It was a good run. If you've read all posts on this blog to this point you've endured 500 chapters of my insanity. I held off writing this post for want of a miracle to give new life within me to continue with the direction this blog was heading. However, lacking such an epiphany post 500 is the end. Time to go down memory lane on this one.
I started the blog to vent my insane observations of the world and educate others. Somewhere along the way I became standard bearer for the Republican Party and a humanitarian defender of human rights pleading for all to stand up for the people of Iran, Honduras, Western Sahara, Pakistan, so on and so forth. Then I mixed in local Maine politics and had opportunities presented to me that I never thought possible. Politics in Maine became more exciting than I thought it could be. Politics in Maine, despite the heightened excitement I had for a time, had little true impact.
That is the key to why I am ending my efforts on this blog. The people of Iran are still brutally oppressed, we have problems here in Maine and platitudes instead of solutions from our self-described leaders. An organization of political thought has betrayed its own values locally and nationally to such an extent that I'm alienated from the entire process. Therefore this blog's topics are stale in my heart when simply reporting the proceedings.
What is not stale for my interests right now? I'm writing a book guest starring three archeologists, two terrorists, a Russian, and a pissed off 8 year old. I'm placing much effort to my college and finding a new career calling considering my major was cut in the budget this year. What was once the love of my life is no more yet my heart has found better.
At the beginning this blog was my life and since my life has grown exponentially beyond the boundaries these posts could ever reveal. I studied the world and went to events not as myself but as a worker for my blog. My efforts were not my own, but the blogger within me. Yet, I've moved past realizing I don't need to use a status anymore (I know "blogger" is a low and unofficial title, but the mind plays tricks sometimes).
I bid you farewell at 500. Thank you for reading. Meow.
A little taste of political logic (with a side dose of insanity and humor to make things interesting.) My life will occassionally be brought in with some journalism.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
I have no political party.
Due to finals in college and lack of transportation I could not be at the 2010 Maine Republican State Convention. I'm not sure if my being there would have made a difference but the platform laid out would certainly have been opposed by me. The document is five pages long so it isn't a tough read. The portions I disagree with are as follows:
"Restrict any attempt to give foreign citizens the right to vote in the U.S. in any situation or capacity."
"Marriage between a man and woman."
"Audit the Fed"
"End the Fed['s existence]"
"Investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth."
"Eliminate the Department of Education."
"Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government."
Excerpts of insanity over. So if a person becomes a naturalized citizen because they were a foreign citizen or may have their original citizenship recognized by their home country they would not be allowed to vote? The answer obviously is "no, that isn't what we meant." However, the short-sighted nature of how this was written shows the long-term thinking shown by Republican economic ideas was not at play when this was written.
The marriage between a man and woman doesn't need to be part of the policy...you already got your way (if that is what you support) last November. Your crusade in that arena is over.
Auditing, never mind ending, the Federal Reserve has two issues: 1. That isn't a state issue. 2. That has no chance in Hell of happening.
"Investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth."
If you still think there is nothing wrong with that statement you are either very sheltered or lack common sense. What would an investigation like that look like? It presumes global warming isn't happening (when it is). The cause of global warming is debatable, but warming is happening.
If you get rid of the State of Maine Department of Education...you'll basically be shutting down all schools in Maine. If you mean the Federal department, again that isn't a Maine issue and (at both the state and federal level) has absolutely zero chance of actually happening.
"Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government."
Repeal? I must have missed the "Sign Up For One World Government" bill passed by the Augusta state legislature. Prohibit? Are you going to pass a "Ban on One World Government Formation"?
Any candidate of the Republican Party in Maine has to make a specific effort to denounce or point out the ridiculous nature of at least the following to get me to consider voting for their other policies:
"Investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth."
"Eliminate the Department of Education."
"Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government."
"Restrict any attempt to give foreign citizens the right to vote in the U.S. in any situation or capacity."
"Marriage between a man and woman."
"Audit the Fed"
"End the Fed['s existence]"
"Investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth."
"Eliminate the Department of Education."
"Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government."
