Is It Too Late To Save America… Or Were We Doomed From The Very Beginning?

It appears too late for me and my family to go back to what I work towards for over 30 years. Its virtually all gone now. In response to a direct question about what I do for a living, after discussing with the author about his post here, I sent this reply in an email:

You asked what I do for a living. After preparing myself for and then chasing the American Dream (TM) since I was 13 (that is how long I worked), I lost my career as a high tech systems integrator in automation and robotics. I worked my way thru college, paid all my student loans, then went from one industry to the next as each was off-shored (textiles, pc boards, heavy machining, furniture, boating, automotive, etc) reinventing and reinvesting in myself (to date, I have spent over $100K in education and hold three college degrees and multiple extra training courses in a variety of curriculum related to automated manufacturing and robotics). I realized early on that Ross Perot was correct and lived the sucking sound trying my best to stay ahead of the game and find an industry that would stay.

I eventually created my own business in 2003 that catered to virtually any type of automation and human assist in production. I advised customers of how to automate certain processes, designed systems to do it, then sold the system to the customer. This lasted until 2009, where I had to file bankruptcy due to credit cards which were used to pay extreme medical expenses (our BCBS premium at the time was over $1200/month) and with several surgeries that my wife had to have for her scoliosis (which is worse now than ever before).

In 2009, a systems integrator hired me to work for them, basically selling their automation systems. Almost one year later, they assembled the three salesmen and project managers and laid us all off, while holding us to the non-compete. It took over a year in court for me to get paid the money and commissions I brought them in less than a year.

Most of the competition has closed their doors, as well, and there are none hiring me. I have a proven track record and have made myself and others a great deal of money.

The problem is being self-employed, taxes and insurance will break you. One small health issue and it is a down hill slide from that point on. Then, as 2008′s crash hit us, everything began to fall apart and from every indication, it won’t be coming back any time soon.

I realized long ago that the old two party meme was a sham and that the corporations have indeed taken over politicians.

Socialism would be a dream compared to what we are experiencing, which is Fascism 101.

Sorry this is so long, but thanks for your inquiry. Maybe this can help explain why I am so pissed off.

I have never been lazy. I have always worked my butt off, pursuing the American Dream Lie. But now, I am doing what I can to make ends meet and feed my family. I believe that Fascism has already hit America. It may very well be too late to stop it, but what if we could?

Some ( like Charlie McGrath below) will say that it is all over and that the hammer falls soon just like it is already falling in Greece (I tend to agree with this sentiment):

If you still believe that the economy is turning around and getting better, read this and check yourself.

So, is there something anything that we, as American citizens can do? Would it make any difference if we do what I suggest and NEVER VOTE FOR AN R OR D AGAIN? What if we actually vetted politicians in the way Kenny suggests by asking all the right questions:

Are you going to call for an end to the illegal wars and to bring all of our troops home now?

Gonna take any money from AIPAC? Take a trip to Israel? Got the courage to stand up to the Israeli lobby? Wanna fight another war for Israel? Got a kid of your own to sacrifice for the cause? Have an opinion on the phrase “We’re all Palestinians now?”

Iran? Syria? Please don’t give me the same old lines.

What about the Federal Reserve and Wall Street? Trillions stolen? The usury scam? Debt slavery? You’re either with us or against us .It really is the 0.001% vs all the rest.

War on Drugs? Medical marijuana and full legalization? Afghan heroin, CIA smuggling, cartel enabling, big bank drug money laundering?

GMO’s, vaccines, FDA corruption, aspartame, fluoride water, factory farms, food freedom? The crimes of Monsanto and their ilk?

War on Terror, TSA, FBI setups, Homeland Security, Patriot Act, NDAA, NSA, internet censorshp, etc. etc. etc.?

The UN, globalism, neocons, neolibs, sociopaths, psychopaths, social engineering, mind control, nefarious agendas, world banks, world government, world order?

Media lies, media whores, media crimes?

Blackmail of and bribes to politicians for control? How would you handle threats against you and yours for not going along with the big money flow?

Heck, the bill of rights? Seems like every one of them is under assault. Got a problem with rational, logical, common sense interpretations of our basic freedoms?

There’s this little litmus test that I must always bring up.  9/11.  It’s a make or break vote here Park. Step up … OK? Look into false flags if you haven’t. There’s a lot to learn.

I would say that if they fail any of the litmus test, they should receive ZERO votes. On the other hand, is there enough thinking people around to understand these pertinent questions?

Webster Tarpley also lays out a plan to help correct what has happened. You can listen to the interview for a run down at “To Cut Gas Price in Half Now, Ban Commodity Index Swaps and Synthetic Exchange-Traded Funds as Toxic Derivatives; Make CFTC Impose 100% Margin and 5% Position Limits; Collect 1% Wall Street Sales Tax“. He also points out the fraud that is Ron Paul along with the other “reactionary hyenas”.

And btw: Paulsterity comes, whether or not it is Ron Paul, Paul Ryan or any of the criminals who have you brainwashed. Stephen Lendman lays it out perfectly:

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 62% of Ryan’s cuts come from “programs for lower-income Americans.” Over 10 years, it slashes $5.3 trillion from non-defense areas. At the same time, he allocates an additional $200 billion for defense and imperial wars with automatic add-ons annually plus unknown tens of billions in black budgets.

Specific proposed cuts include:

(1) $2.4 trillion from Medicaid and other low or moderate household income healthcare programs. Medicaid loses $810 billion. By repealing Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and subsidies for those most in need to buy health insurance, he gets another $1.6 trillion.

(2) $1.2 trillion from programs other than Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other healthcare programs.

(3) $134 billion from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamp aid. If enacted, up to 10 million recipients would be entirely shut out.

(4) At least $463 billion from other programs serving America’s most needy, other than Medicaid and SNAP.

(5) At least another $291 billion in low-income discretionary programs, including Pell Grant tuition aid for needy students.

Ryan directs his cuts at vulnerable households unable to get by on what he wants reduced or eliminated. Millions will lose healthcare. Millions more won’t have enough to eat and will be dependent on what food banks provide. Education will suffer more than already. Poor students will have to forego it altogether.

He also explains that the Dems are virtually lock-step, but you wouldn’t know that from listening to the ObamaManiacs:

 

What Democrats endorse isn’t much better. Timing mostly differs to get past November elections.

For starters, Obama and Democrats agreed to the following cuts over the next decade:

 

• $4 trillion overall:

• $770 billion from education, environmental, transportation, and other infrastructure cuts, as well as lower wages and benefits for federal workers when they need more, not less;

• $480 billion from Medicare and Medicaid, besides another $1 trillion from Obamacare;

• $360 billion from mandated domestic programs, including food stamps, home heating assistance, income for the poor and disabled, federal pension insurance, and farm subsidies; and

• $400 billion from military-related spending from unneeded weapons, as well as healthcare and other benefits for active service members and veterans.

Is the answer bailing out of here? Some have told me to leave this country before its too late. Don Lucas wrote me and told me his story:

Mr. Buelahman,

I enjoy reading your site. My bio in a nutshell. Christian 45 years, lived in Christian commune in early 70′s 3 years, 9 years military, 18 prison guard, now semi-retired ( I work at painting and repairs when I can). In the 90′s I was a far right Christian patriot. I wrote tracts about the Founding Fathers and Constitutional liberties. During Bushes second term (in my ignorance and single issue ‘pro-life’, I voted for the lessor of two evils thinking erroneously that I was doing Gods will.

I have had a life long love of history, politics, and religion etc. I firmly believe that to vote for a candidate who by his words and/or actions will start and/or continue the US Wars of Aggression against poor people in order to steal their resources is morally wrong and refuse to participate.

Enough of the bio. IMO, the US can’t be fixed. There is not enough will or enough patriots to overthrow the government etc. We will follow the example of all know empires and fall, except because of our shrinking world ie communications, our monster size military and all of it controlled by the bankers and corporate Amerika the fall will be more rapid.

OK to the point. I encourage you and those you love to leave the US. I have lived in Colombia SA for a year. My wife is Colombian, which is of course a big help. My Spanish is coming along well. We plan to return to the US during 2012 and then return to Ecuador and Peru looking for a country in which to put down roots. I encourage you to do the same. My friend you can’t believe how free you feel living in South or Central America. You can do it on the cheap. You can live well on $1200 a month. Medical care is first rate and the climate, depending on your location is fantastic, the people are friendly and if you chose a country like Belize (English speaking, a big plus), Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, etc you will find many expats to converse with.

Just a little something for you to think about. As for me, I’ve made my choice and do not miss living in a police state one bit.

If you would like further info on leaving or have any questions, feel free to email.

God bless you

I explained all the issues that make leaving America impossible for me and my family. But don’t think for a second that the thought hasn’t crossed my mind numerous times.

But the sad fact is that even if you wanted leave, they are making it as difficult as possible for you to do so.

I feel as if I must ride it out and tell others about what I know and understand. Its all probably just a waste of time (I know several folks who have given up on educating others), but I have two main reasons for doing so: I don’t want my fellow Americans to starve and come to a horrible end AND I have a child that I want to know that I did what I could to stop it. For some day, she will ask me what I did to try and correct what has occurred. I will be able to show her and explain to her the effort I put into this blog and to local folks.

I asked in the Header, “Were We Doomed From The Very Beginning”? If you want a really wild explanation for why I am beginning to think so, read this excellent post, entitled, “The Constitution Con“. Many of the points I already knew, but it brings a new understanding to the Founding Fathers and their motivations.

I also recently listened to this interview that Charlie McGrath did with Stephan Molyneux and it is enlightening, especially in its discussion of minarchism and anarchism. They also hit on the subject linked above.

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B’Man’s 2012 US Presidential Election Forecast Dream (Nightmare)

Having been paying attention to the reTHUGlican Party Primaries (and “debates”), it becomes clear that Ron Paul could very well be the nominee. This will be argued by many Republicans, most suggesting there is no way the party will nominate him. But I disagree. I believe that there will come a groundswell change in opinion. The Party will see that the population, as a whole, will be very attracted to the stump rhetoric that Paul uses (and not another single reTHUGlican will touch).

