Weanie and The New Revolt

My brother called me the other day and told me about an old friend of ours, Weanie, who had just passed away. Her real name was Jeanie, but when her Daddy saw her for the first time after she was born, he looked down at the little red-headed girl and said, “She looks like a Weanie’”

It stuck. For the rest of her life she was called Weanie. All her family, friends, teachers, co-workers, everyone.

I was a good bit older than Weanie and really didn’t get to know her as well as my younger brothers, but the little we did hang out, I could tell she was genuine and cared. Cared about life, about her family about the situation our government has taken us (and the fact that we are letting them). She opened her home to people who didn’t have one. She cared and not everyone does what she did with as little as she had.

I didn’t know she had much of a political side, for truthfully, other than a very few people I know from my hometown, I am one of the few that seem to study this crap (Dr Doug, Ollie and a few others notwithstanding). Hopefully Ollie is here now checking us out (I asked her via Facebook and also asked that she keep this between us for right now). I do wish people would say something in comments, so Ollie, if you are reading and something strikes your fancy or if you disagree or can add additional information, please do so. You folks are important to me, because you are some of the few that seem to have eyes to see. I know we don’t always agree, but we are both open to learning from each other (I hope I have shown that I am). Of course, when I feel I am correct and have studied a subject matter and convinced myself I am on track, you better be prepared to debate, if you have another theory or idea. I don’t form these thoughts willy-nilly. I study and try to come up with a logical progression (but I am no writer, so it is sometimes difficult for me to get the point across for others to understand).

Back to Weanie. Apparently she was a big fan of The Revolt (did you notice I changed the name?). Only slightly, for I feel it was just a bit misleading. I know things now that I wasn’t so sure about when I first started this blog a few years ago… that it isn’t ONLY about revolting from a Red State, but that it is a revolt from the corptocracy; from this Fascist ideology that has swept this country. I finally shucked the brainwashing and see that it isn’t just red states and blue states. It is a Fascist State.

Weanie must have known this because she would read regularly and she would tell her husband, Jason, what I was writing about on some particular day and according to my brother, she would mostly agree and tell others about it.

Now don’t get me wrong. I know this place is no blog magnet, meaning very few people read here (yesterday, this blog received about 890 hits, so this blog is no killer of stats). Many are robotic links and I erase at least 25 porn spams that my spam filter finds daily. So who knows what the real count is.

But I have never been about trying to get numbers. Anyone who pays attention knows that I don’t like ads and I have never received a nickel here. Sure, I’d love to make some money, but I know that this is simply an opinion blog and I have not wanted to cloud the opinion by asking for money in any way (and I don’t intend to start now). The way I look at it, when someone starts paying me money, then I am beholden to them (as an example, when I was “teaching” a church group that called me an assistant pastor, which I abhor and would never have called myself that, I refused money offered to me). I never want to be a paid shill for an ideology. I simply want to see truth and help others see it, too.

I do want to be a source of information to a certain type of person, tho, so I find myself balancing anonymity and the desire to spread my thoughts to people who are interested. Many know who I am in real life (and it isn’t that difficult to find out). Until recently, I was very afraid to let people know about this place, for it rubs the general population the wrong way, due to the way politics brainwashes people. But if I am going to be true to what I feel and believe can help fix this great country, then it appears I will need to open up a bit more. To let people know who I am and why I do this. I once explained to Scott at American Everyman that I keep my anonymity because of threats I have received over the years. Literally, I have had people threaten to kill me over this blog and my opinion. But I have also held a career that was sometimes dependent upon the very people who I think are brainwashed and duped. This was always a double-edged sword and to be honest, I thought may times that it would cost me my job or career.

But now that I have lost it all (my business, bankruptcy, my new job and virtually everything except my family and friends, what else do I have to worry about?

Because many of the death threats had to do with the left/right paradigm and me revolting from a red state. Well, I am revolting from the entire corrupt fascist system. So the way I figure it, either I will double the threats or maybe minimize them when people realize I ain’t on the other “side”. I am on the side of truth and truth is not contained within the left vs right paradigm.

And, yes, I know I can be a prick. I know that when some jerk wad comes around and isn’t even slightly open to what I am sharing and they become a dickhead, I have the ability to become a bigger dickhead. This scares some people. It turns others off. But the one thing you will notice is that I will not sacrifice my values or opinion just to make someone happy, or much less to make them believe we think the same. Just ask my buddy Lynda, who shares here. She and I have had some disagreements and she knows I am can be an asshole, but she still hangs out. I assume she knows that I love her, no matter what my opinion is (and vice versa). And believe me, she has no problem telling me I am an asshole (even tho she does it with tact and love every time).