Excerpts of insanity over. So if a person becomes a naturalized citizen because they were a foreign citizen or may have their original citizenship recognized by their home country they would not be allowed to vote? The answer obviously is "no, that isn't what we meant." However, the short-sighted nature of how this was written shows the long-term thinking shown by Republican economic ideas was not at play when this was written.
The marriage between a man and woman doesn't need to be part of the policy...you already got your way (if that is what you support) last November. Your crusade in that arena is over.
Auditing, never mind ending, the Federal Reserve has two issues: 1. That isn't a state issue. 2. That has no chance in Hell of happening.
"Investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth."
If you still think there is nothing wrong with that statement you are either very sheltered or lack common sense. What would an investigation like that look like? It presumes global warming isn't happening (when it is). The cause of global warming is debatable, but warming is happening.
If you get rid of the State of Maine Department of Education...you'll basically be shutting down all schools in Maine. If you mean the Federal department, again that isn't a Maine issue and (at both the state and federal level) has absolutely zero chance of actually happening.
"Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government."
Repeal? I must have missed the "Sign Up For One World Government" bill passed by the Augusta state legislature. Prohibit? Are you going to pass a "Ban on One World Government Formation"?
Any candidate of the Republican Party in Maine has to make a specific effort to denounce or point out the ridiculous nature of at least the following to get me to consider voting for their other policies:
"Investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth."
"Eliminate the Department of Education."
"Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government."
Friday, April 23, 2010
Illegal Immigration Options
I feel some very basic principles for people who don't want to be killed by drug smugglers, have their property damaged, or WANT a job can be endorsed:
Get your visa, get your citizenship, or get the hell out!
Don't try legislation to stop illegal immigration. Give property owners on the border some guns and tell them if it moves take aim.
Illegal immigration isn't about the law, its about citizenship. The process shouldn't involve arrest, it should go straight to deportation to Tierra del Fuego, give them an ID card, and if they manage to crawl all the way back here, let them stay.
*Denotes a suggestion for purely humorous purposes.
Get your visa, get your citizenship, or get the hell out!
Don't try legislation to stop illegal immigration. Give property owners on the border some guns and tell them if it moves take aim.
Illegal immigration isn't about the law, its about citizenship. The process shouldn't involve arrest, it should go straight to deportation to Tierra del Fuego, give them an ID card, and if they manage to crawl all the way back here, let them stay.
*Denotes a suggestion for purely humorous purposes.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
A Good Read
*****I'm forwarding this message in agreement with Cary Weston, who urged sharing this message. Seeing no copywrite law on this op-ed of sorts, I gladly post it here. I take zero credit for writing it. Now, on with the show.*****
"I'm 63 and I'm Tired"
by Robert A. Hall, a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.
I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tiredof being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.
I'm tiredof being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tiredof being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .
I'm tiredof being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I'm tiredof being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.
I thinkit's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.
I'm tiredof a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
I'm tiredof being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tiredof being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.
I'm tiredof being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tiredof illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tiredof latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let mys elf be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tiredof people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
I'm tiredof hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
I'm real tiredof people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.
"I'm 63 and I'm Tired"
by Robert A. Hall, a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.
I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tiredof being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.
I'm tiredof being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tiredof being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .
I'm tiredof being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I'm tiredof being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.
I thinkit's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.
I'm tiredof a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
I'm tiredof being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tiredof being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.
I'm tiredof being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tiredof illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tiredof latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let mys elf be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tiredof people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
I'm tiredof hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
I'm real tiredof people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Oil Reasoning
Barack Obama is opening up new areas for off shore drilling. Aside from the to-be-common excuse as reaching out to Republicans, the real reason is the government needs money. To do off shore drilling, a company bids for a lease on the rights to drill in a certain area. It comes down to finding a new way to pay for (what will probably offend some who hear it, but after my past few months of examining the coming to power of Communists and Socialists around the world throughout history I am justified in saying this) Obama's Socialist revolution in America.