Understanding that Newt will flip-flop on any subject, over virtually any pol result (or money offered) or maybe which wife he has, to hear him say this tells me a lot (this begins at the 7m30s point where Ron Paul is explaining why his age won’t matter and Newt’s endorsement):

(Sorry, it would not allow me to cue the video to the 7m30s spot)

If you watched the entire video, you can see that Newt shows Paul favor a few times (and so does Mitt, for that matter). I can see many people on the stage beginning to undersand that the old man is on to something and they will begin the change of their rhetoric to match his in some ways. Count all the times that Paul gets nods, smiles and agreements from his adversaries. Just look at the pic in the video for an example. This happened often.

On the “other side”, obviously, Obama lies as usual (and often):

It was typical Obama, taking credit for what should be condemned. He’s a fraud, a crime boss, a war criminal multiple times over, a moral coward, and serial liar.

True. True. And true. Ad Infinitum.

People know it, too (Jimmy Carter being the one that saved him from the lowest ratings of any POTUS in their third year). Even tho he did get a slight blip in ratings after the SOTU address, he has started to decline again.

So, let’s dream, shall we?

As we drift off into our chemtrail induced nightmare, we think of an election where we have a sitting president, ratings declining (even with any possible false flag event, war or travesty he can use to raise stats just before the election) against this old man who keeps saying all the right things. This could be the ultimate battle royale between R’s and D’s. The establishment will know this and use it to their advantage.

AND…

Think of the TEE VEE!

Imagine the battle between “good and evil”… “big government” versus “small government”… “truth” versus “lies”. Can your mind’s eye see VP candidate Newt Gingrich fighting hard to destroy the adversary’s second round by exposing his record, while the saintly Ron Paul continues the rhetoric… swaying the gullible people into cutting their own throats.

President Obama cannot overcome all the distortions and lies the teleprompter caused for him. The law suits and obstruction charges cannot be ignored and the spectacle causes the last straw to break the Donkey’s back and we see a new (but very, VERY old) POTUS with Newt as VP, eagerly licking his baby eating chops. Then, dream that the chemically induced dementia (or heart attack) rids the Establishment of Paul and we get what they want anyway.

(It’s only a dream, right?)

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2012: The Year Of Paulsterity

I listened in to the last Raw Dawg Buffalo Radio Show on Thursday night. I had spent a couple of hours reviewing information I was gathering for this post… a post to explain just what I believe will happen as TPTB mind-muck all us rednecks with their dazzling bullshit into accepting the harsh austerity coming in the next year or two.

The first thing that stood out was the fact that most, if not all, the call-ins were pro-Paul (and likely members of the PPPP page of Facebook that I referenced a while back). This is the page that Kelso and Yancey started, in which Ron Paul is the main object of discussion. I was asked to join and did, knowing full well that my opinion would not be welcomed and that since I knew quite a few of the posters there, I also knew their modus operandi when it comes to debate. I did it to be part of an experiment that I knew up front would be bad for me… but I did it anyway.

I was immediately met with obfuscation, mis-direction, dead-end points, straw men arguments, and then the onslaught of the Rothbard Freaks who apparently haven’t enough brain cells to realize that this planet (nor the USA) can ever be that Idyllic Place they (and their freak leader, Rothbard) seem to think we live in. I tried to explain to them at the time that Paul is the “Austerity Bait and Switch” to the previous POTUS fools we have endured over the past several decades or more. I tried to show them that Paul’s platform will be hijacked, if they can’t squash him outright in the prelims. I tried to show that TPTB are not afraid of a Paul’s presidency, for it will play right into the meme. As a matter of fact, I would not be at all surprised to find out that Paul is THEIR man all along.

Why would I feel that, since so many seemingly smart people have totally swallowed the “Change” portion of his platform (they all want to bring us “change”, don’t they?). Why is it that these smart people, many I respect for their thinking ability, can be so gullible and sycophantic? How can these smart people (smarter than I) fall for ANOTHER “sElection” within the corrupt two-party system? How can these same smart people dog the bogusly single-minded, faux two party monstrosity and STILL believe that a solution could EVER come from that very system they disdain so much?

I didn’t want to call in to the show, for I felt I would be met with a knee-jerk negative reaction and that these “smart people” would not want to discuss or even entertain the facts I had to present. So, I fed some detail to Sista GP and Jackson Douglas via the chat window and hoped it would get some discussion as I listened in.

Man o man, did the fireworks light up the sky on the last show (from what I had heard, this was the best show I had ever been a part of or had ever heard on that channel).

To get the details, I cannot recommend enough to listen to this Guns and Butter Interview with Webster G Tarpley:

Critique Of Ron Paul’s Austerity Plan

Mr Tarpley evaluates Paul’s “Plan To Restore America” and does some math. It is here where the “smart people” on the show started to see where this old dumb-ass redneck might be on to something after-all (altho Kelso did his best to simply poo-poo the entire argument, by saying the numbers were off… its Paul’s numbers… heh).

In a nut-shell, Paul’s plan intends to cut $1TRILLION is spending. He tells us about how we need to cut the military and stop “policing the world” (which, of course, I agree with). We need to stop the illegal wars (duh?). We need to cut ALL foreign aid, including (and I applaud) aid to Israel.

Sounds good, huh?

But let’s discuss the OTHER things Paul wants to cut and compare some numbers so that you will understand precisely where I am coming from in my open disdain for the Paul platform (this was initially not the case… I actually liked most of his platform, until I get the numbers). To me, it is not the dollar amount that is the most critical for this explanation, but for us to look at the percentages of cuts to the social network, and THEN compare that to the overall dollar amount.

Cuts:

15% from military

40% from SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program)… insurance for poor kids

35% Medicaid ($276B to be cut by$95B)

63% cut to FoodStamps (cut $53B from the $83B line item)

(I broke this down for the listeners… assuming 50,000,000 Americans on food stamps equals $180/month/person… to be cut to $60/month/person… equals $15/week/person)

Do I have to ask you if you believe (even for a second) that you could feed yourself or child for $15/week?

Paul’s Plan Caters To The Rich and to speculators… kills off poor folk

Paul wants to keep the Bush Tax Cuts

Abolish Capital gains

Abolish Estate Tax

Cut corporate taxes from an estimated 35% (that many never pay to begin with) to 15%

Wants to entice corporations to “come back to America” and will not tax for their foreign profits

(All the above will NOT help a single poor person/family I know. It is simply tax relief for the rich and corporations, but not for individuals)

Cut Foreign Aid

We might initially all applaud the tactic of stopping ALL foreign aid, especially when it is related to continuing the support of the murderous apartheid Israel. But what if you knew that America provides about 57% of the aid that goes to feed starving children in the world? Is it the sign of a “Christian Nation” when we starve the children that need the help, when we are spending arguably $1TRILLION/year in military alone? Can we not see the ludicrousness in spending all that money to maim and kill innocent children and THEN to also take away what little support we offer for the starving and sick ones?

Deregulation/Privatization

We have gone thru a few decades of continual deregulation and privatization. To a point now that we are experiencing the repercussions of those decisions. Paul would have us believe that we need to dismantle even MORE regulations. To free up these criminal assholes to steal even MORE of your money.

It is the deregulation that led to this very financial crash and your newest Hopey Changer wants MORE.

Libertarian Versus Progressive

One of my favorite “progressive” writers is Stephen Lendman. He wrote an excellent piece today that delves into this very subject. Please read:

Ron Paul’s Anti-Progressive Agenda

That is an excellent article and approaches some of the same details I wrote of here.

Sure, he keeps talking about abolishing or reigning in The Fed. But in my opinion, The Fed is on its last legs, anyway. The entire system is being brought to a crash, after they squeeze as much out of it as they can. I have no doubt that ending The Fed could very well be part of the overall New World Order Agenda.

And don’t you worry your little self over those poor bankers who will seemingly take a hit when The Fed goes down and is replaced by some international banking cartel. Believe me, they will be eating just fine as you and your children suffer what could culminate in this.

A Bushie equals an Obama Maniac equals a Paul Bot.

’nuff said.

Let’s make a deal… let’s decide we are going to do things differently. Let’s decide that we cannot trust the reTHUGlican and demoRAT Parties. Let us never allow a R or D to be elected in office again. Something different is needed and us doing the same old same old is a sure sign we have become insane as a country.

You want something different, right? Some change?

How about you and I grow us some “Big Balls” and send these maniacs packing?

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All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

B’Man’s Rants: 20% Sucks Their Owners’ Teat

See here.

Most notably, check out Steven Lendman’s take on it.

List is found here.

Special hat tip to Mr Friend’s Blog!

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If you like what you see here at The Revolt, please subscribe via Email subscription or by the RSS Feed button found on the upper right hand corner of this page and/or hit the Share Button at the bottom of the post to share via various means.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

B’Man’s Hypocrite Watch: The American Declaration of Independence

I have been camping and mostly out-of-pocket (except for a couple of days that I checked in and commented). The camp site I selected is right on the water at Pickwick Lake with excellent views of the two fireworks shows scheduled for this year’s celebration. Does it matter that both of these events are fully sponsored (and paid for?) by the ISR Group? Yes, even poor middle Tennessee is inundated with drones and their trainers. I once was approached about working for them and I mentioned that they train people to kill other people, but from a distance. I was told, “No. They save lives”.

Uh-Huh

Business must be very good for them to flip the bill on BOTH displays (one being held Saturday night and the other tonight).

I am past the feel-good, emotional BS about “God and Country”. I can no longer pretend that we are moral and that we are the world’s protectorates, when it is obvious that our intent is the exact opposite (no matter how brainwashed rednecks believe the rhetoric). I can’t feel any patriotism or honor for my country when it has become little more than what we actually rebelled and declared our independence from in the first place. What more does a person need to see than the latest Navy TV commercials that come right out and say that we are a “Global Force For Good“? Seriously, can anyone who knows anything about the Founding Fathers justify such an ideal that we should be a global anything? Much less the foolishness that we represent “good”. Makes me want to puke.

