Thursday, October 31, 2013

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT

Happy Halloween. As the holidays approach, this column may not be written some weekends due to family obligations, work or just getting away for a few days. This is one of those weekends. I will return on Monday. This was not a good week for anyone in government. Obama looked clueless to everything that has occurred since he took office, Congress was shocked, SHOCKED, that the card blanche freedom they gave the NSA was being used for whatever they felt like, and the Tea Party and Republicans entered into a full blown civil war over the future of the party. Let's see those runner ups.

1)The Supreme Court- Since being overridden with worthless judges from both sides of the aisle, the damage this group has done is coming to light. Now let's face facts, most of the more idiotic decisions have been made by the right wingers, but the left still championed some laws like eminent domain being used by corporations as okay, so both get some blame. The worst of the worst was the Citizen's United case which upended all elections and are now riddled with fraud and corruption due to the unlimited money they possess. And while they upheld the ACA, aka Obamacare, they did turn away the law that stated each state had to make their own exchanges. The result was in part why the system is so fucked up, but not the only reason for sure. As the court is going to be making huge decisions like lifting campaign limits on individuals, these black robed thugs may kill democracy once and for all. And we are allowing it.

2)CGI Federal- Much has been made over the fact the Michelle Obama's college roommate is on the board of this company. I didn't give it much weight at first, but the more I learn about this company, the more I wonder how in all of God's green Earth did this waste of a company get billions in no bid contracts? CGI Federal is also the conglomerate that is responsible for creating the system to pay victims of Hurricane Sandy for financial assistance. So far, a meager 1.5% of the allocated funds have reached who it was supposed to. It also attempted to build Canada's long gun registration system. However, they did such a piss poor job and went billions over, the whole project was scrapped. How come my resume is gone over with a fine tooth comb, but these assholes get a pass for every stupid thing they have done, which seems a little high at this point? No bid contract must end along with idiotic bidding rules that prevent qualified people from doing stuff that these jerks can't. CGI Federal is a waste of tax payer dollars and all contracts must be severed immediately, along with civil charges. Prove to me that corporations aren't running the show because all evidence points otherwise and if true, our government is bought and paid for. Jefferson told us what to do when that happens.

3)St. Louis Cardinals- Last night my beloved Red Sox won the World Series at Fenway for the first time since 1918. Who Hoo! The Cardinals lost AGAIN to the Sox, which has to be a bitter pill to swallow. Just ask Tom Brady how he feels about those two Super Bowl loses versus the Giants. Something tells me he would be less than happy. It didn't help that the Cardinals were trapped for seven hours at the airport due to mechanical problems. The devious part of me wonders if some enterprising Red Sox fan didn't decide to piss into the plane's engine, causing it to stall. Unlikely, but still kind of funny.

4)The NSA- I'd like to give a shout out to the faceless spy reading this blog right now and remind him what country he lives in. If the answer isn't China, North Korea or Russia, then he is in the wrong job. The NSA is spying on all of us which is probably the most worthless thing it can do. If you are looking for a needle in a haystack, the haystack can't be 100 miles high and 3000 miles long. Good luck finding the Empire State Building in all of that. And if all that money we don't have to spend is worthless, can we please just stop already. There is zero evidence that any terrorist attacks have been stopped because of this constant surveillance, which is still illegal according to the Constitution last I checked. And contrary to what  Senator Mike Rogers thinks, just because I don't know I am under surveillance is not a reason to do so, as, according to him, my privacy is not being invaded because I don't know about it. Tell you what. I am going to install cameras all over your house that you don't know about and see how you feel about it when I start uploading you in a dress to Youtube.

5)The Tea Party- These retards are still at it. Ted Cruz showed huge insensitivity in grilling Trayvon Martin's mother, even if what he said was technically correct. She was on the Hill trying to get Stand Your Ground laws repealed, even though Zimmerman didn't use that defense in his trial. I actually do not have a problem with Stand Your Ground laws because if someone is going to cause you harm, you have a right to defend yourself. True, you should always to run away first, but if that is not an option, killing is perfectly acceptable. But Ted Cruz went further that, almost berating the woman for having the audacity to come to Congress to fight for a cause she believes in. She deserved more respect than what this charlatan showed her and a few took umbrage at him for it. Good. The crying from these babies is still going on, screaming about entitlements, food stamps and other programs that are not the big problem. Lack of collection of taxes on corporations and uber-rich is. And regardless of what you have heard from the right, not only can these entities pay more, they are hiding a vast majority of their wealth as well. The Tea Party wants anarchy. Stop being a part of that.

6)Republicans- Much like the Tea Party, these blowhards are still trying to blame Obama for everything, some rightfully so, most not so much. The NSA debacle is a vestige left over from the Patriot Act, which Bush started and Obama has continued, so claiming ignorance of the problem is not going to fly here. And the more people within their own party look at the plan the GOP has for the future, the more people aren't buying it anymore. Food stamp cuts that begin tomorrow on top of another low raise for SS recipients has many asking why. They see that when places like Greece and Spain have tried austerity cuts, the results have been disastrous. The Republicans' plan is exactly the same. What part of IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK are they not getting. Some in the voting block are getting it and that spells horror for 2014 if they continue to back unpopular, unworkable decisions.

7)Obama and the Democrats- Obama has had a bad few weeks. This week he looked like an incompetent boob who had no idea what was going on in his administration. He claimed not to know anything about the NSA spying on our closest allies. He claimed to have no knowledge over how bad the Healthcare.gov website was going to run. What exactly is he doing with his time then because this is inexcusable? I hate plausible deniability and this is why. If you run the show, there are things you are expected to be aware of and responsible for. A Captain takes responsibility for things that happen on his command that he should rightfully be aware of. How come our politicians never are? And the fact that Diane Feinstein claimed ignorance over the whole NSA spying on everyone revelation (thank you Ed Snowden) was such a ruse as she voted to allow the NSA that kind of power in the first place. This is why people hate government. Nothing seems to work, no one is responsible and nothing ever gets fixed.

