Assuming you will not notice a problem developing until the lake is at least half full, . .

(day24 =8,388,608, day25 =16,777,216, day26 =33,554,432, . . .)
Once the lake is half full, how many days will you have left to try to avert the disaster? On what day will the lake become half full?

(day 27 =67,108,864, day28 =134,217,728,. . . )
The answer; the lake will be half full on the twenty-ninth day!

(day 29 =268,435,456,. . . DAY 30 =536,870,912. )
A good example of how things can accumulate,how quickly it can overwhelm and get out of control. Just like the destruction of the environment, once it's obvious there is a problem it's too late to stop it. But if you look closely, you can see the warning signs before it is too late.

© C. Erich Dunne. . . . september, twenty-thirteen.

AIR FOIL

These profiteering corporate robber-barons who think people have no right to clean fresh water have given me an idea. If Neestle™ can extract million of gallons of Canadian water for free, then bottle it up and sell it back to them and around the world i should be able to do something similar. So to that end;
I hereby give public notice that from now forward, I now lay claim to all current and future mineral rights in the atmosphere of the planet Earth.
This means all of you free loading air breathers who have been inhaling my oxygen over they years had better start paying up! If you don't I'll drag your sorry leeching asses into court.
I think ten dollars (American) a day is a fair price to start but I reserve the right to increase rates as I see fit, Starting in January you overweight people will have to pay an additional two dollar 'Excessive heavy breathing' fee. This gives you three and a half months to lose weight if you do not wish to pay the additional charge.
I am prepared to forgive past air consumption and not level any charges of late payment fees for air already breathed.
I will be phasing in 'burning charges' in the next year. (Can't have a fire without oxygen you know.) these will include, trash and brush burning, fireplaces, cook outs, arson, and the use of internal combustion engines.
Failure to pay will result in heavy fines. addition delay will be penalized with to installation of a atmospheric blocking device ( Plastic bag pulled over head and secured around neck with a zip tie.) the device will only be removed after all charges and fees have been paid in full.

Thank your for your attention in this matter.

© C. Erich Dunne. . . .september, twenty-thirteen

FAIR AND BALANCED DIET

What a load. Fox "news" has gone from just being a joke to actually being dangerous. The rampant mischaracterization in this piece is astounding.
The one SNAP recipient they show is a supposed 'cheater' who they say 'feasts' on sushi and lobster. Not on what you get from Snap you don't. (and of course you use inflammatory rhetoric  like 'feasts'  and use the most expensive foods as examples to maximize the outrage for no good reason ).

In a news story about Republicans wanting to cut forty billion dollars from the food assistance program, this is the only side they show. The most despicable loser they can find (if they didn't make the whole thing up) to enrage tax payers into blaming the poor for our nations problems. Again. I thought John Roberts had some integrity but I was wrong.

So your fair and balanced reporters couldn't find one elderly retiree or disabled person to show the majority of the people who get assistance? Couldn't find one of the millions of low paid working single mothers who are trying to feed their children, huh? Or the family of a deployed soldier who had to give up their good paying job to serve their country? Not a single one huh? then they deliver this pack of lie to Congress just before the vote. The funny thing is their audience is mostly seniors and poor red state republicans who make up a large segment of SNAP recipients. Hold on, need to make a phone call. . .

Phone dialing. . .Phone ringing, . . .Phone ringing. . . Hello? Leg warehouse? Fox needs something to stand on. . Really? You have nothing? .. .Well, thanks anyway.

Sorry Fox, you have nothing to stand on.

If these people call themselves Christians one more time, I'll kick their asses.

(Stole the phone bit from "How I Met Your Mother.")

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/19/fox-runs-defense-for-gops-attack-on-food-stamp/195975

 

© C. Erich Dunne . . . . september, twenty-thirteen

THE UNIFORM LOAD.