He needs Republican votes on cap and trade, and this one way to get that done. Republicans are not as unified on cap and trade as one would think, and now this proposal for opening up off shore drilling is his way of "buying" Republican votes on cap and trade. It worked with Democrats in health care so the thinking in D.C. is why not Republicans also? The only way this wouldn't work is if all of a sudden every Republican found their morality and refused to be bribed by topically merged bills.
He needs Republican votes on cap and trade, and this one way to get that done. Republicans are not as unified on cap and trade as one would think, and now this proposal for opening up off shore drilling is his way of "buying" Republican votes on cap and trade. It worked with Democrats in health care so the thinking in D.C. is why not Republicans also? The only way this wouldn't work is if all of a sudden every Republican found their morality and refused to be bribed by topically merged bills.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Come One Come All Candidates
If you are a candidate for any public office and write a short piece about 5 of your positions and 2 ways in which you are different than your opponents you will get a free post here. Begin!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Concept
Instead of capping private sector workers, how about we cap all government jobs to a max of $99,999 a year no matter what position it is? When the average American is earning barely above poverty level and Congress is earning close to $200,000 there might be a problem with that. If I had it my way I'd have federally elected official's pay capped at the average annual income of the rest of the country.
I'd also limit bills to ten pages. Think about FDR's bills, and their impact, and then tell me ten pages is too restrictive.
Limit all federal officials to two terms. That way we can recycle the corruption before it begins (examine the case of Susan Collins two terms and increase in pork barrel spending).
I'd also limit bills to ten pages. Think about FDR's bills, and their impact, and then tell me ten pages is too restrictive.
Limit all federal officials to two terms. That way we can recycle the corruption before it begins (examine the case of Susan Collins two terms and increase in pork barrel spending).
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Guest Writer's Question Answered
There is an archived post on another blog by someone I was able to know before I knew of their archive. In one post they ask a very intriguing question. I've gotten their permission to repeat their post here and answer their question in my own way. Enjoy.
Joseph Dill's post from 2006:
"Amazing just how easily influenced children truly are. A wonder that any of us are able to sift through it all and attempt to create what we might call our 'own thought'. Development of the mind should certainly be constant and progressive for humans. But some difficult factors I've recognized as I raise my own children is how quickly they learn, how quickly they change their mind, how they believe many things, at once, even if much of what they believe is contradictory, and how quickly they can forget...
We are all children in the mind. I've yet to believe that I have encountered a 'fully developed' mind. I do believe that the climax of mental development is the last instant of being able to recognize self and life, before death. Until that point is reached, I believe, it would be difficult for one to say, 'I know all that I need to know,' or, 'There is nothing left for me to learn'.
With the concept of being immature, or a child, there comes the burden of authority.
Some believe we need sorts of authority to guide children, to help them recognize who they are, what they are, where they are, and what not to believe, and what to believe. The authority which is allowed to guide children is intended to aid progressive, positive development, I believe. But how well does that work in this era.
That was what I found so amazing about influence, how easy it is to believe what is said, from the authority to the childlike mind, the mind seeking exposure, seeking 'development'.
What is the result if occasionally the 'child' mind seems to exceed the 'development' of the authority?"
My response:
The answer is revolution. If the child mind does not exceed the development of authority is is evolution. For human society evolution to a goal will result in revolution as the evolved expansion of authority will eventually slow itself down to the point where only revolution can recycle and come out more evolved than even evolution brought forth.
The progressive agenda politically speaking is evolving us towards totalitarianism. Only revolution, peaceful in nature, can keep America free. Revolution, a term often connected to violence, is really just a radical change. Very rarely is there a radical change to totalitarianism.
It happens slowly. It took hundreds of years for Rome to become a dictatorship. However once inherited the evolved control of authority becomes stale and yet holds on brutally. The countless millions killed to maintain authority in the world are forgotten, their revolutions failed in uprising. Yet some succeed. Some are peaceful.