8)The entire government- This week was a sad spectacle for all sides of government as seen above. The fact that keep telling us facts that are not facts and the lying about the whole thing is getting tiresome. They say the inflation rate is 1.5%-2% which is laughably low. The actual rate may be as high as 11%. They saw the unemployment rate is 7.2% which is off by about twenty points in the real world. They tell us the median wage is around $51,000 when in reality it is closer to $26,000. All of this by doing what I call Hollywood Math, in which a blockbuster is shown to have actually lost money thereby screwing investors out of funds owed to them in the backend deals they have. The government is doing the same. They are keeping rates for unemployment down to make things look better than they are. They are keeping the inflation rate down so they don't have to pay SS recipients they money they owe to them. The government is stealing from us, just like the corporations which are no better. As long as we continue to take this up the ass, nothing will change. If we don't stand up soon and demand better, there won't be anything left. So congratulations government you are indeed douchebag of the week.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

TEA PARTY TANTRUMS THREATEN ANY CHANCE FOR REPUBLICAN VICTORY IN 2014 AS BIG BUSINESS TAKES STAND AGAINST IDIOCY.

The Republican Party has officially started that civil war that you heard about here first. The ideals of the Tea Party have become completely devoid of reason and corporations, the ones in control actually, have started to see that putting in candidates who are completely crazy may not be a winning strategy in the long run, especially for their bottom line. The schitzophrenic Teatards are somehow both against regulations of any sort while at the same time wanting big banks to come under higher standards. Huh? In other words, even within the Tea Party itself, ideas are presented that are not popular with another group within itself. This is not the basis for a sound foundation for any political group and the Tea Party appears to be going through it's death throws.

Ted Cruz has damaged his political career with this stupidity, regardless of the morons who came out to cheer him in his home state of Texas. The main reason is that large companies, you know the ones these idiots say are people and can give as much money to a candidate as they wish through PACs and 501s, are now going to start funding their own candidates against Tea Party incumbents. This is a disaster for the Tea Party, who are constantly threatening moderates with running their own psychos in the primaries, will now be facing better funded candidates. At the very least, the corporate backed GOP candidates will be ruthlessly beating their Tea Party counterparts and vice versa while the democrat challenger will sit by and watch the carnage ensue. This does not end well for any Republican candidate.

The Tea Party stands to lose the most as their special brand of moronic behavior is still not sitting well with the general public who may punish them severely for the stupid government shut down which did tremendous damage to the country, more than most suspect. The fact that big business watched their profits plummet during the shutdown certainly didn't help, along with the fact that several GOP challengers lost badly as they came across as mildly retarded at best. When you have a witch, a woman once called one of the worst CEO's in US history, and several who had a distorted and limited understanding of ladies' private parts, lose to people who never thought they could be re-elected, like Harry Reid, you know the game is up.

When the Chamber of Commerce, one the most right wing organization in the country, says the Tea Party has gone to far, warning flags should go up for everyone. When Business Roundtable joins you, you know you've crossed the Rubicon. Check out this quote from the Washington Times:

There’s no question that this month’s government shutdown saga has been a spectacular failure,” said David French, senior vice president and lobbyist at the National Retail Federation, whose members constitute the nation’s largest group of employers.
Retailers were particularly frustrated that the long-running feud and standoff between the parties — which has been postponed until early next year — threatens for the second year in a row to spoil the critical Christmas shopping season, when one-quarter of all U.S. retail purchases are made and an even larger share of retail profits are made.

Besides the retail federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business lobby, “will be getting more involved in primaries this cycle,” said Blair Latoff Holmes, the organization’s executive director for media relations.

The fact that the can was kicked down the road to just after Christmas has many retailers worried that people will shop less as the economy drag worsens. And the Tea Party's response to all of this? Scorch the Earth and everyone in it, apparently.

Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party nation, has vowed to fight the establishment candidates, especially RINO's, which are becoming as extinct as their real life counterparts. The Heritage Group, officially losing any resemblance of sanity, has sided with the Tea Party, as has the Club for Growth. Both of these should be renamed the anarchy party as what they want to establish is a state with no laws and everyone fighting for themselves. The fact that corporations want the opposite, with a more business run world, otherwise known as fascism should make anyone still voting for these guys aware of what they want. Are you for lawlessness or ruthless adherence to a set of rules? In the GOP these are the only two choices you get. They are also completely incompatible with each other, thus the tigers at each other's throats.

Even the Koch Brothers, the Tea Party's biggest funders, have released a letter saying they were not happy with the government shutdown either which could be a death blow in 2014 if even these billionaires tell the Tea Party to take a hike. You can't run an election without a ton of money, something the Tea Party fought hard for and is now biting them in the ass. The Tea Party may have outlived it's usefulness and in today's super-competitive government races, without money, they are as dead as the dodo.

Democrats are exploiting this giant fuck up, as many corporations are going to side with them instead now. Democrats love money just like the GOP and will have no problem taking it to crush their competition. Here's more from the Washington Post:

Eager to try to exploit the split, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, has spent the days since the shutdown pointing out that nearly every House Republican voted against business demands for an increase in the debt limit and end to the shutdown, while every Democrat supported it.

“This is the Republican Party,” Mrs. Pelosi said last week. “You know, I used to say, ‘Oh, the tea party has hijacked the main Republicans.’ No. They now dominate. It used to be the tail is wagging the dog. Well, if that’s still the case, this dog’s got a mighty big tail.”

The reaction from business associations to the debt crisis and shutdown ranged from subtle discontent to undisguised outrage.

Jay Timmons, chief executive of the National Association of Manufacturers, announced after the deal that he was “downgrading” Washington for once again barely avoiding an “economic catastrophe” — in a tongue-in-cheek reference to a threat Oct. 15 from one of Wall Street’s top credit rating agencies to lower the nation’s AAA rating.

Many business are questioning the rational of going after health care, which many business owners want fixed to save them a fortune in lost revenue. Why the public option wasn't more popular with corporations, who stood to gain billions if the government took over health care, is beyond me. They like the idea of smaller government and less regulation but hate the way the Tea Party has handled itself in the process. Because of this, 2014 may be RIP Tea Party for real. While I hardly like the fascist ideas that corporate America wants, they still are better off then the Tea Party burning the house down with us in it.

Monday, October 28, 2013

OFFSHORING, RECORD PROFITS AND MORE HARD PROOF BIG BUSINESS IS RUINING THE AMERICAN DREAM

One of the main reasons life sucks hard for a majority of Americans right now, the reason half of us are on some sort of government assistance, isn't because the lot of us are lazy, but because we are poor and getting poorer. The number one culprit for this mess are large corporations hell bent on paying their employees nothing, as both the music and literary world have become. I've been a published author since my teens and let me tell you, writing for a living has become a pauper's existence. The music business pays so little that everyone I know left to find better jobs in the radio industry and we all know how stable that media is, but they still pay better. Business wants us to work for free just for the fun of it. That's called slavery and some of you out there are championing for it.