Overheard people discussing where to get school uniforms. School uniforms; good thing they didn't try that shit when I was in school, they would have had to send me home every day.
Isn't it bad enough what schools are doing to these kids? making them all think alike and act the same? Now they have to look and dress in the same unimaginative manner.
What ever happened to individuality? What about independence, thinking for yourself, and the freedom of self expression?
Proponents of uniforms say that students dressing like they want is a distraction. Well I've got news for you Bubby, life is full of distractions -life is a distraction. The sooner they get use to dealing with distractions, the better off they will be.
These same types also complain about the "nanny-state", yet they are happy to teach children that they needn't think for themselves, the authority will tell them everything they need to know -even how to dress properly.
"They tried this school uniform stuff back in the 30's already. I know I've seen the films. It's hard to tell what's going on though, it's all in German." ~ George Carlin.
"when someone tells you there is no "I" in team, tell them 'but there is in individuality and independence!" ~ George Carlin (Again)


© C. Erich Dunne august,  twenty-thirteen.

“SNAP?!?!!” GOES THE WEASELS

'm really getting tired of of these attacks on the poor by the wealthy, who try to turn the middle class against them as a distraction so that the middleclasses won't notice what is being done to them by the rich.

   Don't get me wrong, no one likes a cheater, but there is no such thing as a perfect system and some will always take advantage of programs meant to help the truly needy.. Even if the fraud is ten to twenty %, are you going to punish the eighty to ninety % of the honestly needy recipients by shutting the program down? It stinks and is unfair true, but to thoroughly investigate everyone would cost you much more than you would save trying to eliminate fraud, so it is cheaper just to let some of it go and just catch the cheats you can.

   Most people on foodstamps are elderly, disabled or families with children. Not to mention that many more do have jobs or even two. They just work for companies that pay their employees so little that we have to subsidize their workforce, so deduct that from your Wal-Mart savings.  The average monthly benefit is around $130.00 per person, The idea that a bunch of lazy people are living better than you, eating steak and lobster every night is completely ludicrous. The same people who want to eliminate foodstamps also say the support the military. There is another group of SNAP recipients you hear very little about, and they are the families of deployed soldiers who gave up their good paying jobs to risk their lives and the futures of their families to serve our country for pennies a day.

   Most of the people I hear complaining about SNAP are conservative Christians talking about having to pay too much in taxes. To be fair, they probably are, but blame a ridiculously bloated military budget, corporate welfare, and overseas tax shelters, not the poor. I try to remind them of two things, 1. That as Christians everything they have belongs to God anyway, who commanded use to help the poor and take care of the old and the sick. And 2. A decent society does require some sacrifice, and if not for that decent and mostly safe society you wouldn't have a cushy job that allows you to earn a living in the first place. Just sayin'.

© C. Erich Dunne.  august twenty-thirteen.

MY ALIEN DAD CAN BEAT UP YOUR ALIEN DAD.

Spot the difference in these two scenarios.

Ted Cruz; Born on foreign soil to an alien father and citizen mother = Natural born citizen and true American patriot.
Barack Obama; Born on U.S. soil to an alien father and citizen Mother = Illegal alien and evil Muslim agent sent to destroy America.
Hmmm... what could the difference be?
If anything Cruz should be under more suspicion since his father is from a hostile enemy nation(Cuba) while Obama's father is from a friendly nation (Kenya)
Some of Cruz's supporters said they didn't consider Canada foreign soil. I suppose Hawaii is?
The balls it takes to make this argument in defense of Cruz, after six years of accusing Obama of being a foreigner, would need to be so massive  you would have to tote them around in front of you in a wheelbarrow.

© C. Erich Dunne august, twenty-thirteen.

‘ PART TIME ’ LOVERS

ANotHeR CrAZy iDea #119

  In the past few years Wall street has been enjoying new record highs on a regular basis, and corporations are now taking in profits at never before seen levels. Despite these facts the working class and poor are only getting poorer while the wealthy are increasing their net worth exponentially as more and more millionaires become billionaires. Even this is not enough for them, and in an effort to raise their profit margins ever higher, they are increasingly relying on a "part time" workforce. New hires are only for part time or temporary positions. The re-classifying of some existing employees, eliminating their benefits, cutting their hours, and laying off many others is now the current trend.

  Every day more people fail to qualify for benefits such as health insurance, overtime pay, and paid time off simply because they are classified as Part time employees. Many of these "part time" employees actually end up working anywhere from 40 to 70 (And sometimes more) hours a week. But are denied the benefits they would have normally earned simply because those hours are divided up over two and sometime three different employers that they are forced to work for just to survive.