Joseph Dill's post from 2006:
"Amazing just how easily influenced children truly are. A wonder that any of us are able to sift through it all and attempt to create what we might call our 'own thought'. Development of the mind should certainly be constant and progressive for humans. But some difficult factors I've recognized as I raise my own children is how quickly they learn, how quickly they change their mind, how they believe many things, at once, even if much of what they believe is contradictory, and how quickly they can forget...
We are all children in the mind. I've yet to believe that I have encountered a 'fully developed' mind. I do believe that the climax of mental development is the last instant of being able to recognize self and life, before death. Until that point is reached, I believe, it would be difficult for one to say, 'I know all that I need to know,' or, 'There is nothing left for me to learn'.
With the concept of being immature, or a child, there comes the burden of authority.
Some believe we need sorts of authority to guide children, to help them recognize who they are, what they are, where they are, and what not to believe, and what to believe. The authority which is allowed to guide children is intended to aid progressive, positive development, I believe. But how well does that work in this era.
That was what I found so amazing about influence, how easy it is to believe what is said, from the authority to the childlike mind, the mind seeking exposure, seeking 'development'.
What is the result if occasionally the 'child' mind seems to exceed the 'development' of the authority?"
My response:
The answer is revolution. If the child mind does not exceed the development of authority is is evolution. For human society evolution to a goal will result in revolution as the evolved expansion of authority will eventually slow itself down to the point where only revolution can recycle and come out more evolved than even evolution brought forth.
The progressive agenda politically speaking is evolving us towards totalitarianism. Only revolution, peaceful in nature, can keep America free. Revolution, a term often connected to violence, is really just a radical change. Very rarely is there a radical change to totalitarianism.
It happens slowly. It took hundreds of years for Rome to become a dictatorship. However once inherited the evolved control of authority becomes stale and yet holds on brutally. The countless millions killed to maintain authority in the world are forgotten, their revolutions failed in uprising. Yet some succeed. Some are peaceful.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The Richest 1 Percent
Many people have been saying the richest 1 percent should pay for all of the new government spending. Well, if that happened we would probably still have the richest 1,000, but most of the 3 million richest 1 percent would be demoted to barely above the poverty line.
My data for this is completely unscientific, as the average annual income of the richest 1 percent is hard to come by in anything except a percentage compared to the lower 90 percent. I found the dollar value described by a GDEA article linked below as being "just above $1 million" in 2001. After an hour and a half of searching that was the ONLY figure I could find, and its rather ambiguous. However, relying on that and considering if the richest 1 percent paid for all of 2009's federal spending it would average out to be $1,166,666 per rich person if I round the total government spending down by 17 million dollars. So if the average top 1 percent is earning "just above $1 million" and the average cost to them would be over a hundred thousand above a million.
Place yourself in their situation. If you worked in a country and earned a good living but had to give it all back to the government to support 300 million other people would you stay in that country? How much like slavery does that sound? Now, will you ever again call for only the rich to pay for every public opportunity you benefit from?
http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/about_us/roach_cs_monitor_12_03.htm
My data for this is completely unscientific, as the average annual income of the richest 1 percent is hard to come by in anything except a percentage compared to the lower 90 percent. I found the dollar value described by a GDEA article linked below as being "just above $1 million" in 2001. After an hour and a half of searching that was the ONLY figure I could find, and its rather ambiguous. However, relying on that and considering if the richest 1 percent paid for all of 2009's federal spending it would average out to be $1,166,666 per rich person if I round the total government spending down by 17 million dollars. So if the average top 1 percent is earning "just above $1 million" and the average cost to them would be over a hundred thousand above a million.