The same holds true for Doug. Of all the people who are regular, Doug knows me as well or better than anyone and I am willing to bet he will acknowledge what I write here about myself and about how he feels about me (Doug is really my best friend, if the truth be known). And I believe the same holds true for all you regulars that I appreciate immensely. I think that most of you know that I am sincere and mean well, even when I am being an asshole. I appreciate you very much, Lynda, Doug, kelso, Ed, Roschelle, 2Truthy, B waves, Just Me, Kenny, Greg, Scott, Jay, Suzan, Reverend Manny, Lisa, Tengrain, Joanaroo, Chicken Bill, GranAmVixen, Wilderside, (hopefully, Ollie), G (if you still read… I read every post of yours still) and the all the others who are regulars but change your screen name every time you comment. Forgive me if I missed someone, for I know I have.

What I am saying is that you are all important to me. I learn from you and this is my practice for the community work I believe with my whole heart I must begin to establish soon.

But I hope you ALL know that I am genuine. That I mean what I say and say what I mean.

Sometimes I wonder why others have a blog. Is it to gain friends? To become famous? To fulfill some writer’s dream? To make money? To run elbows with the famous or the interesting?

Maybe all that would be ok, but none of that is my reasoning and/or purpose.

If nothing else, this blog is a way for me to let off steam. A way for me to share these redneck thought patterns I have. I don’t always claim to be right and I never claim to be perfect. Many times, I ask for clarification and additional information that you might can share to color in the picture that I might see or might draw for you.

I wrote recently about community and how we might be able to take back this country. This is one very real, but almost ineffectual way to create community, but it is a place to start and learn. Of course, not all of you have sat down with me and looked me in my eyes as we speak, but I would be willing to bet a dollar to a donut that the ones who do know me, know without any doubt that I am serious and am truthful (maybe to a fault). For it is true that the truth can hurt. It breaks down barriers we put up to protect ourselves. It tears down the walls of lies that keep us penned up.

I honestly believe that as I begin to open up this blog a bit more, I have a small opportunity to make a difference to some people… and some of those I would have never expected (you might be surprised how cautious I am to share this place with people who actually know me personally).

I also know that where I am from, I can be considered overly offensive, simply from some of the language that I use. I generally use foul language when I get pissed and/or for effect, and since I stay pissed about the government and how things are done here in America, I use a lot of foul language. This offends some of you and for that I apologize and will try to work on that (I am not saying I will never cuss again, for at times, there is no better way to get a point across, imo).

Weanie apparently read here a lot and I wish I had known. I wish that people who care, whether or not you agree, would say something. Explain how you might think I am incorrect or give me a slap on the back when I hit the right button.

I know there are more of you out there and you are welcomed here.

But SAY SOMETHING!

Weanie, I will miss you (Susan and I have thought and spoken about you many times since the last time we saw you before moving). I am glad you aren’t suffering.

Jason, take care, my man. Weanie was a good one! (and so was your Dad, btw)

Flash Back

             http://www.planetpuna.com/Dolphin-Birth-Hawaii/index.htm

Dolphin Attended Birth
and
Dolphin Assisted Therapy
in Hawaii

Well– I do believe that back in the 60’s this idea had to come from a ‘head’ on the island….lol. And to be honest– back in the day I just might have done this. Don’t tell my daughter!!! lolololol  Naw, it sounds just ‘out there’ enough to be pretty cool!       

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

$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.

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

According to Uncle Sam’s Accountants…

                             http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/

These are the figures for U.S. Trade per Country….

Call me crazy– but first : I don’t believe ‘all’ the figures
and secondly I just keep thinking ‘ what exactly did we trade for that couldn’t of been produced here?”

And why the hell do we trade with our enemies???? To win their hearts and minds…?  How about winning your own citizens hearts and minds so they can get back to work, make a liveable wage, stay healthy… and pay into their own systems .

This is what BP is saying…

       http://www.bp.com/bodycopyarticle.do?categoryId=1&contentId=7052055

The above link is to their site….

Thought you all might be interested…

It’s Always July 4th!

video:        http://www.sermonspice.com/product/32960/i-fought-for-you

Remember— teach it— celebrate it.

Start with 1776…

There are no words….

Why?

That’s Why

Lisa let a little common sense slip out to her regular readers (I am one) that made me very proud. I wasn’t completely sure of her stance since she stopped polititting (she isn’t quite as verbose about her political thoughts as she used to be). She became “real”, which is why i still like her, her family and her blogging.

But, today she finally came out and said it. ENOUGH!