If these companies claim that they cannot afford to pay enough for their workers to earn a livable wage, isn't that very statement an admission that capitalism doesn't work? What, after all is in it for the common worker if not a chance to get ahead, or make some kind of decent life for themselves Are they suppose to just accept this kind of abuse? Be grateful for whatever scraps the wealthy decide to leave for them? This is where unions, government, and consumer spending power should work together to force these companies to adopt fair employment and wage practices. If they want to do business in this country then they have to start playing by the rules, including paying a fair share to support a decent society that allows them to earn those profits in the first place. They keep wanting to call this a Christian nation, it's time they started acting Christian.

  So to even out this inequity I think large corporations that try to skirt labor laws by primarily using a part time work force should pay into a common fund that would be used to finance benefits for people who work forty or more hours a week, just like any regular "full" time employee would earn. Why should Part time workers be punished for actually working longer hours than many full time workers do, simply because it is for more than one company? If you are lucky enough to have benefits, how many hours did you have to work to earn them this week?

   This country is suppose to be about rewarding hard work, not position.

©  C Erich Dunne   august, twenty-thirteen.

 

"The distance between the lifestyles of the haves and have nots is increasing daily and exponentially! This is a gross societal injustice and is what government SHOULD be about...the welfare of its people not a segment thereof!" ~ James Mentlow

TESTING MY PATIENCE

N C governor, Mayor McCheese is set to continue his policy of kicking anyone and everyone who is already down. He's about to sign into law mandatory drug testing for anyone applying for public assistance.  Why are they doing this? State after state has done this and ended up wasting much more money than they saved.  The governor of Florida was the first to introduce this nonsense, and as it turned out his brother was the owner of the testing company that was used. Arizona tested 87,000 applicants and had 1 positive test result. Florida tested 51,000 applicants  and had 21 positive test results. Over five million dollars of tax money was spent in just two states to deny 22 people welfare benefits. So that is the reason they made this law different, requiring the poor to pay for the test themselves.  But if they pass the screening they may be reimbursed.

What are they going to do if someone tests positive? help them get into rehab and get clean? Educate them on the dangers of addiction? Help them get a job? No, of course not; they will simply dump them from the the program, and how will that help anyone? And so what if someone is using drugs? Does that mean they are unworthy of help?  What about tobacco or alcohol? Why is it that conservatives are always looking for a reason to punish someone they don’t approve of? Well you can't blame them, they are only following their own religious guidelines, only help those who are clean, sober, and perfect.

All of this is simply another attempt to reinforce the myth that if anyone is in need it must be their own fault, and to blame the poor for their own condition. believing this serves to soothe the fears of the middle class, that as long as they are smart and personally responsible they could never end up poor themselves. As though all you have to do is choose to be personally responsible.  It keeps anyone from having to feel empathy for those less fortunate or guilty for not helping.  It also distracts them from noticing what the wealthy have been doing to them for the last three decades. So much for their love of  Constitutional standards when they hold everyone guilty until they can pay to prove themselves innocent.

Why don't we ever have drug tests for politicians? That I could support!

© C.  Erich  Dunne ; july, twenty-thirteen.

ROYAL PAIN

How many babies is Kate Middleton going to have? every time I check CNN she's walking out with another one! Amazingly the crowd reaction is always the same. How do they keep up their enthusiasm?

WIENER TAKES ALL

the wife of national embarrassment Anthony "the penis texter" Wiener made a statement yesterday trying to defend her husband and their marriage. At one point she stated that "our marriage has had it's ups and downs."
We know. He sent everyone pictures of the "ups".

BOY IN THE HOODIE

A guy walks into a bar. he pulls out a gun and shoots at his grandma who is drinking in the corner. He misses. Granma pulls out her gun and shoots back, she misses. The guy shoots his grandma dead and tells the police that because she shot at him, he feared for his life and shot her in self defense. he gets off Scot free.