Place yourself in their situation. If you worked in a country and earned a good living but had to give it all back to the government to support 300 million other people would you stay in that country? How much like slavery does that sound? Now, will you ever again call for only the rich to pay for every public opportunity you benefit from?
http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/about_us/roach_cs_monitor_12_03.htm
Monday, March 1, 2010
Russia's Tank Faux Pas
In an interesting sign of the mind set of Russian's military that may explain why Russia's various insurgencies still have plenty of weapons....200 Russian tanks have been found fueled, ready to go, and abandoned in a forest. I wonder who's head Putin will make roll for this one.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7338097/200-Russian-tanks-found-abandoned-in-forest.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7338097/200-Russian-tanks-found-abandoned-in-forest.html
Interview: Me
A long time ago I had pacified some requests to answer questions on "whohub" and just today I decided to indulge three very persistent people who desired I answer more. So if you really want to know a little more about what makes my clock tick go read the following:
http://www.whohub.com/rhkinc
http://www.whohub.com/rhkinc
Birds of Afghanistan
Today was going to cover several gubernatorial candidates and how I will defend until my death every statement made about them, their quotes, and my opinion of them. However, I noticed a much more amusing article about how Afghanistan has an "EPA" of its own.
Excerpt:
KABUL — Afghanistan's fledgling conservation agency moved Sunday to protect one of the world's rarest birds after the species was rediscovered in the war-ravaged country's northeast.
The remote Pamir Mountains are the only known breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, a species so elusive that it had been documented only twice before in more than a century.
Excerpt over. Aside from this warbler there is a sparrow like "Afghan Snowfinch", a rather colorful "Bohemian Waxwing" which, while not native to Afghanistan, does call it home, and Afghanistan is also known to have flamingos, which if you don't know what they are crawl out of your rock and go to Disney World.
AP article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX2YfnI6k7kVgsWt1NsjBzQVtdOwD9E54HJ80
Other birds from wikipedia.
Excerpt:
KABUL — Afghanistan's fledgling conservation agency moved Sunday to protect one of the world's rarest birds after the species was rediscovered in the war-ravaged country's northeast.
The remote Pamir Mountains are the only known breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, a species so elusive that it had been documented only twice before in more than a century.
Excerpt over. Aside from this warbler there is a sparrow like "Afghan Snowfinch", a rather colorful "Bohemian Waxwing" which, while not native to Afghanistan, does call it home, and Afghanistan is also known to have flamingos, which if you don't know what they are crawl out of your rock and go to Disney World.
AP article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX2YfnI6k7kVgsWt1NsjBzQVtdOwD9E54HJ80
Other birds from wikipedia.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
The world is changing. The recent string of earthquakes all over the world of above 5.0 magnitude are a sign of something big. I am only going on instinct. Yesterday a large earthquake struck Ryukyu in Japan. An 8.8 struck Chile and the death toll is rising quickly. This started it seems with the Haiti earthquake, which led to numerous aftershocks as well as earthquakes off Central America and the other Caribbean islands, and one in Venezuela. Something is going on.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tonight's Evening Entertainment
The only secrets I keep are those which harm no one. I like to know things, as many things as possible. People's perceptions of things are an amazing thing to learn about as you learn about something and about the person. Tonight I talked with many people, saw candidates, and spoke to people on the same level as me: active citizen in our political process.
One thing I was immensely annoyed with was the assessment by one of the candidates that their run for office was just to be a placeholder for the party. That man will have no support of mine. We run for office to serve our communities. We run for office to win. The only statement an uncontested seat shows is a commitment to have qualified people fill that position.
In other news about tonight: Steve Abbot is your standard politician. He said nothing at the Bangor GOP meeting to separate himself from the other candidates. I asked no questions to him for my mind was in other places.
A more lengthy reflection MAY come tomorrow.
One thing I was immensely annoyed with was the assessment by one of the candidates that their run for office was just to be a placeholder for the party. That man will have no support of mine. We run for office to serve our communities. We run for office to win. The only statement an uncontested seat shows is a commitment to have qualified people fill that position.
In other news about tonight: Steve Abbot is your standard politician. He said nothing at the Bangor GOP meeting to separate himself from the other candidates. I asked no questions to him for my mind was in other places.
A more lengthy reflection MAY come tomorrow.
Just another Post
So apparently 1/3 of young adults were uninsured in 2008. Guess what? It doesn't matter. We're healthy people. We don't need to pay thousands every year for doctor visits and treatments we don't feel we need. Guess what else? It isn't the government's place to tell me to go to the doctor.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61N4GI20100224
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61N4GI20100224
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Bloctopus!