Seriously, if anyone actually takes the time to study what, exactly, the Declaration of Independence actually is, then they would know that our Founding Fathers were telling an empire’s leader we will not be a part of his kingdom and that a man’s freedom reigns. I cannot recommend the following Corbett Report audio link (and documentation also provided) enough:

Episode 193 – Philosophy of Freedom: The Declaration of Independence

(Nicely laid out for those who are trying to grasp what was meant and what has actually occurred instead. Especially the first 30 minutes or so)

It is a fact that we are brainwashed to believe that America is honorable and that the actions we take are for the world’s benefit. But any cursory view and real, honest evaluation shows this to be a sickening farce. We have become precisely what we rebelled from, yet, by and large, most Americans are too stupid or nationalistic to understand this very simple point.

So, how is it that we have become almost exactly what it was that we rebelled from in the first place? I suggest you read Steve Lendman’s latest piece, “Independence Day Hypocrisy” to get an understanding of how much bullshit you have been fed about the original rebellion and to learn the truth about just how far from prefect the founding of this nation actually was. In his article, he quotes from Howard Zinn’s 2009 piece, “Untold Truths About The American Revolution” to help us understand:

Was waging war then really worth it, taking perhaps 25,000 – 50,000 American lives, the “equivalent today to two and a half million (at the lower estimate) to get England off our backs.”

Canada ended British without war. So did Western Massachusetts farmers “driv(ing them out) without firing a single shot. They had assembled by the thousands and thousands around courthouses and colonial offices and they had just taken over (and) said goodbye to the British officials” nonviolently.

America’s revolution was much different, but who “gained what?” Most Americans were poor. “(T)he Founding Fathers were rather rich” with much different interests from ordinary people. “Do you think the Indians cared about independence” or Blacks held involuntarily as slaves?

“Slavery was there before (and) there after. Not only that, we wrote slavery into the Constitution. We legitimized it.”

“What about class divisions?” America was a racist class society then and remains one today to benefit elitist interests at the expense of working households, especially Black and Latino ones. “We try to pretend in this country that we’re all one happy family. We’re not.”

We all know this is true: that we are nowhere near one big happy family. And this is certainly by design. They never wanted ALL MEN to be free men or have the ability to vote and self-determination. The founders had an agenda, too, even tho there was “some” idealistic purpose beyond simply rebelling from a king.

Andrew at Failed Empire tells us the truth about the situation:

… Given all the atrocities that have been committed by Americans since the birth of our nation — the mass genocide of the Native Americans, the systematic suppression of African Americans well into the 20th century and beyond, the widespread exploitation of developing countries around the globe, the wars, the death, the torture — is there really any cause for celebrating the day that the U.S. came into being?

The question boils down to finding the balance between the benefits and the harm that we have brought into the world.  Have our positive accomplishments outweighed the vast destruction and oppression that we have reeked?  At this point in history, looking at our five concurrent wars, the Patriot Act, the very real likelihood of government complicity in the horrific events of 9/11, I would have to say no.  The United States, in spite of being founded on the noblest of principles of human rights and democratic values, has caused far more harm than good, and seems a blight on the face of the earth, a parasite leeching off the blood and wealth of the masses, hindering progress and development for all mankind.

The ideals for which we profess to stand, however, are worth celebrating, regardless of whether or not we actually uphold them.  If the great American Empire were to collapse tomorrow — which is not altogether unthinkable — I would breathe a deep sigh of relief, as I’m sure much of the world would do as well.  For the countless millions for whom life has been made intolerable by American military and economic oppression, the dismantling of our modern imperial empire would be a cause for jubilation, as the single greatest impediment to world peace and prosperity would have ceased to exist.

So, yeah, I will watch fireworks tonight, but I won’t be waving flags or patting service members on the back for “fighting for my freedoms”. I won’t be disparaging these same people, either. To each his own, but I will be telling anyone who will listen the truth about this day and the truth about what this country has become in face of what its intent was, even the bullshit intention.

People need to know the truth.

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All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

B’Man’s Hypocrite Watch: America and the Dead Man’s Bones Inside (That’s Us, Folks)

Image by humberpike via Flickr

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness“.

Matthew 23:27~28

As an American citizen, are you not yet embarrassed and soul stricken by our blatant hypocrisy in the world? Are you still proud of this country, when in plain view of the rest of the world (and God), our leaders, cheat, steal, kill, destroy, and lie with every breath uttered? Does it escape you that those with the biggest filthy mouths speak for you, but then everything uttered is an unmitigated lie so easy to see thru that it makes you wretch? Are you not spiritually attuned enough to actually see these actors in their role devised to keep you in this state of ignorance?

The Greek word for “hypocrite” is ὑποκριτής and means “actor”. Of course, I give it an even more sinister thought and description, but really, isn’t this what we do? Don’t we, as a nation, “act” like we are something better than others, when in fact, we are far worse in many ways? Think about that.

I love America and what it once stood for, but those days are now gone and the majority of my fellow citizens are either too stupid, scared or brainwashed to even notice what I write about here. Sure, as some have had the gall to suggest, I could move away… go somewhere else, if I don’t like it. But doesn’t that just prove my point about the complacency or ignorance or idiocy (whatever it is) regarding many people here?

One of my favorite writers in the blogosphere is Stephen Lendman. His main deal is politics, but he delves into many issues and I read him daily and encourage any sane, thinking person to subscribe and read there, too. I promise you that you will learn something there.

Case in point is the article linked above that discusses the US hypocrisy regarding China, when it is evident that we are many times worse. He points out a government document (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/160451.pdf) that goes to pains describing how horrific China’s abuses are towards other nations and their own people (which may, in fact, be true). But for us, the most obvious abusers of these very same claims to point fingers at them, simply means that we have no credibility and the rest of the world knows it. Here is Stephen’s list:

– “Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life;

– Disappearance(s);

– Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;”

– Harsh and Degrading “Prison and Detention Center Conditions;

– Arbitrary Arrest(s) or Detention(s);”

– Repressive and Corrupt “Police and Security Apparatus” Practices;

– Harsh “Arrest Procedures and Treatment While in Detention;

– Denial of Fair Public Trial(s);”

– Incarcerating “Political Prisoners and Detainees;

– Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence;”

– Limited “Freedom of Speech and Press;”

– Limited “Academic Freedom;”

– Restricted “Freedom of Assembly and Association;”

– Lack of Free “Elections and Political Participation;

– Official Corruption and (Lack of) Government Transparency;

– Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons;

– Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity;

– (Restricted) Worker Rights…

Seriously, were these fools looking in a mirror when they wrote that? Is it remotely possible that they don’t see the hypocrisy in those claims? Don’t you see that it is us, the citizens of this once great country, that are the only lemmings falling for this BS? The rest of the world knows better. Here are some of our accusations and then you take the time to try to distinguish between what “they” do and what we do:

China responded to these accusations by using data and documentation found in our own US sources, then laid out the following:

– America’s scandalous human rights record;

– a society in social crisis;

– a domestic armed camp under police state laws, suppressing democratic freedoms, criminalizing dissent, spying illegally, controlling information, and persecuting political prisoners unjustly by denying them due process and judicial fairness;

– torture, other abuses, and ill-treatment as official US policy at home and abroad;

– having the world’s largest global gulag;

– systematic targeted killings and illegal detentions;

– permanent wars for unchallengeable global dominance:

– targeting nonbelligerent nations illegally without cause;

– committing ruthless state terror;

– endangering world stability and peace;

– illegally transferring public wealth to America’s aristocracy;

– stealing elections;

– institutionalizing two-party duopoly control, mocking the notion of democratic elections; and

– as a result, is hated and feared globally, as well as to a growing extent at home.

Show me a lie in that list. Explain how this shouldn’t offend me as an American, knowing what a hypocrite and liar our leadership has become. Make me understand that I shouldn’t be embarrassed by what our representatives have done to our stature by making us the world’s biggest lairs, cheats, thieves, torturers and murderers? These maniacs make me feel dirty and disgusted.

Please read Mr Lendman’s entire post and then reflect on how it is remotely possible that we have become the new pharisees of the globe.

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• Raw Dawg Calls Out US Hypocrisy (buelahman.wordpress.com)

Are You Scared Yet?

I hadn’t planned on writing about a guy that was killed around 8 to 10 years ago, but now I can’t help myself. Everywhere that I have been in the past several days that has a TV on has been showing little more than the Fear Narrative driven by OBL’s 9th death. It is EVERYWHERE.

What does that tell me? Not that I have to worry about the constructed Bogeyman Reprisal, but that something big is being planned and the rhetoric is shifting to warp-speed. They want you scared, people. And there are very few people who have not taken the tainted Koolaid. Watch the following I saw at The Intel Hub (the entire piece is good):

Listen to those mindless assholes.

“Better safe than sorry” the Brutha tells us. Then the next person interviewed tells us that we need to use our millions of eyes and ears to keep a vigilant watch out (as IF people don’t, already).

Let me tell you something, I trust very few people already, not because of terrorism, but because people are already getting hungry where I am from. Crime is skyrocketing around here. Break-ins, shoplifting, home invasions on elderly, murder…

People are already losing it, but it has NOTHING to do with any terrorism, it has EVERYTHING to do with survival in a country where decent jobs have disappeared and the ones left don’t pay enough even for the basics. I know several people personally that are facing charges as I write this. These are good people at their heart, but have become desperate enough to do anything because they can’t get a job or have been screwed over by the Law.

But beyond this, listen to the security apparatus’ new digs being setup at malls, train stations, and other “soft” targets. In other words, EVERYWHERE else that people mingle.

Please watch each other. Be suspicious of everyone as a terrorist.