Thought this was going to be a joke? Well it is -only the joke is on us. When did 'stand your ground' become 'chase them down' anyway? How the hell can you start a fight, and when that fight goes badly for you, you decide to shoot your way out of it and then claim self defense? Zimmerman shouldn't have been allowed to use the 'stand your ground' law, it should have applied to Martin; he was the innocent person minding his own business and doing absolutely nothing at all wrong. He was the one being stalked  and harassed by a gun toting maniac. Since the law says you only have to think someone is going to hurt you, I think that qualifies. Martin even did more than the law requires when he tried to get away from Zimmerman, who himself said Martina ran away from him. (he realized that didn't sound so good for a self defense case and changed it to 'skipping away' WTF?)

The most damning evidence against Zimmerman, beside the dead teenager's body- is his own words which he could not keep straight. Despite the fact that Hannity slow pitched leading questions, all but answering them for him for best defense results. When Hannity asked when he went for his gun Zimmerman actually said "At this point it wasn't MY GUN or HIS GUN, it was THE GUN." as if he wasn't responsible for bringing the gun into this. Like it was just THERE, flaoting in the air maybe and they both had an equal chance at it.  How were Zimmerman's lawyers allowed to say that Martin was NOT an unarmed teenager because he hit Zimmerman's head against the ground? Is the whole world a weapon? if so, we're all armed all the time.

The whole process favored Zimmerman from the beginning. They drug tested the murder victim, but not they guy who shot him? The police were more than happy to just take his word for the whole thing. It took six weeks for him to be arrested or charged with anything.

To add massive insult to injury, Zimmerman's lawyer said that the very idea of prosecuting his client was "disgusting". Then he said he it was sad (and for a second I thought he would slightly redeem himself by saying it was sad that someone had died, but no. . .) that "It took this long to get Zimmerman the justice he deserved." TOTAL DOUCHE.
One more symbol of just what they are Zimmerman said in his interview with Hannity that "He had NO REGRETS about what happened that night." That he didn't want to second guess God's plan. God's plan? God's plan was for him to kill an innocent unarmed teenager and get away with it?

And finally, the irony of ironies, in the 911 tape after accusing Martin of "looking suspicious" and "acting like he was on drugs"  just two among many wild assumptions. You can hear him get one thing right when he complains that "the bad guys always get away..."

© C. Erich Dunne  july twenty-thirteen

TRICK FOR CHEATS addendum

Democrats and liberals are so busy celebrating the victory they've already declared on social media sites, they haven't noticed that they are getting their asses kicked on the state and local levels. That's the tealibans new plan, change the nation one state at a time. Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina have already fallen. The first thing they do is redraw voting districts to ensure democrats are never in charge again. The fact that Scoot Walker survived his recall vote is proof enough of that. The only hope for this country is for a lot of conservative voters to wake up and realize the GOP is not on their side, that they don't care about their God, their religion, their values, or their future. All they want to do is dismantle the government so their wealthy masters can rule this country like kings.

SHARIA FLAW

ALEC must be hard at work again. Anytime you see state after state introducing extremely similar bills in rapid succession, you can bet ALEC is behind it.

This time around Tealiban politicians all across the nation are introducing into their various state houses legislation  banning Sharia law. Is this even necessary? Have I missed something, has there been a mad rush to pass Sharia in this country? Did we suddenly elect a majority extremist Muslim congress while I was taking a nap? Even if there were such a movement doesn't the Constitution already take care of this? I can't image there being very much in Sharia law that would pass Constitutional muster, or is the whole thing an exercise in religious intolerance; freedom of religion just so long as it's my religion?

It's just another distraction by conservative politicians who conjure up an imagined threat to pander to the fearful and the hateful, and delude their Tealiban followers into believing that they are doing something great to protect the country.  Just like when they keep proposing to make English the "official" language of the United States. Also when they mandate mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenses. Or confiscate the cars of d.u.i. drivers for education money, and last and definitely least, baggy pants laws.

All of those are examples of policies that sound like good ideas to the average idiot, but don't stand up to close scrutiny. I've covered Sharia already, so lets move on. English as the official language. English is the overwhelmingly dominate language in the United States. Almost all business and government function are conducted in English and that is not likely to change. The purpose of this law is to separate us from them. To make sure they know this is our country, and we don't tolerate differences, if they want to live here they're gonna have to be just like us. I always thought if this nation had an official language it should be along the lines of Sioux or Navajo -it was their country first.