This blog has extended itself to connect to a network of three websites and five email accounts through which I can be contacted. I recently noticed one of those email accounts was almost abandoned, dozens of your emails unattended to. Well, I've responded to all of them and will now be keeping up on all emails on a regular basis.
Monday, February 22, 2010
What is in a name?
Recent news article:
The Associated Press
Monday, February 22, 2010; 2:46 PM
TEHRAN, Iran -- Airlines not referring to the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula as the Persian Gulf will be banned from Iranian airspace, the transport minister told local media Monday.
Excerpt over. Just call it the Persian Gulf! Seriously, the Arabians get a while SEA named after them, wanting the gulf as well is just a bit self serving.
Or, perhaps, nobody could give a giant chocolate chip cookie and just focus on the more important issues? Right, sorry, bad idea. Hey what are you doing with those rocks? HEY! OW! PENGUINS!
The Associated Press
Monday, February 22, 2010; 2:46 PM
TEHRAN, Iran -- Airlines not referring to the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula as the Persian Gulf will be banned from Iranian airspace, the transport minister told local media Monday.
Excerpt over. Just call it the Persian Gulf! Seriously, the Arabians get a while SEA named after them, wanting the gulf as well is just a bit self serving.
Or, perhaps, nobody could give a giant chocolate chip cookie and just focus on the more important issues? Right, sorry, bad idea. Hey what are you doing with those rocks? HEY! OW! PENGUINS!
Assinine Assassination Fallout
The article says:
European Union foreign ministers will condemn assassinations and the use of forged passports on Monday to censure Israel after the killing of a Palestinian militant in Dubai.
Excerpt over. The European Union is going to condemn Israel for possibly killing the leader of a terrorist organization in an assassination in which the job of several of the hit squad's members was to steer civilians away. Am I the only one who sees this kind of assassination as somehow more noble than the attacks in Lebanon?
Or perhaps I'm faking common sense because I'm really part of the Israeli lobby. What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L2F520100222
European Union foreign ministers will condemn assassinations and the use of forged passports on Monday to censure Israel after the killing of a Palestinian militant in Dubai.
Excerpt over. The European Union is going to condemn Israel for possibly killing the leader of a terrorist organization in an assassination in which the job of several of the hit squad's members was to steer civilians away. Am I the only one who sees this kind of assassination as somehow more noble than the attacks in Lebanon?
Or perhaps I'm faking common sense because I'm really part of the Israeli lobby. What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L2F520100222
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Israel's New Diplomatic Weapon
One of the major concerns for an Israeli air strike on Iran was the potential to have their pilots show down and captured. With Israel's major policy of having all of their troops be buried at home this posed a major challenge to their planning. Yet, they've developed a new weapon.
A drone plane that can reach Iran with a flight time of 24 hours and a payload capacity of a ton is now in Israel's arsenal. Now, this isn't a fleet of these airplanes they have. They will need to, sadly, race in the development of them if they wish to conduct a first wave destruction of Iran's nuclear program before it creates the weapon capable of fulfilling Iran's promise of "wiping Israel off the map". Whether these aircraft can defy Iran's missile defense systems also is unknown.
What is certain is that this new aircraft gives Israel a new, safer tool in striking threats outside their borders. Politically speaking it also means they may conduct more attacks on weapon shipments ranging from the Mediterranean to Sudan.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHTbfe9vBdx_n014-AeaxzDWWqIw
A drone plane that can reach Iran with a flight time of 24 hours and a payload capacity of a ton is now in Israel's arsenal. Now, this isn't a fleet of these airplanes they have. They will need to, sadly, race in the development of them if they wish to conduct a first wave destruction of Iran's nuclear program before it creates the weapon capable of fulfilling Iran's promise of "wiping Israel off the map". Whether these aircraft can defy Iran's missile defense systems also is unknown.