BE LIKE ISRAEL: with a search of every person at every “soft” target area in their country. God, doesn’t that make you wonder just how much of a real outside terrorist problem they have? Does it make you consider that maybe there are many mini false flag events that happened there, which is now expanding here? Hell, it’s all the same people running the show, or their paid and manipulated puppets that run things here (think Chertoff, as a single example).

I just gotta say that being like Israel is NOT what is best for me or my country. However, I cannot deny that it is happening right before our eyes.

Isn’t it amazing how much intel we have gleamed from the documents, pc’s, thumb drives, etc found at OBL’s $1M Estate, er, $250K house? Is it just me, but how much more intel could have been gotten from OBL himself, seeing how now that he could have easily been taken since the lies have been demolished about his armed confrontation and using his wife as a human shield. Do you think that a kidney failed, diabetes infested towel head could have kept from spilling ALL the beans by their favorite torture device, the Water Board?

More insane is the fact that Obama claims that releasing any photos could cause reprisals, yet EVERYTHING insists that we are going to get reprisals without releasing them. But does that stop them from releasing OTHER gruesome photos from that “firefight”? Or did it stop the Saddam Hussein or his sons images from being splattered everywhere?

Seriously, on the face of this, it is evident that all of this is a lie. But even if it isn’t, why do things the way they were done? Check BrassCheckTV for their hypothesis.

I, on the other hand, believe there are a variety of motives behind this. It’s like a massive attempt to go for all the marbles, as it were. Read SteveLendmanBlog post on the subject and catch this:

Issues and Answers

After years of using bin Laden simultaneously as a CIA asset and “Enemy Number One,” why the shift now? Aside from eliminating the alleged top terror threat, major events like this are always strategically timed for political reasons.

At least several stand out now, including:

(1) Boosting Obama’s sagging image. It worked according to a New York Times poll showing an approval bump from 46% in April to an early May 57%, even though the euphoria will soon fade in hard times.

(2) Diverting attention from eroding domestic needs, notably growing angst over a deepening Main Street depression.

(3) Hyping fear for intensified, not less, imperial war, and perhaps preparing the ground for a major false flag attack to advance America’s grand scheme for unchallengeable global dominance.

I pointed out many of the same issues on FB and elsewhere, including the fact that the media whores have stopped talking about Fukushima, where they are nowhere near fixing the spewing radiation that is now found here and elsewhere in the world. Notice how we barely hear that Feds Abandon Extra Radiation Monitoring of Milk, Water. We also have forgotten about Libya, in many ways, especially the fact that our magnificent bombing raids have killed many innocent children and that we are now in cahoots with the very same Al Qaeda in that endeavor (shit, didn’t we just hear that they were our enemy????).

This whole thing is comical in its attempt to form a narrative and when facts are shown to be lies (like the fact that the staged photo-op with Hillary and the boys aghast watching the killings happen live actually could not be true since they lost the video feed for over 20 minutes as it was happening). I told a friend on Facebook that the picture of Clinton looking so freaked out might have just as easily been them watching a bunch of dead babies, except for the fact that I doubt that even THAT would illicit such an image and response from that evil bitch.

Have we simply hired a bunch of actors who play parts on behalf of the Zionists? Just look at how the narrative was setup by Obama not allowing pictures taken of his announcement, then going to set up a photo-op right afterwards so the pictures of his concern could be printed.

Let me ask you a couple of things about this farce and how it makes little sense, even from the players in the play. How can POTUS Obama and Sec Clinton come out and tell us that “justice has been served”, that “the world is a safer place”, and that the “world is better off”, but at the same time that we need to “redouble our efforts”. Redouble? As in spending another $TRILLION on bogus Imperialism of the Middle East? It will never end and the contradictions seemingly escape the mass of Americans.

Look. It is evident that Obama is the lead role in this production, but he didn’t write it, nor direct any of it. This comes from elsewhere up the production food chain. It’s all a production to scare the shit out of you. And the other long-dead actor was paid, not only by our CIA early on, but by British Intelligence AND Mossad.

I saw this at the aangirfan blog (and subsequently watched the rest of the interview at DProgram). If you don’t have time for the entire interview, at least watch this one:

(I would suggest that this man hide, for I see an untimely death for him if they get their hands on him.)

Here is what we need to remember: these people are not incompetent. Of course there are some that are stupid as rocks, but by and large there are very bright people doing this. But it is very difficult to construct such a production when the main actor has been dead for a very long time. Yet the majority of American people are too brainwashed, scared and full of American Exceptionalism to understand that we are watching a play/movie unfold before our eyes.

But what could possibly be their rationale for this production? Especially if he was unarmed.

No, it’s a lie to do something else. And there are surely several goals to be attained due to the lie.

You think its simply to raise Obama’s poll numbers? In the scheme of things, those who control this all don’t give a shit about that (even tho Obama might). There is more to it.

How about the latest news from those thumb drives that tell us of the plot of Al Qaeda to attack rail lines in the USA? Think that might be an excuse to implement scanners and dick touching at railway terminals and other “soft” targets? Isn’t that amazing? Or maybe the fact that the Dollar is crashing and several countries like China, Japan and S Korea are now considering dumping the use of the US Dollar? Or that the Eurozone is quickly falling apart and that Greece wants out?

Or simply think about this post here that I shared a couple of days ago that is getting so much attention lately. Think that any of this, not to mention that almost every source has since shut down any viewing or tracking of Elenin, might be keeping truly IMPORTANT things from being understood?

What else do you think are the motives, besides Obama’s lagging poll numbers that really doesn’t mean shit?

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Jobs (What Was and What Isn’t)

I keep hearing that things are better. There is supposedly an uptick in the number of jobs (strangely, I can’t seem to find them, unless you mean the used car sales position or the short order cook or the attendant at the nursing home…). I am not saying that any of these positions are unworthy of me or are only for the “lesser than I”. For I have cleaned many a toilet and floor, I have stocked shelves, shoveled shit, worked the swamp (fry cook at Sonic), DJ, forklift operator, fence builder, roofer, potato peeler, dish washer, sewing machine operator (should I go on)?

I worked all thru high school (three jobs, actually). I paid for everything, even the gas I used to take all the younger siblings to school. I have known responsibility (and thwarted it as often as possible early on) my entire life. I KNOW what money is and its value in our society.

I have explained several times here before how I “played their game”… believed them (at first) when they said that NAFTA would bring even better jobs to the US at the loss of repetitive manual labor types. I figured the net outcome would be improvement and people would have to “pull up their boot straps” (as I did) to improve their lives and “become” someone. After a while, tho, I had this nagging that even those good jobs would be gone just as a little pipsqueak from Texas told us so.

Don’t get me wrong, there were several things that I disagreed with Perot on, but a certain form of protectionism (keeping business and manufacturing jobs here) is required. You can get there a variety of ways, but MAKING stuff HERE is essential for America’s survival (and I believe that they know this, which means they are intentionally bringing us to our knees).

Image via Wikipedia

It’s no secret (except to the normal American public) that they (the Globalists that have hijacked America) don’t want manufacturing jobs here. Obama’s main economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, said it outright in his farewell address to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC:

“”We are moving towards a knowledge and service economy.”

…

“You don’t succeed by producing exactly the same thing that other people are producing in the same way just at a lower cost.”

In a recent Manufacturing and Technology News article called, “Obama’s Top Economist Discloses Why The Administration Refused To Support U.S. Manufacturing“, the real philosophy is illuminated (albeit a sham and outright lie):

“There is no going back to the past. Technology is accelerating productivity in mass production to the point where even China has seen manufacturing employment decline by more than ten million jobs over the most recent decade for which data is available.”

The fact is that China is, too, losing jobs (and the article linked explains how it is so). Nevertheless, our caretaker Government has the solution for us… take a lesser paying “service-sector” job:

“The flatness of the world notwithstanding, by far the largest part of the activities Americans engage in and the goods they buy remain quite local,” he said. “It is health care and retail services, recreation and education, haircuts and insurance policies, hotels and houses, and I could go on.”

Thank you, you silver spoon-tongue lined, Zionist bastard who has never been correct about economic principles before (the following “quotables” come from the above Manufacturing and Technology News link):

Quotable:“I am not one who sees financial collapse on the imminent horizon.”
– Lawrence Summers, December 13, 2010.

“This financial crisis [in 2008] is unlike anything, frankly, I ever expected to see.”
– Lawrence Summers, December 2008, before the National Academies of Sciences’ Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed Larry Summers, head of the Obama Administration’s Council of Economic Advisors, on February 9, 2009. He was asked how the $787-billion Stimulus Bill would impact employment. Here is Summers’s answer:

Summers: “You’ll see the effects begin almost immediately. Layoffs that otherwise would have happened in cities in towns to cops and teachers won’t happen. You’ll see withholding schedules adjusted so that people have more money in their paychecks. You’ll see orders go out to new roads, new bridges, new computers for hospitals. You’ll start to see better maintenance of schools. So things will happen very, very quickly. The effect will build. The effect will build over time. And Wolf, this is one thing people do have to recognize — the president inherited a very, very difficult situation, a $1-trillion deficit, an economy that, frankly, was in freefall. And so while there will be clear impacts of this package that one will see almost immediately, we’ve inherited an economy that was programmed for substantial decline before the president got here.”
Blitzer: “So if the president gets what he wants and it looks like he will, at least right now, when do you see economic growth returning as opposed to economic loss? And when do you see job increases per month as opposed to huge job losses in January, almost 600,000 jobs were lost? In other words, when — what month of this year would you tell us things are going to start to turn around?”
Summers: “There’s one thing I’m certain of — that day will come much sooner with the president’s program than it will come without the president’s program. But I’m not going to hold out for you the prospect that it is imminent. Perhaps it will be towards the end of the year. Perhaps it will be early next year. Perhaps, if confidence takes hold quickly, it will be somewhat sooner.”