Mandatory sentences sound good to the law and order (I like to see people mercilessly punished) crowd. Keeps those pussy bleeding heart judges from being too lenient. Until of course you realize you're going to have to let violent robbers, rapists and murders out of prison to make room for all the weed dealers. Plus I've never liked the whole idea of mandatory anything. You can never foresee all of the circumstances or consequences of your own actions much less anyone else's. Justice should be meted out by humane reason, not an exceptionless set in stone rule book. There can be no justice so long as rules are absolute.

School systems loved and pushed this one. People convicted of DWI, DUI's would have their vehicles confiscated and sold, the money going to schools. I imagine they thought they would be getting Mercedes', Lexus', and BMW's. Not realizing of course that anyone who could afford a nice car could therefore most likely afford a nice lawyer as well. And there is nothing easier for a nice lawyer to beat than a traffic offense especially when the cops are too busy with released violent criminals (see above) to spend all day in court for a traffic ticket. So all the schools got were twenty year old beaters that the owners didn't care about or couldn't afford regular car maintenance, much less even a bad lawyer. So the whole thing ended up costing them money. The rich got their cars back, the poor didn't. They couldn't sell the junkers they got and had to pay for their storage.

Baggy pants laws. This is more of a local issue, but every so often I hear another councilman proposing an ordinance to outlaw baggy or sagging pants. I'll admit nothing looks more retarded than some idiot with his pants below his ass walking around having to hold them up with one hand by the belt. (yes most of them I've seen do have belts, which they can't use and still be able to walk) Is this what we want our overworked police doing with their time instead of catching criminals? Is this what we want our overburdened courts dealing with all day? Fashion? This is America everyone has the right to dress however they like, Even if it is stupid as hell. If you don't believe me then you've never been to Wal-Mart.

Like i said, they propose policies that they know will sooth and calm the fearful, and appeal to the desires of  the hateful. It is nothing more than a distraction and waste of time and resources.

© C. Erich Dunne  july, twenty-thirteen.

TRICKS FOR CHEATS

Christians have a saying that goes; "The Devil's greatest trick is to convince people that he doesn't exist." Republicans have a trick of their own. They have convinced millions of people that the only voice they have, the only source of power and protection, their only means for justice and fairness, the institutions of government and the courts, is not only their greatest enemy, but an unprecedented threat to their future and their freedom.
They believe that getting rid of the government will make them freer. In fact, I believe the exact opposite is true. The power held by the government will not disappear with government, it will simply transfer to those that have the only other means for power; money. This means that decisions about labor, the environment, education, healthcare, and a whole host of other issue that will affect everyone will be made by the extremely wealthy and their corporations. Under this system average people will have no say in those decisions that will impact them the most. there will be no one to vote out of office for not representing you.
Litigation will not be an option either. By then the courts will be powerless to stand up for your rights. Under the guise of "tort reform" If they cannot take away your right to sue altogether, they will make it pointless to sue by severely limiting the amount of damages that you could collect, or the degree of responsibility corporations can be made to answer for.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a supposed non-profit which writes model legislation that promotes a corporate agenda for it's members nationwide. These model bills are voted on in secret at posh resorts with legislators and corporate executives having equal say. If agreed to they are then distributed and introduced into state governments across the country. ALEC also has a hit list of federal departments that it would like to see eliminated, including, but not limited to; the Departments of education, environmental protection, energy, commerce, labor, as well as the FBI and CIA. Their ultimate goal is to shrink government and it's power, and to privatize as many of it's functions as possible to maximize profit. Their greed is limitless, they desire is to own and rule everything unchallenged. Becoming the new lords of the land while the average citizen lives as a serf, working their lands and paying them tribute. They believe this outcome is their God given right.
We need these agencies and a strong federal government. It is far too easy for a corporation, some special interests, or even an extremely wealthy individual to control a smaller entity like a single state. Only by combining our voices and looking out for one another on a national basis can we stand up for ourselves and our future. Some things are too important to be operated for profit and have to be left to the public sector or democracy will truly be lost.

© C. Erich Dunne  june, twenty-thirteen.

UNITE THE STATES

Why should you want a strong central government?