What is certain is that this new aircraft gives Israel a new, safer tool in striking threats outside their borders. Politically speaking it also means they may conduct more attacks on weapon shipments ranging from the Mediterranean to Sudan.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHTbfe9vBdx_n014-AeaxzDWWqIw
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sudanese Peace Agreement
There is the possibility for the genocide to end in this process. However the tribal/ethnic/cultural nature of the violence, like so many conflicts in Africa, will not be truly resolved by a truce.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jleHXraxl_n7vtP-_CtCRC2-5-3w
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jleHXraxl_n7vtP-_CtCRC2-5-3w
Part 3
We all tire of thousands of pages of nothing
Being passed by those not reading only the original four.
Our Constitution restrains a government
Bled for by those seeking freedom.
Looking to incumbents working at night;
Knowing they are whom I must fight,
When told it will all be alright.
To right the wrongs and restore God given Rights,
I will go to City Hall,
I will go to Augusta,
I will go to Washington.
I will not have my soul depart,
For honesty shall lead my heart.
Being passed by those not reading only the original four.
Our Constitution restrains a government
Bled for by those seeking freedom.
Looking to incumbents working at night;
Knowing they are whom I must fight,
When told it will all be alright.
To right the wrongs and restore God given Rights,
I will go to City Hall,
I will go to Augusta,
I will go to Washington.
I will not have my soul depart,
For honesty shall lead my heart.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Opportunity in Niger
The Niger military has deposed their president and suspended the Constitution. Leading up to this was the president's dissolving of the parliament, and replacing the entire court system with his own personal picks. He also gave himself an extended term. Basically, the Constitution was thrown out before this coup.
There is a unique opportunity here. Prior to this power grab by the president and now the military there were two very stable (by African standards) elections. Hopefully the military will put in place a process for democracy within a year, if not then I suggest the world end all Uranium shipments out of the country until such a commitment is made by the new leadership.
One of the reason's this country has some importance is because it is the third largest source of Uranium in the world. Niger also has the highest population growth.
One side note in case you mention this topic to others when referring to Niger citizens they are Nigerien, not Nigerian which refers to the people of Nigeria.
There is a unique opportunity here. Prior to this power grab by the president and now the military there were two very stable (by African standards) elections. Hopefully the military will put in place a process for democracy within a year, if not then I suggest the world end all Uranium shipments out of the country until such a commitment is made by the new leadership.
One of the reason's this country has some importance is because it is the third largest source of Uranium in the world. Niger also has the highest population growth.
One side note in case you mention this topic to others when referring to Niger citizens they are Nigerien, not Nigerian which refers to the people of Nigeria.
The State of The World
Islam is hard lining in Malaysia:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704398804575071173912460414.html
Russia is still blurring the lines between Russia and Abkhazia:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iA_q3mcvbweZYWMyw31KrW30EvUwD9DU34E01
And Iran will stand by a terrorist organization against Israel:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iiAqp623vjfmpTTtpnmsKnG_hHEAD9DUK2H00
Syria is saying Israel will drive them to war:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-04/israel-creating-climate-of-war-syria-minister-says-update1-.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704398804575071173912460414.html
Russia is still blurring the lines between Russia and Abkhazia:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iA_q3mcvbweZYWMyw31KrW30EvUwD9DU34E01
And Iran will stand by a terrorist organization against Israel:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iiAqp623vjfmpTTtpnmsKnG_hHEAD9DUK2H00
Syria is saying Israel will drive them to war:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-04/israel-creating-climate-of-war-syria-minister-says-update1-.html
Mexico's Drug War Spills Over
Humanitarian crisis in Texas? 30,000 people have fled Mexico's Ciduad Juarez in the past 18 months into El Paso. 200,000 total have fled the city.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1819528920100218
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1819528920100218
Cooperation in War
Pakistan has helped capture three top Taliban leaders recently. Saudi Arabia is now doing its part as well:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-17/saudis-arrest-al-qaeda-militant-on-most-wanted-terrorist-list.html
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-17/saudis-arrest-al-qaeda-militant-on-most-wanted-terrorist-list.html
Riots in Vancouver
Anarchists, indigenous people are angry about the Olympics.
