Short Term Versus Long Term

 High in a hollowed out mountain, in the Himalayas, in a vast vaulted room, sat an ancient wrinkled dragon. Into this chamber marched a military contingent of generals. Just before it spoke the dragon stretched languidly. " How proceeds my master plan?' The dragon hissed. The most decorated and high ranking general answered. " It goes better than our wildest hopes. Our enemy thinks only of the instant gratification of the moment. We have lulled their senses with the promise of cheap labor and high profits. Their greed is so extreme they have gladly given over their manufacturing base even to the point of having their former employees show us how to operate the machinery they have sent us. Their once dynamic country is now incapable of making anything of value. "Yes but what of their guarded military secrets?" Asked the smiling lizard. " The secrets we cannot buy our cyber agents obtain through hacking." " And the plan to bankrupt them?"" They borrow our money instead of taxing their wealthiest billionaires just as you said." The dragon using his best imitation of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons said," Excellent!"The generals turned as one and paraded from the dragons lair confident in the knowledge that this slow motion war was being won without firing a shot.

A Stalled Country Stuck In Neutral

  America is no longer the sleek sports car it once was. It has become a rusty junker with a blown trans mission that has ended up in a ditch.The place to put a huge part of the blame is obvious. The conflict seeking drama queens that control the media helped elevate the Tea Party from a of disgruntled old white people billionaire funded anti health care reform group to a movement that took over Congress in 2010. All the hope for change ground to a halt. The media so enamored with divisiveness gives air time to any nut that will stir the pot until it boils over. They dwell on people that want teachers to carry guns,think Democrats in Congress are all commies,the president was born in Kenya,and women's birth control should consist of an aspirin between their knees. Well ratings hounds your zeal for outrageous contests has helped give us representatives that would normally be found in a circus.Now that this country is about to go the way of ancient Rome the media should apologize for its part in crippling what was once the greatest nation on earth.

The Job Creating Second Amendment

  The absolute favorite amendment of the Republican party, the 2nd., can now  be touted by them as a job creating amendment. Yes this antiquated provision, created in the time of single shot flintlock weapons is now bringing booming business, pardon the pun, to all parts of the country. Oh sure the benefit to the gun industry is obvious, but for too long those most affected by gun violence, the victims, can get something besides misery and suffering from their plight. No they can't sue because Congress has already passed laws protecting gun makers from law suits. Victims once they recover from their wounds, may be able to find jobs bricking up first floor windows of schools, or helping put blast proof  doors up in every classroom. There is also the razor wire concession, or the armed guard training to be done. Let's face it funeral homes and coffin makers will be hiring extra help. Movie theaters will probably need to buy metal detectors. So will churches. The list goes on and on. No other country in the world can make monetary lemonade from misery lemons like America can. Once again we're number one.

The Attack Of The Insatiable Lobbyist's

  Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and as we all know money controls power. Enter the lobbyist. On the face of it,having access to lawmakers seems benign enough. Actually it has become a cancer eating away at America's major organs. What do a lot of politicians do after leaving office? A lot of them, because of their former status, become lobbyists. They by virtue of the inside track, make huge salaries representing organizations they were once elected to, make sure played by the rules. Knowing exactly which buttons need pushed and whose pushing those buttons allows you to grease the wheels with various incentives to get legislation favorable to your new handler passed. Remember the old yin yang axiom, for every winner there is a loser. Say being a former elected official you made friends with the politicians regulating the Medicare prescription drug plan. You bend the right ears, do a few favors, and suddenly the drug company you represent has legislation that stops Medicare from using it's group buying power to get lower drug prices for it's members. Say you are a lobbyist for the gun lobby. You make it known any gun legislation what so ever would cause such a backlash any politician voting for it should plan his or her retirement from politics soon.Lobbyist's get the access and influence and if you're real lucky you can go to a town hall meeting.

Ratcheting Up The Crazy

  Here in Ohio,within the past few weeks, two terrible incidents have really underscored how crazy people have become. In Middlefield Ohio , a tiny community with a large Amish population, and Solon Ohio a faster paced city, police have been forced into fatal shootouts after traffic stops. Some of the officers in both cities were wounded. The perpetrators were killed. These two cities are not hot beds of criminal activity. Today]s police officer is at incredible risk on a daily basis. Why? Do you remember the attacks on the government during the Clinton presidency? One nut bag actually fired an AK-47 at the White House. Another flew a small plane into it. Once a Democrat becomes president the vitriolic anti government propaganda blasts out over the air waves. This went on in the 90's and it is once again in full swing. The 90's were the time of Waco, Ruby Ridge, and the Oklahoma cowardly bombing. Fast forward to the present. First graders are slaughtered hiding under their desks and movie goers are murdered in their seats. Nothing is done. The gun lobby cries foul and guns fly off the shelves. Here in Ohio you cannot hunt deer with a rifle. You either use a bow, a crossbow, or a shotgun plugged so it can hold only three rounds. I hunt, I own a few shotguns and even took a deer with a crossbow last season. If you need more than a shotgun for home defense you are either a terrible shot or very very insecure.We the people are the government,to bad a lot of people don't realize it.