Enough of the bogus circular arguments. Enough of regurgitating the same old Party of No stance or the same old kowtowing “public option” stance. It is time to go full bore with Single Payer and show you ignorant naysayers that it will be one of the life and money saving ways to go. It is, by far, the most humane way (not that Americans are or understand what that means).

How it warmed my heart to read:

Last night, I posted on my Facebook about this because I am soooo tired of this “conversation.” It’s ridiculous. Health care is a human rights issue. I asked the question: If you weren’t in a position of having insurance right now – would you oppose reform? Because I honestly do believe that it’s easy to oppose change when you are comfortable. One of my commenters there linked to this article that demonstrates, that even when you are insured, you are not guaranteed coverage. The insurance companies hold all the cards.

Well, here’s the thing I say to those opposed:

We’ve heard your side and we’ve tried it your way. For years. The insurance companies get rich. People die waiting for health care. Or go broke. And bankrupt. Mine and Mathman’s first money troubles started as a result of a huge dental bill. I myself, can’t do anything that requires quick movements like running, throwing or jumping because when I do, I pee myself because carrying and birthing three babies wrecked me. Even with our insurance, I cannot afford the co-pay for the surgery to get my pee place fixed. Not life threatening, but damned inconvenient and annoying. I mean, what if I needed to run for my life? It’s bad enough that I run like a girl, but a girl with wet drawers? Come on now! You’ve heard me refer to the sneeze and squeeze, yes?

TMI? Well, this is a health care post. You’ll live.

There is no more need to debate this issue another second because the opposed will not be convinced. So let’s do this – let’s try something new and radical like universal, single-payer health care. If in three years, people hate it, then they can go back to the mess we have now.

My guess is that we’ll be happy enough with the new and radical, but we’re going to have to drag some Americans’ asses along. That’s how it always is, you know. I mean, just ask MathMan. Back in 1987, when he tried to get me to use his brand, spanking-new hotrod of a Tandy 1000 personal computer to write a paper for some college class, I looked him dead in the eye and uttered these words….”No thanks, I’ll stick with the typewriter.”

And, yes, Lisa is always that hilarious, even when she is making a monumental point. Check her out here.

Friends

Many of you have shared your thoughts with me about my situation (here and in emails). I cannot tell you how much it means to me (especially my buddy, Lynda).

I wanted to speak about friends for a sec. I have old classmates that I say are “friends”. I have people that I see at least weekly that I call “friends”. I have Principals (those I sell for) that are “friends” and visit here, in a few cases… don’t tell Rob I said hello. I have thousands of acquaintances and even customers that I call “friends”. But, that little word is like the word “love”. It carries all sorts of shades of differences and depth of meaning.

My 30th class reunion is this Saturday. I was initially instrumental in helping get the thing rolling and even came up with a blog for the class reunion. (PS: I am the gorgeous redhead with the freaky striped shirt on front… I know all you old women love red heads)

The class president and I have the same first name (which is Raymond, for those that don’t know). (Hi, nice to meet cha)

Anyway, “the other Raymond” has been calling and writing, trying to prod me into coming because A) I couldn’t afford it and B) I am an embarrassed mess. He, as a wonderful friend, offered to pay for everything for Susan and I ($40) and has been relentless in prodding me along.

Last reunion, I was pretty darn successful in my business and everything was exciting and happy. BuelahLady was the only prego woman there and we would have won the prize for youngest child, except for the fact that BuelahBaby was in the belly at the time. As far as I know, we have the youngest child in the group.

Just in the span of 9 months, I have basically had my business fall apart. Not from inactivity or less work hell, I have been working harder than ever), but due to this entire financial debacle that is attributable to our government and the banking class that robbed us blind. I am pissed about that and it shows in my writing and comments at other blogs.

Then, yesterday, another friend called (this guy and I were extremely close in high school… and I have plenty of stories to tell about that crazy fucker some day) and he wanted to do what we did last time, he and his wife come to my house to stay and us go to the reunion together. It occured to me in his words that it had been at least 3 years since I had spoken to him. One of my very best friends and it has been 3 freaking years?

He didn’t know anything… that we had to sell our house, that Susan and I both had back surgeries and/or that we were devastated financially.

He said, “Why didn’t you call me?”

For what? Hell, I am a 47 year old white male who was fairly affluent (at least for a redneck) and better off than most people I know personally.

He said, “Do you remember several years ago, you met me at Hardee’s, gave me a $100 bill, and never said a word about it afterwards?”