Liar. I see you are now leaving the administration since your damage is done. Is there a castle in Israel awaiting? And, Dude, don’t think for a second that the incoming replacement is any better. Stephen Lendman shows us the inside truth about these scalawags:

Like his Geithner/Summers/Emanuel-led team, they’re, in fact, hard-line pro-Wall Street, pro-business, anti-regulation, anti-populist conservatives, appointed to shift further right, embracing core neocon/Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) tenets.

They’re pro-business, pro-working class austerity, anti-populist, anti-civil/human rights, anti-rule of law, anti-government of, by and for people, anti-labor, anti-welfare, militaristic, repressive, and pro-imperial for unchallengeable global dominance.

They’re hardline against Blacks, Hispanics, Latino immigrants, Muslims, workers, the poor, consumer protection, progressivism, environmental protection, peace and its supporters, prosecuting corporate and government criminals, honest elections, and democratic governance.

…

William M. Daley heads it as Obama’s White House chief of staff. A top JPMorgan Chase executive, New York Times writer Eric Lipton headlined on January 6, “Business Background Defines Chief of Staff,” saying:

A longtime corporate/government insider, he was paid “$5 million a year” to supervise “Washington lobbying efforts of the nation’s second-largest bank. He also serves on the board of directors at Boeing, Abbott Laboratories,” and Merck & Co.

He a player, a key cog in Wall Street dominated America, recycled to another top White House position, his most important so far as coordinator of Obama’s domestic team besides influencing his entire agenda.

…

Gene B. Sperling will replace Larry Summers as Director of the National Economic Council (NEC), a job he held in the Clinton administration where he and Summers were principle negotiators for passing the 1999 Financial Modernization Act (also called Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act), repealing Glass-Steagal (the Banking Act of 1933) that prevented banks, securities firms and insurance companies from merging.

Together with Trade Representative Charlene Barshefesky, he also successfully negotiated the 1999 China-WTO agreement, admitting Beijing in 2001. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), it cost 2.4 million US jobs, a figure that keeps rising.

In 2008, Goldman Sachs paid him nearly $1 million for consulting services. He’s also an advisor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Sperling is known for his neoliberal, pro-business agenda, and played a key role in arranging Obama’s December tax cut deal with Republicans, a measure shifting more massive wealth to America’s aristocracy already with too much.

The rest suck, too. Read the article, you Obama Maniacs without clue.

And its not just that they want more profits by using slave labor, they make it extremely difficult and costly for manufacturers to build new plants here.

So, there are some factories still working, but they are slowly dying and moving away. They can’t compete. Chris Hedges explains in “2011: A Brave New Dystopia“:

Our manufacturing base has been dismantled. Speculators and swindlers have looted the U.S. Treasury and stolen billions from small shareholders who had set aside money for retirement or college. Civil liberties, including habeas corpus and protection from warrantless wiretapping, have been taken away. Basic services, including public education and health care, have been handed over to the corporations to exploit for profit. The few who raise voices of dissent, who refuse to engage in the corporate happy talk, are derided by the corporate establishment as freaks.

Well call me a freak, then. Wouldn’t be the first one.

And what does this mean for me (or you)? It means that I, a guy who has “pulled his boot straps” up COUNTLESS times and thought he found the answer by going back to college at 26, working hard (making the President’s List… 4.0… almost every semester, the Dean’s List… 3.9 the only other semester) to obtain THREE degrees, one specifically sought due to its expected long-term, high technology field (robotics and Automated Manufacturing Technology), worked for decades to build my engineering and sales skills, become successful, own the big home and fine cars and do anything and everything I so desired…

… just to have it all sucked away for some world order scheme.

It means that others who did less or accomplished less have even LESS of a chance to do more than “get by”. It means that me and my family are being forced into poverty and those who have/had less are going to hurt even worse.

What I am saying is that it doesn’t matter how much you plan, how hard you work, if you are in or out of debt, if you go to college or not… what matters is “are you Big Money”? Are you one that will sell your soul for gain, knowing that you will profit while others will suffer?

Or are you one of the “middle class”, now bordering the poverty line?

Stephen Lendman lays it out (and it is going to get even worse):

Working Americans, especially middle class ones, are being downsized toward extinction through loss of high pay/good benefit jobs, labor rights, political empowerment, standard of living gains, personal freedoms, and retirement futures.

Replacing private pensions with 401(ks), IRAs and similar schemes failed. Public pensions now face a similar fate, states wanting liability shifted from them to workers, leaving them vulnerable on their own. It’s consistent with destructive neoliberal “reforms,” wanting all public benefits eroded and eliminated. The scheme is venal and underhanded – to create a ruler – serf society, America reduced to third world status super-wealth and growing poverty extremes. Bipartisan political support endorses it.

If you are new here and reading this (and not one of the choir) it may seem hard to believe that our own government officials would do such a thing. But willingly or not, they are. Accept it and start saying something to your friends and family.

And don’t let the government officials who always get it wrong, suggest that things are getting better. They are not. These lying liars will be “Spinning Unemployment in a Collapsing Empire” just to keep you misled and hopeful as it falls apart even further… just buying time. Dr Paul Craig Roberts lays out the misdirection by word usage:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the economy gained only 103,000 new jobs in December—not enough to keep up with population growth—but the rate of unemployment (U.3) fell from 9.8% to 9.4%. If you are confused by the report, you are among the many.

In truth, what fell was not the number of unemployed people but the number of unemployed people who are actively looking for work. Those who have become discouraged and have ceased looking for work are not considered to be in the work force and are not counted as unemployed in the U.3 measure. The unemployment rate fell because discouraged workers increased, not because employment rose.

The BLS counts short-term discouraged workers (less than one year) in its U.6 measure of unemployment. That unemployment rate is 16.7%.  When statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) adds the long-term discouraged, the US unemployment rate as of December 2010 was 22.4%.

The question to ask yourself is: why does the media focus on the unemployment measure that does not count any discouraged workers?  The answer is that the U.3 measurement only counts 42% of the unemployed and makes the situation appear to be a lot better than it is.

Where are the 103,000 new jobs?  As I have reported for years, the jobs are in non-tradable domestic services: waitresses and bar tenders, health care and social assistance (primarily ambulatory health care services), and retail and wholesale trade.

Today the United States has only 11,670,000 manufacturing jobs, less than 9% of total jobs. Yet, despite America’s heavy dependence on foreign manufactures and foreign creditors, the idiots in Washington think that they are a superpower standing astride the world like a colossus.

What? The government lies to us? Tell me its not so. Tell me that they don’t manipulate the numbers to FORM your reality in the way THEY want it formed. Then, remember that last line, where Dr Roberts points out that we have less than 9% of our jobs in manufacturing, leaving us vulnerable to the obvious dollar fall that is coming. If we don’t make shit, we won’t be able to buy it from the foreigners, leaving many of us dead (or wanting to be).

There are solutions, of course, but none that will make the profits soar for the scoundrels in Government or their Big Money coffers. I mean, seriously, they are RAISING the military budget, while discussing taking away many social benefits. And they won’t stop until they have taken every thing they can take and control. That is what Empires do to sustain, when they cannot sustain any further from taxing their citizens. The truth is that the Empire is over financially, but they are still holding on. But holding on for what? Washington’s Blog has a link to Raw Story’s interview with David Stockman. The answer is revealing:

We are now at a historical inflection point at which the time has arrived for a classic post-war demobilization of the entire military establishment,” David Stockman said in an exclusive interview.

“The Cold War is long over,” he continued. “The wars of occupation are almost over and were complete failures — Afghanistan and Iraq. The American empire is done. There are no real seriously armed enemies left in the world that can possibly justify an $800 billion national defense and security establishment, including Homeland Security.”

Short of that, he suggested, the United States has “reached the point of no return” with its artificial creation of wealth, and will eventually face a sharp economic decline.

***

This is a profound disappointment that there’s not even a debate — a serious debate about dramatic change in our imperialist foreign policy and war-making establishment in this administration — allegedly the most left-wing administration that we’ve had in modern time.”

“I don’t have much hope that what needs to be done will be done until it’s finally forced on us by a world bond market crisis, which will happen sooner or later,” Stockman added.

Not very assuring, is it? Going to take a bond market crash to stop funding the Empire, yet the Federal Reserve is printing money to buy these bonds with, and doing so. And YOU and I are paying for it. Hooray?

And guess what, at the very same time that the Empire gets its financial backing from us, via untold profits via the Goldman Sachs middle man, wages for you and I are falling at rates greater than ANY time in several decades. There are a few stories in that Wall Street Journal link, but let me focus on my story.

After school, I obtained a field service engineering job for a very high technology Japanese company (making equipment to place electronic components on PC Boards). This was coming in as Textiles were going out, but early on the writing was on the wall for that particular manufacturing sector, as well. The Asians were competing for the business almost immediately and then NAFTA started taking affect, sending many companies south of the border (I spent far too much time in the arm pit of the world, Juarez).

Needless to say, eventually, that business did go elsewhere and it is virtually dead in America. I was forced to change job types at 34 and became a Systems Engineer and Engineering Manager at a company in Mississippi that made office furniture (focusing on robotic arms and automation systems). It was strange, in retrospect, because this plant was originally built because wages were cheaper than the headquarters in Wisconsin. Early on, competing companies were moving off shore and competing with us until we lost the Staples and Office Depot orders to them (over cost) and I could see that I would not have a job within a few years (the plants in Mississippi have subsequently shut down or downsized to virtually nothing) and decided to “pull up my boot straps” and make another change in my career and thought, “Well, if I just worked for an automation systems provider, then I wouldn’t be forced into a particular type of industry, and I could be “light on my feet”.

I have been catering in that fashion ever since, even starting my own factory automation component sales company, selling to manufacturers and those who supply systems to the manufacturers. I was getting it from both sides, at some points “double dipping”, as it were, (getting a sale to the end-user and the integrator).