America, A Nation Controlled By Snake Oil Salesmen

 Back in the 1900's con artists made their ill gotten gains by selling a bogus product named snake oil. Snake oil was touted to be a cure all for for every ailment from toothaches to cancer. The main ingredient was alcohol. What drew people in and relieved them of their money was the pitch. By the time the duped figured out their wonder cure was really bullshit dressed up in fancy language, Mr. Snake Oil was long gone. Sounds like history is repeating itself doesn't it? Pitchmen on radio and television convince gullible Americans that it is in their best interests to vote against their best interests. Gas and oil companies fire up the patriotic music and themes of how oil sludge pipelines and the water polluting fracking process will lead America to energy independence. The reality is they are selling the rights to the oil and gas to whatever nation pays the most. Foreign nations we give favored nation status and most of our manufacturing to, turn around and hack our computers for trade and military secrets. The reason Americans are sold out so easily by these for profit patriot, snake oil pitchmen is they are intellectually lazy and for lack of a better word, stupid. Well at least the have their own political party.

Are The Less Fortunate Invisible ?

  Cell phones, social media, and video games have created a monstrously disconnected populace. It is now possible to associate only with people you find worthy of your limited view of life. This is similar to putting blinders on horses. You end up headed in only one direction. You  will never broaden your horizons if you only focus on things pleasing to you. This becomes painfully evident in the callous way we treat the poor. This hurray for me and the hell with you attitude started to gain popularity in the 1980's. The trickle down welfare queen philosophy flowed like honey from the lips of our great communicator. Then 12 years later it reached it's zenith with tax cuts for the rich while conducting two unpaid wars. Fair taxes are the price to be paid for civilization. Now social disregard has reached new heights. Republicans have presented a budget so austere, that if enacted the misery it would inflict on the poor and elderly would rival what America looked like before the advent of Social Security. I would say 99.9 % of people , if they saw a starving child, would try and help alleviate the suffering. Why are so many of us so indifferent to the sufferings of literally millions? It's because of the electronic cocoons we wrap ourselves in. If you only allow in your own myopic view of the world then the blinders you wear will allow the misery to continue.   

Move To The Middle

  Move to the middle is not,in this instance,about politics. It's about trying to survive the new weather patterns that are developing. Doesn't matter if you believe in climate change or not. It's going to happen. Any state with a close proximity to the ocean will be facing the wrath of more and more extreme killer storms. Super hurricanes and brutal winter storms are going to become the norm. The elderly who move to Florida to spend their final golden days will find they have fewer golden days to spend once the super storms hit.New York State, never known for violent weather, may find itself increasingly under water and ice. Out West droughts now last decades. Clean drinking water will soon become the new oil. You can live without gasoline but you can't live without water.Westerners would love to steal Great Lakes water to support their dried out states. Oil and gas companies, in the meantime, continue to pollute millions of gallons of clean water forever with their fracking process. Better consider a move to the middle of the United States, live underground and dig a deep deep well.

Cut The Fat At The Top

  We know that rampant greed is the disease causing America to become a 3rd. rate if not a 3rd world country. Americas manufacturing base not only made it rich, it helped win the 2nd. world war as well as the cold war. Now fat cat C.E.O.'s can't get rid of Americas manufacturing capabilities fast enough. We are about to hear from Paul"Ann Ryand" Ryan and his mythical magical imaginary budget. Time to preach the gospels of throwing the poor and aged to the wolves again. How many more times do we have to endure the stupid party calling for the repeal of Obama care? Pull your feet out of the ancient tar pit and move on already. Talk about dinosaurs not being able to learn. Americans don't want to puree the safety nets of Social Security and Medicare. If America is to make a come back it needs to cut the brain dead fat out that runs corporate America. Americans don't have good jobs because you profit patriots have given them to the Communist Chinese. If your allegiance is only to the almighty dollar, at the expense of American workers, then move your corporate headquarters to Beijing. What are some ways to curb Americas erosion? If you are starting a business stay private. Avoid going public and allowing greedy share holders to call the shots. Pay workers a living wage, a wage that causes the real trickle down economics to happen. Don't fall prey to the siren song of greed. Trumpet the fact that your product is made by American workers here in America. Politicians that are true patriots should revisit N.A.F.T.A. and all trade agreements that are a black hole for American jobs. Most of all cut the artery clogging fat at the top.