I admitted that I did not remember that. It was then that he said, “Raymond, you have friends that love and care for you very much. We know what you have done to open your house to people (I housed a family of 4 from Germany for over a year because they couldn’t afford to make it on their own… I have housed family members for months on end… I have given thousands of dollars to needy folks here or there.” Etc, etc, etc

He went through a list of things he remembered me doing for others that honestly I forgot. Or, more aptly, I never register those things to be remembered. What I mean is, I never give with expectations of anything. I have only lent money a couple of times and I don’t like that. If I have it, I’ll GIVE it. At least, that is the way it was when I had it to give.

Look, I am no Saint. I can be the meanest fucking Dickhead you ever came into contact with. There is no doubt. But, true to myself, I can be the lovingest and most supporting clod ever, too. You cannot find a better friend or meaner enemy. Yeah, I am a screwed up mess, for sure.

I never think to ask for help, because I have always been the “go-to” man. I have always been the helper, not the helpee. I am the guy that fixes everything… that can think his way through ANYTHING. But when it comes to asking for help, I don’t know how to do this, to be honest.

What I told Bubba (yeah, I am friends with a “Bubba”, imagine that) was that the help I really need is getting to know more contacts that I can sell to. I don’t want handouts. I don’t want freebies or the government to take care of me and my family. I want what is honest, right and noble.

But I also have some sage friends, like my Girlfriend, Lynda (and no, not THAT kind of girlfriend) who have actually experienced some of this (even Bubba has been through the Big B… bankruptcy). My buddy Lisa has shared advice with me that is so wonderfully sound. Kelso and Diane have been warm and receptive and most importantly, supportive (even though I can give Diane hell). My sister, who doesn’t have a pot to piss in, has offered to do anything she can to help (she waits tables for $2/hr + tips). Even my Mom offered to watch BuelahGirl and would have given me the $40 for the reunion.

I cannot begin to tell you all how much I appreciate you all. It brings tears to my eyes to know that I have emotional support from “friends”. Real friends.

But we must acknowledge something in all of this: I have come to the realization that what is happening to me is intentional (not me, solely,  as a target, but we are ALL the target). I am no right-wing fool like Limbaugh and Beck and O’Liely, but I do believe that our government is doing whatever it can to bring our economy down and kill the dollar. Why they are doing it, I have yet to ascertain, but I have my suspicions of world currency and the only way they will be able to get rid of all this toxic debt is through the failure of our dollar or all out war (maybe a combination).

I thought I could out think them, but medical issues screwed me. I thought I could bob and weave through the changes in the manufacturing base and still come out on top (yet they have been able to send the manufacturing to slave labor countries.

By God, this is ME we are talking about. I ALWAYS succeed (at least that WAS my mindset).

If I am correct about the intention of this fiasco, then it is high time all us “friends” get real and shut this mutherfucker down. It can be done and I have a plan. But we must do this together.

It will take “friends’ to make this happen.

B’Man’s Christmas Wishes: Gifts In The Mail

A Different Kind Of Little Bird

My buddy D-Cup at PoliTits has a great post called Little Bird up today (trying to determine the mathematical probability that two Jews would be shopping at the same Publix in rural Georgia looking for the same customary candles… her hubby, MathMan is the perfect solutions-provider for that**See Note).

The other part was sharing about gifts that she and her family received in the mail… which is the perfect entrée into sharing about the Christmas gifts that we have received in the mail this year (especially since a couple of them came from regular visitors to this blog).

So here’s the deal: I sell equipment for various companies and a couple send me a Christmas gift every year.

This is a regular gift from the same company the last three or four years and is probably the best peanut brittle I ever ate. I am torn, because they used to send a gift package that included different chocolate covered delights (pretzels that were divine) from a Sarris Candies in Pennsylvania (that link takes you to the old gift package and you see the new below… I’m just sayin’. Agreed, that is some good peanut brittle, but compared to the Sarris stuff… let’s just say that the economy is apparently hurting many of us).

LOL

Below are two gifts from the same company (Italian that has a sales office in the US). The first is a can of flat biscotti (which is truly excellent and, no, I don’t read Italian) and the second is a bottle of fine extra virgin olive oil blogged about here. Perhaps someone (like my friend, Kelso’s Nuts) may have some recipe suggestions. The most exquisite cooking oil I ever used was peanut oil to fry catfish in (and I make some of the best you will ever eat, as a matter of fact). So, any help is appreciated.

As you all know, I am a redneck and the people who sent the Italian stuff knows this.

So, I responded with an email that said:

Thanks for the gift package, but I think the wine is ruined. BuelahLady and I drank the whole thing last night (it tasted awful) and I have the runs real bad this morning. Oh yeah, I never did get a buzz.

On another note, the frisbees you sent break very easily, so we can’t use them as you intended.

But it’s the thought that counts…

** I’m jealous that I cannot get my better half to blog (either here or her own place)