Everyone who hates unions and votes against them is voting to destroy their way of living. As unions have dropped into single digits, we now work for overlords who can fire people for whatever reason, which has to be the dumbest power to give to companies and one that would have never been allowed in any union negotiations. The more power we give to these companies, the less we are going to get back.

The disinformation has gotten so bad that I keep hearing how the raising of the minimum wage would kill puppies and grandma. I've seen the work done by these clowns and their math would make a second grader blush. There is simply zero proof that raising the minimum wage is bad and tons that doing the opposite would be fine. The fact that people keep parroting this failed info shows how devious the right can be when giving out their form of facts or news.

This is from Prison Planet:

1. According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program.

2. The U.S. government has spent an astounding 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs over the past five years.

3. An increasing number of employers are encouraging their low wage employees to supplement their wages by going on government welfare programs.  For example, McDonald’s workers that need help making ends meet are being instructed to go on food stamps
McDonald’s workers who are unable to pay their bills or stay above the poverty line should find help from food pantries or enlist in government benefit programs instead of seeking higher wages, according to a company resource line meant to help employees.
Nancy Salgado has worked for the fast-food corporation for over 10 years yet still earns $8.25 an hour, barely more than the $7.25 federal minimum wage. With help from the worker’s rights group Low Pay Is Not Ok, she phoned the company’s employee hotline, known as McResource, attempting to find some answers on how to improve her situation.
A recording of the call was made available to CNN, which reported that Salgado asked the helpline operator multiple questions regarding how McDonalds would help her pay her heating bill, buy groceries, and whether she could afford to help pay for her sister’s medical treatment.
Despite never asking how much money Salgado earned per hour or asking how many hours a week she worked, the McDonalds representative said she “definitely should be able to qualify for both food stamps and heating assistance.”
4. Total consumer credit has risen by a whopping 22 percent over the past three years.

5. Student loans are up by an astounding 61 percent over the past three years.

6. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States has fallen for five years in a row.

7. Right now the middle class is taking home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before.

8. Ordinary Americans are being priced out of the housing market.  Today,nearly half of all home purchases are all-cash deals.

9. The homeownership rate in the United States is now at the lowest level it has been in nearly 18 years.

10. The gap between the rich and the poor in the United States is at an all-time record high.

11. U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

12. Every single day, thousands of Americans are receiving letters in the mail informing them that their old health insurance policies have been canceled.  According to a recent Kaiser Health News article, some companies have already sent out hundreds of thousands of cancellation notices…
Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state.  Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent.
13. Those that are losing their current health insurance policies will have to replace them with new policies that are often much more expensive.  According to health policy expert Bob Laszewski, 16 million people could ultimately have their health insurance policies canceled because of Obamacare…
The U.S. individual health insurance market currently totals about 19 million people. Because the Obama administration’s regulations on grandfathering existing plans were so stringent about 85% of those, 16 million, are not grandfathered and must comply with Obamacare at their next renewal. The rules are very complex. For example, if you had an individual plan in March of 2010 when the law was passed and you only increased the deductible from $1,000 to $1,500 in the years since, your plan has lost its grandfather status and it will no longer be available to you when it would have renewed in 2014.
These 16 million people are now receiving letters from their carriers saying they are losing their current coverage and must re-enroll in order to avoid a break in coverage and comply with the new health law’s benefit mandates––the vast majority by January 1. Most of these will be seeing some pretty big rate increases.
14. Back in 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance.  Today, only 54.9 percent of all Americans are covered by employment-based health insurance.

15. More Americans than ever find themselves forced to turn to the government for help with health care.  At this point, 82.4 million Americans live in a home where at least one person is enrolled in the Medicaid program.

16. The U.S. labor force participation rate is at a 35 year low.

17. Only 47 percent of all adults in America have a full-time job at this point.

18. It is hard to believe, but in America today one out of every ten jobs is now filled by a temp agency.

19. Approximately one out of every four part-time workers in America is living below the poverty line.

20. After accounting for inflation, right now 40 percent of all U.S. workers are making less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968.

21. Today, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.

22. At this point, almost half of all public school students in America come from low income homes.

23. The number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today.

24. Right now, one out of every five households in the United States is on food stamps.

25. An increasing number of Americans do not even believe that they have a pleasant retirement to look forward to.  One recent survey found that the percentage of middle class Americans that “plan to work until they die” is now higher than ever.


These are not good signs at all. If we don't get real change and soon, the American dream is going to end for us all. As long as the Tea Party keeps pulling the strings of the GOP we are all in real trouble.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: CORPORATE AMERICA

With Big Business throwing a weak finger at the government for the giant fuck up that is Healthcare.gov and McDonald's telling it's workers to let them eat cake, on the taxpayer's dime of course, the time has come for us to realize as a nation that the mega businesses of this world suck and suck hard and it's time for that to stop. Let's see those runner ups in a busy week of douchebags.

1)Julianne Hough- Until today I have never heard of this woman. I guess she is some sort of singer/dancer best known for being on Dancing With The Stars. However, everyone now knows her to be an insensitive racist for donning blackface for a Halloween costume representing Crazy Eyes from the Netflix show "Orange is the New Black." Shamefully stupid. What's next year's idea? Asian with buck teeth and glasses maybe?

2)Zimbabwe- One of the most corrupt places on Earth, 300 elephants were poisoned this week by poachers. As cyanide is not species specific, it also killed numerous hyenas, lions and vultures. Wonderful. Four were convicted, but as always, those caught were small potatoes rather than the masterminds behind this whole debacle. This country may be a snapshot of what is coming down our pike should hyperinflation ruin our economy too.

3)Diane Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss- My absolute hatred for Feinstein is well documented on this site as she is without a doubt one of the most reprehensible people in the entire government today. The fact she is democrat makes her even worse. Not only would she like us to have all guns removed from the general public, but not hers of course as she is better than the rest of us, but she also keeps fighting to spy on the American people 24/7. Her and Chambliss have resurrected the once dead CISPA bill which would allow the government to spy on all electronic information regardless of suspicsion of a crime or not. What part of the Constitution are they not getting? It's not a bunch of guidelines for them to disregard willy nilly. Considerings the fact that the world is PISSED at us for spying on allies like Angela Merkel, not to mention the protest this past week in DC over NSA spying, the people have said enough is enough. You've got all the power you're going to get. Deal with it.

4)Glenn Taylor and Dave Hall- Second on my list of things I hate are people who destroy landmarks like these two dipshits. After filming themselves pushing over a rock formation in a Utah national park, these numnuts got fired from the boy scout troop they were overseeing at the time, and face possible criminal charges as well. It also didn't help that the guy pushing the rock over, who is fat as hell, was applying for disability for back problems. Somehow I don't think you're going to get that government check tubby.