Light on my feet worked for a while, that is until the economy tanked and the remnants of manufacturing STOPPED buying anything, much less more automation. Coupled with medical costs that a small business owner can’t afford UNLESS times are good, I was forced into bankruptcy.

I landed on my feet, because an old customer was purchased by a Big Corporation and they wanted to expand the automation integration business and convinced me to shut my business down and work for them at $50,000/year + commissions, insurance, car allownace and all travel and entertainment expenses. This lasted a year and kept me out of any further debt.

But that business was poorly run and even with over a million dollars of work I brought in to them, they fired all sales people and project managers at one time. They are barely hanging on as I write this.

I write all of this to show a progression. I started at $42,000/year with EXCELLENT benefits, worked my way up to over $100,00/year and have seen it decline to nothing (and the only real interview I have had is for a major beverage company sales position that will MAX at $39,000/year, if you are lucky). I have seen several used car sales jobs. A job selling cellphones. A short order cook. A job in Lowes.

But nothing in my area of expertise and NOTHING that will pay what I once made or even made last year.

See what I mean? They are FORCING us out of middle class to pay for their folly of corporate benevolence, Empire building and thievery in banking.

I don’t know about you (and many people I know and care about have been living in poverty for a long time, so this is nothing new to them), but this pisses me off. I have dreamed, planned, worked, evolved, modified and lived trying to better my life and my family’s life, ONLY to have it all jerked out from under me and those that profit are doing even better than ever.

You better get pissed, yourself. Before it is too late.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

The Lying Through Your Breath-Stroke

Did you actually believe the man would swim in the Gulf or let his daughters do so?

Look, I knew from the get-go that he would never swim in that shit. Any sane person would stay out (and believe me that it makes me sick to see many of my friends ignore more warnings and make their way down to Florida to swim in and eat that tainted mess). There isn’t a chance in hell that I would even breathe the air down there, much less stick a toe in the water (and an impossibility of me allowing my daughter to get near that poisonous soup).

I warned my sister. She ignored it and went anyway to find:

The main public beaches in Pensacola were being attacked late at night/early morning by countless white vans cleaning up. However, just a couple of miles away, in Ft Pickens, there was NOTHING being cleaned up. This is a pay area that isn’t frequented as much as the public beaches.

Not only did she find tar balls, she freaked over the “tar sheets” as she called them. Harder than jello, but a similar consistency. And sheets the size of something you would put on your bed.

She said it was a cover-up at night and a show during the day. She said it reminded her of the movie “Jaws”… people everywhere having fun in the sun, all-the-while there is danger lurking in the water. She came back a changed person. She, after all these years of me telling her it is so, now sees this government as the criminal enterprise it is.

Everything going on down there right now is a huge cover-up. There are terrifically unbelievable lies being told to the mass of Americans and for some reason, most are believing it. Most will eat that Gulf shrimp in their next Chinese meal and tell us how good it tastes. Not understanding that the government is using a “sniff test” as its means of checking that stuff out for you. As safe as you KNOW you are and understanding that you are “in good hands” of the loving, care-taking government, maybe a sniff test is all you require. I’ll leave that decision up to you, but at this house, we won’t be consuming any Gulf seafood any time soon.

It boils down to this: Why would I ignore the warnings of the people who provide this stuff and believe a man who would not even swim in the shit that he is telling the rest of us is ok?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that of all the samples of seafood that have been tested since the oil spill, none have shown evidence of contamination.While some in the coastal seafood industry agree with these assessments, a majority seem to view the news with a sense of betrayal.

“The cleanup isn’t even close to being done,” said Karen Hopkins of Dean Blanchard Seafood, which accounts for about 11 percent of the U.S. shrimp supply, on the barrier island of Grand Isle.

“The last thing I want to do is scare anyone away from the seafood down here,” said Dawn Nunez, standing at the counter of the shrimp wholesale business and deli she owns in the tiny fishing town of Hopedale. “But if I’m not eating it or feeding it to my children, I can’t advise anyone else to eat it either.”

h/t Washington’s Blog

Let me see… the very people who make their living off of providing this stuff to America won’t let his own children eat it. But you want to slurp up as much of it as you can on a liar’s word? You just eat that shit and over time, you will see the results.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that a group of fishermen and conservationists are protesting the publicity push. Tracy Kuhns, of Louisiana Bayoukeeper, a local conservation group, told The Times she “watches in disbelief as [Obama's] White House serves Gulf seafood to assure the public of its safety.”

“Come to my house,” added Kuhns. “And I won’t pretty it up before you show up. I won’t tell you, the seafood I pull out of [the water], that I feel comfortable feeding it to my grandbabies.”

According to The Times, “These fishermen see an alarming disconnect between the oil they continue to encounter on the water and the assurances they receive from state and federal officials that their nets and lines can go back in the Gulf.”

There’s also a lot of skepticism about the so-called “sniff test” that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials use to determine seafood safety.

“How can they be doing a smell test to check for toxins in such a minute amount?” asked Chris Bryant, a 15-year commercial fishing veteran from Bayou La Batre, AL in the article.

“There is obviously a reason [dispersants] are considered toxic,” adds Bryant. “Maybe in a minute amount they won’t affect us in the short term, but if you continue to ingest them in a period of time, what are going to be the long-term effects? That’s something all the commercial fishermen are concerned about.”

“Fishermen would rather work cleaning the severely damaged Gulf than selling tainted seafood,” said Kuhns in a recent release.

h/t Food Safety News

Even NOAA admits that they don’t even test for the dispersants:

Are you getting the picture here? Do you understand that they are conducting “sniff tests” to see if they smell any contaminants and that they are NOT doing any scientific testing to see if that substance that is banned in much of the rest of the world is in the food we eat?

But the TV would lead you to believe that they are vigorously and thoroughly testing the food.

George sums it up like this:

The bottom line is that some Gulf seafood is probably safe and other Gulf seafood is probably not very safe, depending on where it swam in relation to the oil plumes and a host of other factors. But since the government is being close-lipped about the details of its test results – and isn’t even testing for dispersants – it is hard to know whether a particular piece of seafood is safe or not.

If it is hard (or impossible, given the “tests” used), then why in hell would you take the chance?

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

SOME Ongoing Disasters!

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/16/the_world_s_worst_ongoing_disasters

SOME of The Globes Worst “ONGOING” Ecological Disasters

NIGERIA

Disaster: Oil spills
Going since: Around 1966

Damage done: The Deepwater Horizon incident may have been the worst oil spill in U.S. history, but it pales in comparison to the ongoing catastrophe that has afflicted Nigeria’s Niger River Delta over the last five decades. As many as 546 million gallons of oil are believed to have spilled since oil exploration began in this region — the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez spill every year. There are around 2,000 official spill sites in the region, some of them decades old.
Oil companies operating in the region blame thieves and sabotage for the majority of the spills, though local activists say aging equipment and lax safety are the cause of many of them. The number of severity of the spills may actually increase in coming years as the industry moves into more remote and difficult terrain in the delta.
It’s not just the spilled oil that can be dangerous. Pipeline explosions, like in the one that killed more than 100 people outside Lagos in 2008, are increasingly frequent as well.

CHINA

Disaster: Coal fires
Going since: 1962

Damage done: China’s recent industrial growth depends heavily on coal — the source of 70 percent of the country’s energy — a major reason why it recently became the world’s largest carbon emitter. The country’s mining sector is also extremely dangerous, killing as many as 13 miners every day. But nowhere is the danger of China’s out-of-control coal addiction more evident than in the 62 raging underground coal fires that have burned in Inner Mongolia since the early 1960s.
Covering an area more than 3,000 miles long, China’s northern coal fires are estimated to destroy as many as 20 million tons of coal per year, more than the entire annual production of Germany. According to some estimates, these fires could be the cause of up to 2 to 3 percent of the world’s carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels. A new initiative by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region aims to put half the fires out by 2012.
Inner Mongolia’s coal fires may be the most severe, but they are hardly unique. An underground fire in Centralia, Pa., begun the same year as many of China’s, is also still burning.
[remember they are battling an enormous oil spill in the China Sea currently]

HAITI

Disaster: Deforestation
Going since: 1492

Damage done: Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island, as well as similar geographic and climate conditions. So why do severe storms and hurricanes — not to mention earthquakes — only cause horrific human tragedy on the Haitian side? One large reason is the almost complete destruction of Haiti’s trees.
When explorer Christopher Columbus first landed in what was then dubbed Hispañola, around three-fourths of it was covered in trees. Today, 98 percent of its forests are gone — one of the worst cases of deforestation in human history.
The main culprit is charcoal, by far the country’s most popular fuel source, which consumes up to 30 million trees per year. The Dominican Republic has banned cutting down trees for charcoal and subsidized propane as a substitute, and the contrast can be seen in satellite photographs of the border.
Without roots to hold the soil together, hurricanes and earthquakes are much more likely to case deadly landslides. The erosion of high-quality topsoil has also devastated Haiti’s agricultural sector, exacerbating its endemic poverty.
The list of challenges confronting Haiti following this year’s earthquake is long and daunting, but if the country is ever going to stand a fighting chance, what it needs more than anything else is more trees.