The Past Wasn't All Bad

  A lot of people, when they look back at the past, view it as unproductive and comically primitive. They generally only see see the racism and ignored spousal abuse. Yes there was a lot of nastiness we had to evolve out of. There also were a lot of admirable things that shouldn't have disappeared but did. Looking back at them they beat the present economic conditions hands down. Milk pop and beer were only sold in returnable bottles made of glass not eternal plastic. You took them back to any store selling these items and received your deposit back. The store then shipped the bottles back to the bottling plant were sterilized and re-used. This provided jobs with livable wages. Today almost all containers are plastic or aluminium. Today's C.E.O.'s make 383 times their workers salaries. Way back when greed wasn't as out of control they only made 5 or 10 times as much as the people they employed. At one time electric trolley cars provided clean cheap transportation. They were bought up scrapped and air polluting buss's replaced them. Hospitals, at one time, provided care at a reasonable price. Now hospitals have become greed infected palaces generating millions for their top execs while patient care is just a minor concern. Banks used to make loans in their communities to help spur growth. Now the only growth they want to sour is the wallets of their presidents. Gone to a dentist lately? If you have you are probably paying help pay for his new caddy. Back in the day guess which country made most of the worlds manufactured goods? No it wasn't China.

No Security Blanket

    Americans, like the Charles Schultz Peanuts character Linus, have have lost their security blanket, and they will never get it back. The security blanket of long term good jobs is gone. American politicians used to chant better dead than red, now they pass laws giving American manufacturing jobs to the Communist Chinese. This is the same Communist country now accused of cyber attacks on U.S. interests. So much for protecting us from the Red menace. Our public schools used to provide quality education for all. Now greed y politicians de-fund public education while giving the money to for profit charter schools, that in turn contribute to the greedy politicians. The security blankets provided to the elderly in the form of Social Security and Medicare are under attack from politicians who want to take the money out of these security blankets and give rich fat cats more tax breaks. Our American security blanket has been shredded by elected politicians who instead of putting American interests first only care about being re-elected and the amounts of money flowing into their bank accounts.

Greed Is Destroying America

  What a sad spectacle to watch, America dying of a self inflicted disease, of it's own making. The whole terrible scenario is like watching a man dying of lung cancer, asking his doctor for a cigarette. This fatal disease is of course rampant greed. It has spread through out the country. Look at any religion, business or even charity in this country and you will find examples of money corrupting them. Time magazine just exposed non profit hospital extreme over charging. Drug companies charge incredibly marked up prices and the hospitals turn around and even more obscenely mark up the same drug. Politicians allow the richest companies in the world , the oil and gas industry,a 10 billion dollar a year taxpayer subsidized  break. Lawmakers, who take an oath to protect Americans, instead suck on the teat of the gun lobby because of greed. Why do Republicans refuse to eliminate even one fat cat tax loophole? Greed pure and simple. Look how greedy hair sprayed preachers twist the teachings of Jesus to promote their own extravagant lifestyles. America is now on life support and on hospice care. The only thing left is the eulogy.

You're Fired!

  Seeing that Republicans in Congress value getting re-elected over representing the will of the majority of the American electorate, let's save money by paying them for their work performance. After all this is the concept Republicans love to force on teachers. Voting 33 times unsuccessfully to repeal Obama care is not just wasteful it's stupid. Not ratifying treaties that would consolidate fair access and treatment for the disabled is petty and cruel. Lurching from one self inflicted crisis to another made up crisis and holding the country economically hostage constitutes reason enough for dismal.Protecting tax subsidies for the mega profitable oil industry is beyond inexplicable. Taking the side of the gun lobby over protecting Americans from high velocity weapons of personal destruction is beyond the pale. Now the continuing resolution made up crisis looms large come March 27th. The only funding that should be discontinued is the salaries of Congress. The only other hope for America is come 2014 Americans shout YOU'RE FIRED!  

The Prison Riot America Has Become

  Remember those old 1940's prison movies? The prisoners would riot,take hostages, and make demands. Sound familiar? Today's prison riot movie stars President Obama as the warden,members of his staff as the prison guards and the rioting prisoners are perfectly played by the Republican House majority. To them the election didn't matter, authority doesn't matter, they are now in charge. Now how, in the old movies did the warden end the riot and reclaim the prison? At first the warden would try negotiation. The prisoners, not trusting the warden or the guards, would reject negotiation and threaten to burn down the prison. What was the only option left to the warden? Force. Today's hostage riot has to end. It is time to make the rioters and their supporters feel the pain the hostages feel. The warden and the guards need to make their power felt. Surely supporters sympathizers and collaborators in red states can be made to see the folly of their support. There must be a way to demonstrate that hostage taking is unacceptable. In the movies the warden might cut off food or electricity to the rioters. There has to be a way to structure the coming cuts in services to fall mostly on those professing a deep hatred of the service providing government.