5)Lt. John Pike- In what can only be described as an absolute slap in the face to Lady Justice, this douchebag who was vilified for pepper spraying a bunch of non violent students sitting in the middle of a college quad, has been awarded $38,000 in disability payments for stress suffered after his heinous act. Are you fucking kidding me? Even worse, the students who actually suffered got less in their settlement than the douche who caused the whole thing in the first place? How is he not in jail as pepper spray was not necessary in the first place? Something tells me, his "disability" will disappear quick as he applies for another job, probably in security again. Him, and the guys above, are the assholes scamming the system. How much you want to bet they all vote Republican and scream about welfare queens? Look in a mirror guys.

6)Don Yeltin- After a disastrous appearance on the Daily Show this week, North Carolina's county precinct GOP representative was forced to resign after the interview aired. In it he made vaguely racist remarks, confirmed that the reason the GOP was going after black people was not because of their race but because they vote democrat, and insulted the President, comparing him to a Witch Doctor, which Yeltin claimed somehow made fun of Obama's white half which of course makes no sense. The interviewer, Aasif Mandvi, quipped the best line of the night with, "You know we can hear you right?" Yeltin was forced to resign soon afterward. WAAAA.

7)Macy's and Barney's- Speaking of racism, both retailers were hit with lawsuits claiming racial bias against shoppers who were detained for buying expensive items with allegedly stolen credit cards. Now in the three cases, all had legitimate ID and cards, yet still held for questioning because they had the nerve to shop there while being black. The retailers said there was no way these black people could possibly afford such expensive items, such as a $350 belt, because, as we we all know, black people never make any money and are always crooks and thieves. Oh wait, that's the platform for the GOP next year. This is racism pure and simple and needs to be addressed stat. No one should be treated like a crook just because of the color of their skin.

8)Kathleen Sebelius- Can no one ever get fired in the government anymore? This waste of space has got to go. Yes, big business ultimately dropped the ball but her late additions and lack of sales skills have made her a liability in any future projects. Show her the door already.

9)Obama- Trying to hide from the health care debacle, this week President Pivot suddenly went into immigration reform which has to be the last thing I care about right now. This is not an issue that needs to be addressed when the country is falling apart, your signature health care reform is dying on the floor, and suddenly you're worried about Julio and his gardening business. How about, I don't know, fixing the economy, creating jobs or something that really maters. I know this will embarrass the GOP but you've got bigger fish to fry already.

10)The Massmedia Project- I have never heard of this crappy site until today when they announced, in the name of "satire," the fact that Lou Reed's death today at age 71 was a hoax. In fact, the hoax was a hoax and Reed is indeed dead. This is not funny in any way shape or form and proves my point that those that write so called satire today, have no idea what they are doing. This site should be nuked.

11)Corporate America- Big Business is raping us and no one seems to care. We are making less  money for longer hours and less benefits and the Tea Party is clamoring for worse. McDonald's is telling their workers to go on food stamps rather than pay a livable wage, which they easily could considering their profit margin. Walmart does much the same, paying the workers a low wage so the employees have to go on government assistance, which is why half this country gets some sort of government aid. It's why we are so broke as a nation because no one is paying taxes. Not the poor which have no money. Not the middle class which doesn't exist anymore. And not the rich or corporations that pay nothing and bitch about it. If people were paid a livable wage, the government would have plenty of money, corporations would be making even more cash and life would be much better. Instead we have slave labor and overlords and no one is fighting back. As the right has demonized unions to extinction, the workers have no power, a fact we need to change. Until we have a mass influx of people head to Washington and refusing to leave until America gets a raise, nothing is going to change. So congratulations corporations you are douchebag of the week,

Thursday, October 24, 2013

CORPORATE AMERICA FIGHTS NEW LAW TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH THEIR CEO'S ARE GETTING PAID. SHOCKER.

Lately, the SEC seems to run on unicorn farts and leprechaun gold because they certainly don't seem to be doing their job. Their latest fiasco was the attempted court battle with Mark Cuban over alleged insider trading. Now, considering that the SEC has ignored insider trading with just about anyone who isn't famous, like say Martha Stewart, this whole bugaboo had witch hunt written all over it. They alleged that Cuban used information against a company to sell off stock when he knew the price was going to nose dive. The only problem was that so called insider information was readily available to everyone in the form of news paper articles, TV news stories and a zillion websites warning about problems with the company in the first place. He didn't need special info to know what was up and acted accordingly. The fact that these idiots failed to figure out what Bernie Madoff was up to but went after a guy who didn't even need to break the law to know things were hinkey makes one not trust the judgement of this organization anymore.

However, thanks to people like Elizabeth Warren and the Dodd/Frank Act, the SEC has proposed a CEO pay ratio rule. This would require large public companies to calculate the ratio of pay to their executives as compared to what the average person gets. Now mind you this won't go into effect until 2015, but already CEO's are fighting mad over having to disclose what they get paid. Why? Because if the average person finds out the obscene amount of money their bosses are getting, I fully expect them to be tarred and feathered before the day is out.

Wall Street, banks and other lobbying groups are fighting hard against this provision because they know people will be PISSED of they find out the pay discrepency that has reached record levels. We keep hearing how companies can't give raises because of the economy, but the truth of the matter is all that money is going to the top level executives. Over the past decade, 93% of the wealth accumulated in this country had gone to just 7% of the public. The remaining 93% of us are fighting over the lousy 7% they have left us with. This is a major factor to the rising inequality that will eventually swamp this country into third world status. Is that really what you want America?

British economist Andrew Smithers in his new book, "The Road to Recovery," shows that stock related bonuses make executives make decisions that are short term based which in turn hurts everyone. By not spending on long term investments rather than short term gains, they are more subject to booms and busts than a company well protected against such gains and falls. Yes, short term the executives do well, until the bottom falls out and everyone pays where the average worker is hurt worse as now he has no job and no savings while the rich have plenty to keep them solvent until they find something else to steal from. In the 1970's, US companies had 15 times the capital devoted to investments as they gave to shareholders. Today it is 2-1.

It has been suggested that a 20-1 ratio from worker pay to CEO should be the limit. It is right now around 400-1 and the data suggests this is unsustainable for any economy without a Depression happening. We tried this in 1928 and that led to huge problems for everyone not fantastically rich.