UZBEKISTAN/KAZAKHSTAN

Disaster: The shrinking of the Aral Sea
Going since: The 1960s

Damage done: Straddling the border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth-largest inland water body and home to at least 20 species of fish and a thriving coastal economy in the surrounding towns. In the early 1960s, the Soviet government built more than 45 dams and 20,000 miles of canals in an effort to create a cotton industry on the desert plains of Uzbekistan, depriving the sea of its main sources.
Over the next three decades, the sea shrank to two-fifths its original size, turning fishing villages into barren desert outposts. Thanks to the high salt content in the remaining water, all 20 fish species are now extinct. Drinking water supplies in the area are dangerously low and the ground contains dangerous pesticides from the cotton farms. When the wind sweeps across the now-dry sea bed, it spreads up to 75 million tons of toxic dust and salt across Central Asia every year.
Thankfully, dams constructed in the last decade on the Kazakh side seem to be leading to a partial recovery. The Northern Aral’s surface span has grown by 20 percent and fish and bird species are starting to return. The Southern Ara

PACIFIC OCEAN

Disaster: The Eastern Garbage Patch
Going since: Discovered in 1997

Damage done: Somewhere between California and Hawaii lies the world’s largest garbage dump — a massive soup of plastic and debris one-and-a-half times the size of the United States and 100 feet deep. The “patch” is the product of the North Pacific Gyre, a loop of currents that picks up trash from the West Coast of the United States and East Asia and funnels it into an endless loop in the North Pacific.
Within the patch, pieces of plastic outweigh zooplankton by a factor of 6 to 1, and are often mistaken by fish and birds for food. Chemicals from the plastic can also make their way into the food chain, including fish consumed by humans.
The patch is the most widely publicized example, but this is a global problem. According to the U.N. Environment Program the world’s oceans contain 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile. These plastics are responsible for the deaths of more than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year.

The world is going to be close to it’s breaking point very very soon!

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

I wanna hold your hand…

Lately, it seems I need a daily reminder that I am a very Blessed woman. A friend sent me this video– I had seen it before, but it is worth the lesson again, and again……

                                      http://www.wimp.com/watchingthis/

                                                …. yes; I am Blessed. AND so is he!!

The Sweetest Deal EVER made—

…. who made it and who was in on it????

Okay folks– just for the sheer sake of jumpstarting your nervous system today. Read this report. I promise you that in it you will discover one sentence that will make you pause your breath for a second– and then you will think “ How did I not already figure that was coming”. What a deal folks, what a deal!!!!!!!!!!!

European Stocks Climb for Sixth Day; BMW, BP Shares Advance
July 13, 2010, 12:14 PM EDT

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-13/european-stocks-climb-for-sixth-day-bmw-bp-shares-advance.html

July 13 (Bloomberg) — European stocks climbed for a sixth day to a three-week high as Alcoa Inc. began the U.S. earnings season with profit that beat estimates, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG raised its forecast and BP Plc gained.
BMW, the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, jumped the most in 15 months after saying higher volumes in 2010 will boost profit. BP increased 2.9 percent after installing a new cap on its leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico and as Abu Dhabi said it’s considering making an investment in the company.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 1.9 percent to 255.99, erasing this year’s losses. The measure has risen 8.2 percent over the past six days amid easing concern about the economic recovery and speculation that the selloff in equities since April has overshot the outlook for company profits. The gauge remains 5.9 percent below this year’s high.
Earnings “forecasts look too low and we expect a strong majority of companies to beat their numbers,” said Graham Bishop, the London-based head of pan-European equity strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. “We already know a great deal about the performance of the global economy through the second quarter. Consensus economic forecasts have actually been revised materially higher.”
Portugal’s PSI-20 Index was the second-weakest western European market today as Moody’s Investors Service cut the nation’s credit rating by two notches to A1 because of a growing debt burden and weak economic growth prospects. The gauge gained 0.1 percent, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 surged 2 percent. Germany’s DAX rallied 1.9 percent.
Greek Bond Sale
Greece’s ASE Index surged 2.6 percent as the nation sold 1.63 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of 26-week Treasury bills at a rate below the 5 percent charged by the European Union for its bailout package, easing concern the country faces punitive costs to borrow.
BMW rallied 8.3 percent to 42.13 euros, leading a gauge of auto stocks to the biggest gain among 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600. The luxury-car maker forecast 2010 sales volumes will rise by about 10 percent to more than 1.4 million units, with a full-year profit margin of more than 5 percent expected for the automobiles segment. Rival Daimler AG advanced 5.4 percent to 43.81 euros.
Automakers Advance
Peugeot SA climbed 5.3 percent to 24.37 euros and Volkswagen AG preferred shares gained 5.2 percent to 77 euros. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price estimate on the French carmaker by 3 percent to 34 euros and on the German automaker by 4 percent to 78 euros, saying increased demand and “attractive valuations” favor the industry, according to a report today.
BP advanced 2.9 percent to 410.35 pence, extending yesterday’s 9.4 percent jump. The oil company installed a new cap on its leaking Gulf of Mexico well and will start testing today whether this will stop the gusher while work continues on a permanent plug. Separately, the Financial Times reported that BP expects to be able to write off the oil-spill cleanup costs against taxes, without saying where it got its information.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the emirate is considering making an investment in BP.
‘Still Thinking’
“We are still thinking about it,” he said in an interview in Abu Dhabi today, when asked about potentially buying a stake in the London-based oil producer. “We are looking across the board. We have been partners with BP for years.”
Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer reported second- quarter profit that topped analysts’ projections as higher metal prices boosted sales. Earnings from continuing operations were 13 cents a share, exceeding the 11-cent average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Profits for S&P 500 companies are projected to have increased 34 percent in the second quarter and by the same amount in 2010, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Intel Corp., the biggest maker of semiconductors which reports quarterly earnings after the close of U.S. exchanges today, is among 23 companies in the index to announce results this week.
Burberry Group Plc surged 3.7 percent to 818.5 pence, the highest level since at least 2002. The U.K.’s largest luxury retailer posted a 27 percent gain in first-quarter sales, beating analysts’ estimates, led by growth in Asia and deliveries to wholesale customers.
Unilever, BAT
Unilever, the world’s second-largest maker of consumer products, gained 2.9 percent to 1,898 pence and British American Tobacco Plc advanced 2.6 percent to 2,277 pence as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. upgraded both companies to “buy” from “neutral.”
SEB AB surged 4.9 percent to 48.75 kronor after the second- largest bank in the Baltic countries returned to profit in the second quarter as loan losses in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania decreased.
DNO International ASA rallied 4.9 percent to 8.74 kroner, the highest close since April, after the Daily Telegraph reported that RAK Petroleum Pcl has made an offer to buy the remainder of the Norwegian oil producer. DNO Chief Executive Officer Helge Eide said he had “no comment and no information” on the report.
–Editors: Andrew Rummer, David Merritt.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

The 99er’s

WTF are people supposed to do?? Hell, I wish my Grandfather was here so I could get some insight as to how to navigate through times such as these!!! He was born in 1898. I did listen to him when he spoke about the Depression– but I sincerely would like to of heard the deep ‘how tos’. God Bless those fromback then– and God Bless us from today!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/12/AR2010071205144_2.html?wprss=rss_nation

THE 99er’s

By

Michael A. FletcherWashington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 TOMS RIVER, N.J. — Even before his unemployment checks ended, Dwight Michael Frazee’s days were filled with the pursuit of any idea that could earn him a buck. But few are working out, and now his nights are filled with dread.

In the coming weeks, the Senate is expected to resume its debate about whether to extend the emergency jobless benefits that were passed in response to the steep increase in unemployment caused by the recession. But people like Frazee, who have suffered the longest in the downturn, will not be part of that conversation. They are among the 1.4 million workers who have been unemployed for at least 99 weeks, according to the Labor Department, reaching the limit for the insurance. Their numbers have grown sixfold in the past three years.

The 99ers are glaring examples of the nation’s most serious bout of long-term joblessness since the Great Depression. Nearly 46 percent of the country’s 14.6 million unemployed people have been out of work for more than six months, and forecasters project that the situation will not improve anytime soon. Currently, the Labor Department says there are nearly five unemployed people for every job opening.

Frazee, 50, has applied for work at more places than he can remember since he lost his construction job two years ago. He has tried car dealerships, Kmart, Home Depot and the funky shops on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, near Toms River. He looked into becoming a commercial crabber, working in title insurance and as a bail bondsman. But no dice.

While searching for work, he lived on $585 a week in unemployment payments. But the checks were cut off in May when he reached 99 weeks. Now Frazee, who is married and has a 5-year-old daughter, is in a financial free fall with no safety net.

“My life has been total stress. I sleep maybe four hours a night, worrying about money,” he said. “I understood the president and Congress had to stabilize the banks, get Wall Street going. I figured something would be done for middle-class Americans, that they couldn’t abandon us. But I was wrong.”

Since the recession began in December 2007, lawmakers have passed several extensions that stretched the normal 26-week limit for unemployment benefits to as long as 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states. In the Washington area, only workers in the District, where unemployment is 10.4 percent — well above the 9.5 percent national rate — qualify for the longest-term unemployment benefits. Virginia and Maryland residents can receive benefits as long as 86 weeks, including 60 weeks of federally financed benefits. The Labor Department has no statistics on the number of workers in each jurisdiction who have exhausted their benefits.

With the federal extensions now up for renewal, Congress has shown decreasing enthusiasm for them amid increasing concern about the ballooning deficit.

On several occasions, Senate Republicans have said they would not vote for stimulus bills that included unemployment extensions, saying any new spending must be offset by cuts elsewhere. With the extensions expired at least temporarily, more than 2 million Americans have lost their unemployment benefits, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research organization. A report by the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that 21,700 Virginians, 12,300 Marylanders and 5,200 D.C. residents lost their benefits when the extensions ended.

Congress’s inaction has been accompanied by a growing sentiment among lawmakers that long-term unemployment benefits create a disincentive for the jobless to find work.

“Workers are less likely to look for work, or accept less-than-ideal jobs, as long as they are protected from the full consequences of being unemployed,” said Michael D. Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. “That is not to say that anyone is getting rich off unemployment, or that unemployed people are lazy. But it is simple human nature that people are a little less motivated as long as a check is coming in.”

That was disputed by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, who cited a recent study ordered by congressional Democrats. “These benefits do not inhibit job seekers from vigorously looking for or accepting work,” she said.

The growing backlash against unemployment insurance has left the 99ers with few political advocates. President Obama, buffeted by GOP criticism of his economic policies as unemployment rates hover at their highest levels in 28 years, has been struggling to win support for renewing the extended jobless benefits. Consequently, any help for the 99ers is off the table, at least for now — leaving them angry at their political leaders.