It is entirely too easy for a corporation to control a single state,  the governor, state senators, and mayors of any state, especially poor ones will do whatever their corporate masters tell them to all in the name of bringing "jobs" to their state. Basically turning over the power of the state from elected official who are answerable to the voters, to unelected executives and possibly anonymous shareholders who are unremovable  and answer to no one.

Corporations have always seeked incentives and that is fair. But what has happened is that those incentives have grown to blackmail, ransoms, and extortion. Companies are now demanding (and getting) some if not all of the following;

Free land

Free infrastructure connections

Building costs paid for by the state

Moving expenses

Little to no taxation

Outright cash payments

All subsidized by the working class taxpayers who not only have to basically "buy" their own jobs, but end up financing the operations of the businesses they work for. Some estimates range from $10,000.00 to $200,000.00 in incentives traded for compensation of $20,000.00 to $40,000.00 per job provided. Since many of these companies don't have to file taxes, the states have no idea how much revenue they are actually giving up. But clearly in some cases it would be cheaper for the state to simply pay these workers to stay home.

There are even lobbying consultants who exist solely to get as much from states as they can, and they do a good job too. One of these consultants sued the company they were hired by for not pursuing even more incentives on the grounds it limited the consultants income by not being able to collect a percentage of the lost incentives.

And it never ends. Those companies keep coming back, threatening to move and take their jobs with them because they want this or that or got an offer from another state. A strong federal government can regulate (not a bad word) across state lines uniting them in a common interests and strengthening their bargaining position to prevent hem from being unfairly and unethically exploited

 

○ C. Erich Dunne  june, twenty thirteen.

PEOPLE SAY THE DUMBEST THINGS. . . .

I am amazed at what some people say;
"They can spy on me all they want, as long as they keep me safe."
Well, if they are spying on you, they're not keeping you safe, unless you're planning on killing yourself, then they might stop that But they probably won't
Why stop with spying then? How about A government agent to live in your house full time? He could ride with you to work, you could have lunch together, he could open all of your mail for you and sit next to you when you are online googling Kartrashian butt pictures. Better yet they could just lock you in a cage and throw away the key, then you would be as safe as possible

.
"As long as they keep me safe!" They can't keep you safe. Even if they could you're hundreds of times more likely to be killed by something else, including the law enforcement you're depending on to 'keep you safe' so why give up your privacy and freedoms on the odd and very low chance of being caught up in a terrorist attack?
"if you're not doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about!"
This is the equivalent to saying "there is not one innocent person in prison." Here's a question, who decides if what you're doing is right or wrong?
And why doesn't that policy work both ways? If the government isn't doing anything wrong, why do they keep trying to prosecute all these whistle blowers? Unless you're trying to hide something? Come on, tell us -we'll keep you safe!

○ C. Erich Dunne  june, twenty thirteen.

ROAD TO FUTILITY

Conservatives wrapped up their "Road to the Majority" conference this week with keynote speaker- and hold on to your hats for this one!  ---SARAH PALIN!!!!    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

"People lied and the government spied.  People lied and Americans in Benghazi died."
~ Sarah Palin.
Ignoring the fact that her statement was a less than piss poor, half-assed re-writing of a twelve year old anti-Bush slogan (Bush lied; People Died.), and the fact that she couldn't support domestic spying enough when it was a republican policy, and that she never uttered a single word of protest when diplomatic staff were killed under the bush administration,  how could anyone applaud her ridiculous rhetoric that so hypocritically bashes what she once avidly supported? Not even she could possibly believe the insanity she was spewing.

How could they not see her for what she is? How could anyone fall for such obvious partisan lying? I know there are those on both sides who do it, but it's like the republicans aren't even trying to hide it, or just aren't imaginative enough to pull it off. What do they think this kind of duplicitousness could possibly gain them? Do they think people are that forgetful, or that stupid? Are people that stupid? From the amount of applause that she received, I would have to say "YES"

I can't tell you how infuriating it was to hear a room full of morons applaud and cheer her, but that fury was tempered by the hilarity of the fact that republicans believe that Sarah Palin of all people is their 'road to the majority'.


© C. Erich Dunne june, twenty thirteen.