JC Penny, who is in dire straights due to the last CEO who was terrible, has a pay ratio of 1795-1. WTF?  Ron Johnson drove the company into the ground by eliminating sales and coupons while going after a the mythical rich hipster crowd which does not exist in large numbers. He might as well have tried to get dodos and wooly mammoths to shop there. He was gone in 17 months but not before running JC Penny into the ground.

The business community is up in arms over this, even though CEO pay is already disclosed annually. But I have a feeling if they see how much the average worker is getting screwed, that heads may roll and, gasp, raises may have to be given. The horror, the horror.

Many are worried about this as some have stated that such a look at the ratio of pay from CEO to average worker may make demands of hefty salary raises and other changes to corporate structure. No wonder they are fighting it so hard. Who wants to disclose they are effectively stealing food out of people's mouths? They must remember that as the GOP's philosophy for the poor is "Let them eat nothing," may really backfire when they see how little they are actually making. Good.

Take Ron Johnson again for example. If the average worker knew that the guy who may have cost them their career was going to walk away with a $53 million severance package, he probably wouldn't have gotten out of the building alive. This also might effect shareholders future compensation packages for CEO's who don't deserve the money they are making.

Ben and Jerry's had to get rid of a rule of an 8-1 ratio as what CEO wants to work for $81,000 a year and I would agree with that. However, making $400 million a year, as some CEO's do, is outrageous, unsustainable, and ultimately detrimental for society. This new rule could change that and finally allow some accountability into our failing economic system. It certainly won't do the harm that corporations are doing right now.
 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

HOW PUBLIC SERVICES ARE BETTER THAN PRIVITIZATION WHICH BENEFITS THE RICH OVER EVERYONE ELSE

In many past articles, I have theorized that public options weigh better than privatization. My reason for this is that every time something is deregulated or privatized, prices skyrocket upward as greedy corporations will charge whatever they want, while public option help keep costs down, lest taxpayers have a fit over it. Let's look at how money is spent between each.

The current Medicare administrator makes $170,000. The CEO's of insurance companies and hospitals make ten times that. Stephen J Helmsely, the CEO of United Health Care, made 300 times that amount. Those costs are being passed down onto the consumer, thus the reason that health care is so expensive so we can subsidize the wealth of rich people. So people are dying and/or going bankrupt in the process, so some asshole can afford a second Gulfstream plane.

It's also one of the reasons why we have the most expensive health care system on the planet, and one that doesn't work nearly as well as anywhere else. It's also a reason people are going to places like India for hip replacement surgeries which are about $70,000 less than here. Medicare also pays less for surgeries as a gall bladder operation would cost $60,000 for a private insurance company but only $2000 through Medicare. WTF?

If we are stupid enough to privatize SS or Medicare costs would soar and quality would decline. No one wants that as even the latest polls show near 90% of the public doesn't want changes to the system no matter what the fucking Teatards and Republicans keep screaming about.

When people bring up privatization and how it is awesome I ask where? Is the Post Office more expensive than UPS? No. The only reason the Post Office isn't making a profit is because the GOP forced them to pay all health care and pension funds up front, which no other company on the planet has to do. Why? To kill it and thus allowing the greedy rich to make even more money off the backs of everyday Americans, their ultimate goal.

The Teatards have also championed charter schools as a way to combat failing public schools. But the experiment has not been a success with teachers paid less, with less experiences and usually piss poor retirement and health plans. I would like to point out that here in MA we have NO charter schools, fixed our school system in ways the fucking rightwingers screamed wouldn't work and are now number 1 in the country for our grade average among students. World wide, our eighth graders now come in second just behind Japan in areas like science and math. That is how to fix a school system where privatization is not used.

Health care, not being offered to all, is making us sicker as many have to skip regular doctor visits and medication due to high costs. It is estimated that over 40,000 people die every year because of lack of health insurance.
 
Private companies are after everything. Nestle has made plans to privatize water supplies across the planet. Imagine a world where you have to pay for a glass of water. They want our land, where talk of selling off public parks to private entities have surfaced over the years. Paul Ryan's budget plan spelled out just that as well recently.
They want out cities as places like Detroit went bankrupt due to greed by large companies like how the Water and Sewage Department was used as collateral for a loan just to pay off the banks fighting over money.
 
They even want out bodies as corporation are trying to patent human genome's, a frightening possibility as the fact that corporations may soon own our very lives.

People keep saying that unions and public workers are overpaid. Actually, it's the private sector that is woefully UNDER paying our people to the detriment of society. The average salary of a union of public worker is $42,000 a year. In the private sector, it's $26,000. Which is better?

Private prisons have led to many being incarcerated who were actually innocent and were being used as slave labor for bribes to judges. This is also taking away jobs from people who would be doing things like furniture building and customer service.

Our infrastructure is collapsing as companies are failing to spend anything on what they are supposed to. Here in MA one company was given $55 million to replace all the telephone polls in their area over a three year period. So far, they are over by two years and short 90% of the telephone polls they were supposed to put in. At the rate they are going, it will 2036 before they are done.

All in all, privatization is an abject disaster. Government may not be perfect but when it comes to actually running something they do a far better job. If the government had done the stupid health care website themselves, there is no way it would be the disaster it is having a private company do it. Privatization sucks. Deal with it.

Monday, October 21, 2013

REPUBLICANS, CORPORATIONS AND OBAMA RACE TO SEE WHO CAN FINISH LAST IN COMPETENCY POLL. JUST HOW STUPID ARE WE AS A NATION?

There are no winners in the shambles we call our government. There are no winners in the Big Brother Corporations who want to control us completely while having us work for nothing. There are no winners in the American people who seem more content sitting on their fat asses watching America Kidz Got Singing than realizing they are being played for chumps. Quite simply, there are no winners period.

How did we get to such a place where no one and nothing is working anymore? If ever there was a better parable than to the fall of the Roman Empire look no further than the sad state of affairs we have gotten ourselves into. Politicians almost universally are against us (although both Bernie Saunders and Liz Warren are NOT in that group), yet we keep voting for many of these morons. There will be no better test than the upcoming elections in 2014 that look pretty bad for Republicans who now rate somewhere between the clap and Kim Jung Un. This is from Huffington Post:

A majority of Americans think it is bad for the country that Republicans control the House of Representatives, and even more want House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to be replaced by another Republican, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Monday.

Fifty-four percent think it's bad that Republicans control the House, the poll found. That's up from 43 percent in December 2012, during the last fiscal standoff. The figure is the first time a majority thought Republican control was bad for the country since CNN started asking in December 2010. Sixty-three percent of respondents want Boehner replaced, but by another Republican, which would not change GOP control of the House.