“President Obama talks a lot about making the victims of the gulf disaster whole, but what about the victims of this economic disaster?” Frazee said. “Nowadays, he seems mostly concerned with image. Now, he doesn’t want to be seen as a big spender. But people need help.”

A 34-year-old resident of Vienna, Va., named Brian, who withheld his last name because of his embarrassment about being out of work, worked in corporate finance for nine years before being laid off three years ago. He exhausted his unemployment benefits long ago and has been living off savings and credit. “Before this, I figured that if you can’t find a job in two years, you’re not looking,” he said. “But I keep looking and jobs just are not there. The economy is not recovering. It’s being propped up by government spending. But when that ends, I think this whole mess is not over with.”

Here in Toms River, Frazee has not earned a regular paycheck since working as a $75,000-a-year laborer during the construction of the Borgata hotel in Atlantic City. That was in July 2008, just as the economy was imploding — and just after he was returning to health after having a cancerous appendix removed.

Since then, he has not worked, save for a recent four-day stint cleaning up a construction site at a nearby state college. He has fallen behind on mortgage payments for his sunny townhouse, and he is staring at the prospect of foreclosure even after negotiating a loan modification with his lender, Wells Fargo.

Most of the time, Frazee said, he has been confident that things would work out, if only because they always have. He started as a construction worker after his father’s endorsement helped him land a spot in the Laborers’ International Union Local 415 shortly after he graduated from Toms River South High School in 1978.

When he wasn’t working construction, he had jobs on oil rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., and in the Gulf of Mexico. He also was a bounty hunter. “I’ve never been one to feel sorry for myself,” he said. “I’ve always worked.”

Until now. The longer he is out of a job, the more unemployable he feels. He suspects that potential employers are turned off by his age and by the fact that he has been out of work for so long. But he is moving near the top of the hiring list for his union. And in the meantime, he has been buying mail-order children’s quartz watches from China and selling them on consignment at local convenience stores. He clears close to $3 per watch.

“I’m a union construction worker, but I think I can be a hell of a salesman,” Frazee said. “A lot of the stores around here are owned by Indian Americans, and they like me. They’re taking my watches. Maybe India and China are going to help me out of this jam if my country won’t.”

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

They are ALL wrong!

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/07/exclusive-new-audio-mel-gibson-admits-hitting-oksana-threatens-kill-her-listen-it

The above is the full 8 minutes

Ya know– I hate ‘sound-bites’ and I sure am wise enough to know when I end up listening to something in pieces, that I do not nor will I ever have the entire history regarding anything that I just heard. Now– I do know the following–

1] This woman was in control of the call and dialoge

2] I do not believe he knew it was being taped

3] She said what she wanted said on the tape

4] If we taped anyone of us during a domestic tyrate it would not be pretty

5] He sounds like every Biker [sorry bikers] I ever knew

6] IF domestic violence did happen, he is wrong– flat out wrong

7] I am not a shrink, so there can be no diagnosis from me while I sit in my armcahir

8] I have used almost every word he used at one time in my life

9] I actually don’t think this tape is any of our business

10] Obviously he is out of control about something way past what we are aware of… in their life together

11]… He should never ever hit nor threated to put her [or anyone] under.

12] Can anyone one of us look back honestly in our own lives and say that we or someone we knew had never ever gotten into a heated screaming match? Would you want it recorded for all to hear out of contents??

AGAIN== Mel is wrong with his rage and violence…  I am just speaking to the ‘taping’.

The media is having a hayday with this…  Mel needs help, counceling…. something. And she needs to just do what she has to do in court, get to court and settle whatever she wants to settle– but ya know, somewhere in the nasty oh-so-wrong shit is a bid for money– and tons of it. I am not saying Mel didn’t do terrible stuff, he most likely sure as hell did– but I am just not excusing her or the media on this one either. The Radar Online folks stated that she personally did not give them the tapes. I am sure she sure as hell had a hand in it– she needed public outrage, or so she thinks. Screw this mess… I want to hear the well is capped and the clean-up is going well, and the troops are coming home [which will add to millions of more unemployed Americans because WHERE ARE OUR TROOPS GONNA WORK?? So there ya have it– this story is not a news worthy story!!! Jobs, Troops, Wars, Unemploymeny, healthcare, enviornment are true stories!!!

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

$16.00 Per Month…

I am lost and forgotten in this hell where countless Americans exist!! My Unemployment runs out very soon… and also while you read this, know that they only cleared me for $16.00 per month for Food Stamps! Now let me bitch about the new healthcare for Pre-Existing folks. What I feared the most about this bill came true! I knew they all talked about healthcare for everyone– no one turned away or denied. BUT what they never ever said was ’ affordable to the poor”. I contacted the state about the pre-existing Ins. Oh, I can get it– but the premium is 600 per month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Suck, things suck badly! WTF! People need jobs!!!!!!

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20100712/US.Jobless.Aid.Analysis/

WASHINGTON — Keeping unemployment benefits flowing for millions of workers whose jobs were eaten by the recession should have been a slam dunk in an election year.
But until this month, Senate Democrats have been unable to bring themselves to pass a simple bill that just does it. Instead they’ve demanded a series of unrelated and often controversial tax and spending add-ons that have enabled Republicans to mount successful filibusters.
Now that the legislation has been shorn of all the extras, the bill could win final passage soon. It can’t come soon enough for more than 2 million people whose checks have been cut off in a five-month impasse in which there’s plenty of blame to go around:
_ Democrats and their leaders made several decisions that in retrospect look like miscalculations, like pulling the rug out from under a bipartisan measure launched back in February and loading a subsequent bill with $24 billion for governors — guaranteeing that most Republicans would vote against it.
_ Republican moderates voted one way in March to help the bill pass but changed their minds just weeks later, having gotten religion from GOP leaders and tea partiers on the budget deficit.
Little remembered amid the ongoing partisanship and recrimination is that jobless benefits also got sideswiped by President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
To reduce the health care bill’s impact on the deficit, Democrats decided to close almost $30 billion in tax loopholes. Until the final health care push, those revenues had been designated to cover the cost of extending other popular family and business tax breaks as part of a broad bipartisan jobless benefits package.
Besides the jobless aid, the measure contained a payroll tax holiday for businesses, tax breaks for business, health insurance subsidies and help for doctors facing a cut in their Medicaid payments. It had support from across the political spectrum, from Obama to conservative Senate Republicans.
Some liberals, however, balked at the deal, which was cut principally by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and the committee’s senior Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. The liberals didn’t like that their “jobs agenda” seemed hijacked by business lobbyists, who won items like research and development tax credits and some arcane measures such as tax breaks for NASCAR tracks. With unemployment hovering just under 10 percent, they also thought it was too light on subsidies for preserving and creating jobs.
So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blew up the agreement, instead advancing a pared-back jobs bill excusing businesses from having to pay the employer share of Social Security taxes this year on any new workers they hire. Economists were dubious it would produce many jobs. Meanwhile, unemployment aid would wait for later legislation.
“We could have had this bill passed in three days and … Reid decided to scuttle it,” Grassley complained. “Baucus read about it in the paper.”
The delays meant that Congress had to pass a short-term extension of jobless benefits at the end of February. Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., worked out a deal for a quick vote to avoid an interruption in benefits.
But another Kentucky Republican, Sen. Jim Bunning, single-handedly held up the bill for days, demanding that government spending elsewhere be cut to pay for the jobless benefits rather than add to the federal debt. Bunning folded on March 2. But his fight resonated with tea partiers and millions of other voters worried about year after year of trillion-dollar deficits.
In the meantime, Reid resurrected the longer-term jobless aid package. He mixed in familiar elements like extending expired tax breaks and added a $24 billion package of aid to cash-starved state governments so they could avoid layoffs of tens of thousands of public employees — a key part of last year’s economic stimulus bill.
The result was a bill adding almost $100 billion to the deficit. That meant that GOP support would be limited. But it still passed in March with support from several Republicans, including key moderate Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and George Voinovich of Ohio.
That was the bill’s high point. The political sands soon began to shift.
Another short-term unemployment insurance extension — needed to buy time for negotiations on the bigger bill — came at the end of March. It would be the last. Beginning in June, hundreds of thousands of workers unemployed for more than six months started losing the weekly checks.
More Republicans picked up on Bunning’s position and demanded cuts in other programs, including Obama’s $862 billion stimulus bill passed a year earlier, to pay for the extension.
It was a message the party felt increasingly comfortable with after losing the health care fight, especially as the European debt crisis roiled the markets and the U.S. government’s debt topped $13 trillion. Republicans stressed that with the unemployment rate still near double digits, jobless benefits averaging $300 a week should be extended — but that they should be paid for.
“You never know in politics when that magic moment comes when things really begin to change, but I believe that it has occurred now,” GOP Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona told reporters March 26. “I think you’ll see a much greater commitment now to fiscal responsibility.”
The short-term jobless aid extension passed, but it took until late May for their House and Senate negotiators to agree on a longer-term jobless aid package featuring new business tax increases but still racking up $115 billion in new government debt over the next decade.
This time, conservative House Democrats recoiled. House leaders were forced to sharply pare the measure back, eliminating new aid for state governments as well as a longer-term fix for doctors threatened with a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments.
The House passed the bill on May 28, returning the measure to the Senate, where debate consumed the Senate’s entire June schedule. Democrats still wanted to help governors with their payrolls but ultimately acceded to cutting it by one-third and paying for it partly with cuts from last year’s stimulus bill. Even that measure failed just before Congress recessed for the July 4 holiday.
Reid is now resigned to a stand-alone six-month extension of unemployment benefits at a cost of $33 billion. Aides say he will try to pass it when West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin names a successor to fill the seat of Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who died two weeks ago. Those who lost benefits will get them retroactively.
Democrats also maintain hopes of passing a $16 billion aid package for governors aimed at preserving the jobs of tens of thousands of state workers through the election. They intend to pay for it in part by cutting food stamp benefits.

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