The poll is yet another sign that the government shutdown has hurt the Republican party. An NBC/WSJ poll taken during the shutdown showed that 24 percent of people approved of the party, a record low. Gallup measured another record low for the GOP, with 28 percent approving. A poll released Sunday funded by Moveon.org and conducted by the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling showed that incumbent Republicans trailed generic Democrats in 15 of 25 competitive House districts.

Now some will claim left wing bias, which is true with Moveon.org and PPP. However, their statistics held up fairly well in the last election which is more than I can say for Rasmussen and Fox News Polls which went horribly awry. Gallop, on the other hand, is using a model for their statistical analysis that bends the data to the right and they still say the Republicans are struggling. For future reference, any poll that is using landlines only will reach a mostly older, white population that is more likely to be more conservative than not. And if the number polled is below 1000, it's not a very good study as the pool being used is too shallow to be of any real worth. A lot of polls being used today are not scientific at all and are being parroted around by right wing politicians who are using severely bent data and tricking a gullible public into believing it is true. Fox News is the master of this, which would have been illegal had media rules not been changed by both Reagan and W. which led to this whole mess in the first place.

I can only hope that the American people are not stupid enough to fall for more Republican shenanigans. They are certainly damaged, almost exclusively by their own hand, which I find very, very funny. Note to Congressional rightwingers: don't run with scissors. You guys can't handle that level of sophistication. I hope Boehner gets voted out of office in the next election because anyone still voting for this loser is dumber than he is. And I am sure some of these voter dicks have jobs that matter, meaning lives depend on these idiots and how well do you think that is going to work out? If you can't see the logic in getting rid of someone out of Congress who doesn't give a rat's ass about you, how good can you really be at whatever you do? I am thinking a lot of police, religious wingnuts and the mentally ill are at the center of this party. Who else is this dumb?

But let us not rule out the rank incompetence of the Obama administration and, more accurately, the disaster known as Kathleen Sebelius. What does one have to do in the highest levels of government to get fired anymore? Four planes attack the US in a huge terrorist strike, people die. People fired? Zero. Fast and Furious goes bad, people die. People fired? Zero. Now we have a health care web site apparently written by retarded monkeys and again, no one has been fired. WTF? There is no reason this site should have not been up and running perfectly in the time they had. Now mind you, the GOP does get some of the blame in this as the overwrought hand wringing over the "horrors" of Obamacare, for the most part, don't exist. And that which is going wrong and could be fixed is held back by an obstructionist party willing to sink this country for their own ends.

But, not all the blame goes to either party, but to CGI Federal which should be being sued back to the stone age for not having this thing up and running. If you have a deadline, especially one that cannot be missed, then you have to meet it. You can't just throw up your hands and say "Oh well, not my fault." But it is your fault because, if you had to, you could have simply hired more people to have the problem fixed in said amount of time. Yes, you would made less money. Boo Hoo. It may even have cost you money. Still don't care. You were hired to do a job for x amount of money and that's it. If cost go over, it's on you douchebags. So for whatever reason it didn't work, ultimately, it's CGI Federal's fault. And the government should be seeking every damn dollar back, plus damages from this company and if it bankrupts them, too bad. Seize their assets and sell them off for payment which is exactly what you would do to any individual out there who has done the same thing, such as lack of payment on a mortgage. The government doesn't say "Pay us when you can." They say "We'll take your house now." CGI Federal should be taken the same.

By the way, once again, corporations have proven to be even worse than the government, again. So, for all you douchebags out their bitching about how the government cannot run anything effectively, I give you CGI federal as a prime example of which was worse with corporations winning this race handily. Corporations are terrible business models lately and are not something to be copied unless you really want the country to slide into the sea.

And lastly we have the American people who I feel are becoming dumber by the second, regardless of party affiliation. Some enterprising people are taken to the streets to show that people will sign petitions for anything, and I do mean anything. The latest was a signup for support for a "Orwellian Nazi Police State," which many happily signed for. Really? Penn and Teller once showed that people would sign for anything such as banning water, making climate change illegal and other bat shit insane ideas. Now many link this to Obama supporters only which is not the case. Most Americans are dumber than dirt, no matter where you live. If you are reading this, you are probably one of the few not completely retarded and thank God for those of you out there. Unfortunately, we are few and far between and our numbers are dwindling. The rise of the Tea Party demonstrates that.

As long as we continue down this path, nothing will change. If we keep putting in politicians who care more about corporations and their career than with getting things done, there is little hope for any of us. 2014 will be a huge test for this country. We need to give the democrats all the rope they need to hang themselves with. If they succeed, we all win. If they fail, which would not surprise me in the least, then we know the system is truly broken and we better find a way to fix it that doesn't require a lot of blood and death.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: JOHN BOEHNER AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

No terrorist group, outside force or any other enemy of this country has done as much damage as the GOP and the Tea Party have done these past few years. The only silver lining to all of this is that these two are at each other throats, all but guaranteeing a brutal primary fight in 2014 that will benefit the Democratic party greatly. Ha Ha! Let's see those runner ups in a slow douchebag week.

1)North Andover School System- These brain dead idiots are taking "zero tolerance" to new levels of stupidity. Erin Cox, a high school student, received a call from a friend of hers who was at a party and too drunk to drive. Like a good, responsible friend, she went to pick her up. Unfortunately, when she got there, the cops arrived soon after and arrested her and others for possession of drugs and alcohol. The cops let her go after no evidence of alcohol was found in her system. The school, however, demoted her from captain of the volleyball team and suspended her for five games. So let me get this straight: you would rather scrape a student off the pavement for drunk driving, rather than have that person call for a safe ride? WTF is wrong with you people? This is intolerance taken to extreme levels. I wonder if they belong to the Tea Party.

2)Sean Hannity- A loathsome human being (and anyone watching this hack should have their eyeballs ripped out for doing so), this dick reached new lows this week even for him. This troll has spent the past few weeks bitching about Obamacare with lie after lie. His magnum opus came this week when he had on three families complaining about the Affordable Care Act like the good puppets they were. One said he had to let employees go because of the new law, and two others said their insurance had skyrocketed in the process. Turns out, none of it was true. The first guy only had four employees in his business, meaning the ACA didn't even effect him. When asked why he fired some of his employees, he lamely tried to blame Obamacare without any specifics whatsoever. This is what is going on right now. Employees are firing people, blaming Obamacare, even when it has nothing to do with it. It's another excuse, nothing more, nothing less, so companies can pad the bottom line by paying people less and less and working them harder and harder. This is what the Tea Party is championing. Brilliant right? The other two families interviewed by Hannity were also lying as they never bothered to even check into the new plans that would have actually saved them money, even though the plan they did have rose. But because Obamacare was run by the devil, they wanted no part of it. The long and the short of it is, Sean Hannity had three groups of families on, bitching about problems with the ACA that were verifiably untrue. This ass needs to join Glenn Beck in obscurity stat.

3)CGI Federal- Yet another boondoggle demonstrating that neither government nor private enterprise is capable of doing anything anymore without fucking it up beyond all rhyme or reason. Let's look at the corporate aspect here. This company was hired to do a much smaller health care related web site for Ontario, Canada and was fired from it for missing three deadlines. If they couldn't do this right, chances are pretty good they wouldn't be able to finish this on time and on budget either, both of which they failed on. It ran overbudget, dispelling the myth again the private companies run things better than the government which is almost never the case. Talk with anyone who goes from the public to private sector and watch the venom fly. People hate working for corporations lately as they are every bit as incompetent as the government and work people at much lower standards of living. Due to the archaic contract rules, competent people are being ignored for others with deep pockets and much less experience. As long as this goes on, nothing is ever going to change for the better.

4)Kathleen Sebelius- Yet another in along line of people working for the current administration, like Eric Holder or Janet Napalitano, who should have been fired months ago. She has been a disaster in promoting Obamacare these past few years and now comes word that her incompetence is one of the reasons the healthcare website is crap, due to last minute changes she kept making to the program. It also wasn't the wisest decision to farm out duties in designing the site to multiple parties, which made it twice as difficult to trouble shoot. The GOP was right about one thing: Obamacare isn't ready yet. And Obama has no one to blame but himself and, especially, Sebelius who should be sent packing for this debacle. It's going to take months to fix. That's a big problem and something that could re-energize the Republicans come 2014. For the love of God, please don't let that happen.

5)Ted Cruz- This assmunch was given an eight minute standing ovation in his home state of Texas by a group of mouthbreathers who are too stupid to know when someone is pissing on them. Who thinks this fucker did a good job? If you did, your IQ is on single digits as he did irreparable harm to the standing of the US world wide, cost us $24 billion we don't have for a cause that was never going to happen,  and destroyed people's lives who lost their jobs, their homes, and their lives because of this. This is an evil, evil man. And, as I expected, he is now receiving death threats from the less stable out there on Twitter of all places. This is incredible stupid as whoever posted these threats will be getting a visit from the FBI and may face prison for it. Violence will not solve this problem. Millions of voices telling Cruz to take a hike is far better. Shunning anyone in the Tea Party is also recommended. Don't serve them in you restaurants. Don't sell them clothes in your stores. And if you see them in person, tell them how you've been affected by their idiocy. Just don't be violent about it, which will get you nowhere except perhaps behind bars.

6)John Boehner and the Republicans- Can anyone explain to me why Boehner was photographed pumping his arm in the air in victory after coming out of a recent meeting with House Republicans? He got nothing he asked for from the President, weakened his chances to even keeping his seat in 2014, and may have given control to the democrats because of this nonsense. He couldn't even get a majority of Republicans together to vote on a bill that would keep this country from going over the fiscal cliff. He is a terrible speaker who's only interest is keeping his job and to hell with the rest of the country. The Republican party is in the midst of a civil war between the Tea Party faithful and Corporate Conservatives whose views are now at odds. This is going to erupt in 2014 with brutal primaries that will do nothing but aid democratic challengers. Mitch McConnel is in real trouble as he is going to face Matt Bevin in the primaries, and may lose either way because of it. If Bevin beats him, chances are the democrats take the seat. If he survives, his brand may be so damaged that again the democrat wins. Either way, he has a long, uphill battle as do many, many others. The country is not as conservative as they think it is, with only about 18% of the public agreeing with their views. It's why they get beat so badly in state wide or national elections. But as long as we have retards still voting these fools in, not realizing they are literally voting themselves to death, we have a long way to still go. So congratulation John Boehner, the Tea Party and anyone still calling themselves a Republican you are indeed douchebag of the week.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENDS AND EVERYONE GETS BACK TO WORK. NOW WHAT?

The shutdown is over. Wheeeeee! Mind you this is good news for the millions of people directly affected by this action, which should have never happened in the first place. Stories of businesses closing, especially near the closed state parks, are examples that this shutdown wasn't as harmless as a smirking Sean Hannity spewed this week in his horrific show. One night this week, he had a studio filled with can only be described as several token black men among the usual white Southerners, to discuss the budget crisis. One man described as a "conservative commentator," crowed that the shutdown hadn't been as bad as predicted and neither was the debt ceiling, showing a level of incompetence hard to comprehend. This unneeded hit to a fragile economy was solely at the feet of the GOP and, even more so, the Tea Party.

The shutdown cost taxpayers $22 billion dollars. That's $22 billion that is not going to Head Start, or Social Security, or even tax cuts. It fell into that black hole called Washington, never to be seen again. And it never had to happen. As I pointed out yesterday, had the Republicans done nothing, absolutely nothing, they could have pounced over the fact that the Healthcare website didn't work, which in and of itself is yet another round of government hand outs that have come to bite us in the ass.

I am not talking about programs for the poor but corporate welfare which is costing us a lot more. I will give the GOP a breather for few paragraphs while I expose how Washington, regardless of party, is constantly giving away our tax dollars to people who should never have gotten in the first place. As much as I hate to agree with anyone from the right lately, Solyndra was a project doomed to failure before production had even begun. And states like Rhode Island giving $75 million to Kurt Shilling's stupid video game company is the ultimate in pissing away tax dollars for pipe dreams and corruption.

So here is CGI Federal, a newcomer to the US government contracts since 2008. They are a mutli-billion, multi-national company, based in Montreal, providing IT services to major corporations like Bell Canada. Here's the rub about this whole thing: much like Solyndra, this company was not something we should have invested in in the first place. It's attempt to set up a medical registry in Ontario Canada for diabetic sufferers was so badly botched that they got fired from the $46 million dollar contract after three missed deadlines. Sound familiar?

Finger pointing is all around with CGI saying the project was underfunded and others blaming Health and Human Services for taking forever with specifications for the site. But the fact of the matter remains that the site was poorly constructed with multiple code writers confirming that whole pieces of code were missing, tanking the project from day one. But again, part of the problem was the federal government insisting that multiple parties design the site making it twice as hard as there were way too many cooks in the kitchen, slowing the whole process. All in all, we spent at least $394 million, which is far less than the $678 CGI did get(and right wingers erroneously keep saying) albeit for other projects not health care related.

This is why nothing works in Washington. Contracts are given out piecemeal to whatever contractors can buy into the system. It doesn't matter that these people are completely incompetent or that by opening up these contracts to outside bids would save the country money and get a better deal in the process. And did this fuck up hurt CGI in anyway? Hell no, their stock went way up as they still hold several major US contracts and are expected to get more. Unbelievable.

Both sides are guilty of this nonsense and it has to stop. Nobody wants to change anything as the economy is now just a house of cards with strong winds ready to topple it. Can't change this because people will lose their jobs. Can't change that because it'll make rednecks cry. Can't do this because it might actually work. We have to stop being the people of CAN'T anymore. If the GOP hates Obamacare so much, they have to have a proposal of their own or shut the fuck up already. If the Tea Party wants to cut Social Security so bad, they can feel free to donate their money to a worthy cause, like this site. I am always looking for donations out there people. This site doesn't run on love alone.

Most importantly, we have to get rid of every douchebag who voted against re-opening the government. Here's all the names from the Senate:

 Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
• John Cornyn (R-Texas)
• Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
• Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
• Mike Enzi (R-Wy.)
• Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
• Dean Heller (R-Nev.)
• Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
• Mike Lee (R-Utah)
• Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
• James Risch (R-Idaho)
• Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)
• Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
• Tim Scott (R-S.C.)
• Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
• Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)
• Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
• David Vitter (R-La.)

Wave goodbye to them in 2014 and beyond.


 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

TEA PARTY APPROVAL RATINGS NOW BELOW SMALLPOX, PAINFUL RECTAL ITCH AND THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH.HOW LOW WILL IT GO?

The Tea Party may have done irreversible damage to their brand as the number of vulnerable seats in the House has risen to thirty, up from seventeen just a few days ago. These mouthbreathers have done terrible harm to this country with their unrelenting desire to live in a world where Mad Max would feel right at home. If you are looking to end the planet, the Tea Party is custom made for you.

Ted Cruz is a good example of someone who, even though his re-election isn't until 2016, may not recover even after all that time, an eternity in political terms. His approval rating among Tea Party members is 52%. Among Republicans 4%. And numbers don't go low enough into negative territory to estimate how independents and democrats feel about this retard. His idiocy has sent this country into a tailspin that may still have dangerous reprecussions. Considering that there is no way his special brand of stupidity won't rear its ugly head again, he is going to be a Godsend for anyone running against the GOP for years to come.

Now it is true that the election is a year away, and lots can change in that time. But the Tea Party has proven time and time again that they are not ready for the Big Show and will continue to shoot their mouth off when silence would benefit them better. Had the House not thrown a temper tantrum this week and made everyone glare at them with white hot hate, the glitches that have plagued the Obamacare websites could have made them heroes and might have actually gotten concessions from the White House with public backing. But instead they overplayed their hand and it gotten bitten off in the process. It was a fatal blunder. The Tea Party is being seen as a bunch of whinny cry babies determined to have anarchy. This will hurt come November as Democrats are going to remind voters incessantly who voted for the shutdown and the harm it did to everyday people. This will resonate still and send many Republicans packing.

They could still do incredible damage if somehow, someway, the new Senate proposal gets shot down by the House and then it's game over America. At that point, elections will be the least of their problems as angry mobs stalk them down the streets when the world goes to hell in a handbasket. People are beyond angry and anyone dumb enough to provoke the wrath of the American people right now will be ripped limb from limb if things go south quick. We are all standing in gasoline and who ever is dumb enough to smoke is going to get killed.

Unfortunately, the Tea Party is that stupid. When Sarah Palin is your spokesperson, you know you've scrapped the bottom of the barrel. Some Fox News talking head took offense to someone at a rally using the word I like, Teatard. I know name calling is childish and uncalled for, but I really HATE the Tea Party and feel this is an accurate statement for a group too dumb to even know what their own Bible says and doesn't say. These idiots need to be called out for wanting to do the DUMBEST things, proving themselves puppets of the rich as many of things they are calling for will directly affect them as well. If Social Security and Medicare disappear, which is what the Tea Party wants, how will they survive in the old age? Most of these yokels are far from wealthy considering the wave of flannel and denim I saw at a recent rally, so how do they plan on surviving into their seventies? They won't and will die badly along with the rest of us for the stupid nonsense they are promoting. How come all the ways the fix things like lifting the cap on Social Security is never mentioned? Or having corporations pay something, anything, in taxes? But no, like the sheep they are, they want to hammer grandma and the poor and, ultimately, themselves. Morons.

If you belong to the Tea Party, stop and think what you are doing. The other day, I got into a debate about the budget crisis with a right winger and he demanded I show him any article in which the GOP threatened to filibuster the budgets since 2009 (a favorite talking point that the democratic Senate or Obama hasn't passed a budget in "1000" days). I found twelve right off the bat. This is the problem. If you believe something without even having the wherewithal to see if your are right, this is the ultimate in sucker mentality. And Republicans fall for it all the time. Fox news and Rush Limbaugh says something and everyone parrots it. Unless I trust the source implicitly, I fact check everything. Lots of what you read is wrong, on both sides of the aisle. Not here mind you making me one of the most trusted sites on the web. Tell your friends.

The government, democrat or Republican, is lying to you. The media is almost always lying to you. And many of you out there are buying it. Stop it. The reason why the Tea Party is in such free fall is that some of you out there have stopped to see what is real and what isn't and have found the Mad Hatter would fit right in with them. The fact that the entire group seems made up of white people, and not helped by some yokel bringing a confederate flag to a DC Tea Party rally, makes them seem even more racist than they probably are. They keep screaming about socialism with no understanding of what the term means, probably egged on by such luminaries as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. The brain power between them couldn't light a lightbulb, yet millions still hang on their every word. Sad. SS and Medicare are more socialistic than Obamacare (which is barely socialist at all) yet the right keeps screaming about the ACA more than the other two. There are way too many stupid people right now in this country.

The Tea Party is RIP at this point. Big money is not going to support them in the next round of elections with even the Koch brothers voicing their dissatisfaction at the party. This does not mean democrats will get that money, but I have feeling less extreme Republicans (at least at face value anyway) will be making a play for the nomination is several states where the current Congressperson is doomed due to this budget crisis. Money is power and the Tea Party is watching theirs ebb away. Too bad and so sad. The Tea Party cannot go away soon enough and the fact that they did it to themselves makes this victory even more sweet. Regardless of what they do today, their power is over. Let's hope the Democrats can actually do something with it and not screw up even worse in the next year.