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100vancouver-riots
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100vancouver-riots
COUP in Niger
The president and cabinet of Niger is being held hostage.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8522227.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8522227.stm
Weapons in Somalia
"Hi I'd like an AK-47, used or new please."
"Oh Hey! I'm looking for the same thing."
"Awesome man. You Shebab or TFG?"
"Shebab, you?"
"I'm TFG. Hopefully I'll be shooting you in the back tomorrow!"
"Same to you man, same to you."
The reason for this exchange is the following:
Islamist insurgents and fighters from Somalia's government forces mingle peacefully at Mogadishu's main weapons market, but both sides are stocking up ahead of a major government offensive.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g5_ZfMDe4JyDbBN6cRS_HzPKOGOg
"Oh Hey! I'm looking for the same thing."
"Awesome man. You Shebab or TFG?"
"Shebab, you?"
"I'm TFG. Hopefully I'll be shooting you in the back tomorrow!"
"Same to you man, same to you."
The reason for this exchange is the following:
Islamist insurgents and fighters from Somalia's government forces mingle peacefully at Mogadishu's main weapons market, but both sides are stocking up ahead of a major government offensive.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g5_ZfMDe4JyDbBN6cRS_HzPKOGOg
Kurdistan Elections
This could get ugly.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hbv1WbydkhNOxPCSGlM-sjtRbqiQ
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hbv1WbydkhNOxPCSGlM-sjtRbqiQ
Friday, February 12, 2010
The only noise during the minute of silence at the Olympic games honoring the memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luge competitor who died during practice, was the cry of a baby. As if channeling the pain within the hearts of those who knew him and the merited devotion he had for both his sport and his nation the child cried.
The entire performance overall was spectacular. May the tragedy of Nodar be the last of these Olympic Games.
The entire performance overall was spectacular. May the tragedy of Nodar be the last of these Olympic Games.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Debate With a 9/11 Truther
It lasted in full 7 emails. The first two emails were confirming that we were going to have a debate. This is our full debate (taking out emails and easing the format some):
His first email (my first email was really a post on his blog):
My time is very short as I am making a film at the moment, a film that I hope will answer any questions or objections you have. But I'll think about it though, I'm always up for a phone convo if this is just for your own personal curiosity.
JM
My response:
I was hoping to have this debate via email, a continuous back and forth for years if needed. Along the way some issues will be permanently resolved, and those that are not should be placed publicly demanding answers. I'm hoping through our two side examination we can compile a list of unresolved issues for people with more means than I, possibly even you, have. I understand you have a life and so do I. An email a day, or a week, whenever we get the opportunity would be fine by me.
Besides making this public my intention is to inform as many people as possible of the unresolved issues (supporting or not supporting my side) so the public will be wiser. This is an opportunity to not only cover the truth of the event, but also teach other things such as psychology, religion, engineering, politics, ect. I am not formal in any regard, and hope we can "debate" for the truth.
Truther:
OK, well, kick things off I guess.
Me:
The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. (From Wikipedia).
Truther:
Even if we accept that bin Laden and gang were the masterminds of 9/11 it does not negate a slew of evidence indicating that they were allowed to succeed and had their results amplified. 9/11 very well could have been an inside and an outside job.
Me:
Your links lead to more links which lead to even more links following by another link to a source cited in a report I found to have had the citation of a report based on the JFK assassination. So lets go a direct route in bringing the information, the data, to the email. What evidence indicates they were allowed to succeed? What evidence indicated their results were amplified (presumably by a force outside of their own means)? The second link has no derivable questions of specific value as it raises no ambiguous leads only a statement of possibilities which can be found by the first two questions in this "segment". Do you accept the fact of a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda on the United States on September 11, 2001?
Truther:
I'm sorry, but the more I think about this debate, the more I know I have no interest in it. You are in essence asking me to write a book. I tackle an issue here and there these days, but to tackle every detail in a possible multiple year long debate is frankly more time than I wish to devote to this cause. I have been a member of the 9/11 truth movement since 2004. I am pretty much finished after I complete my movie, absent some big developments. It's the capstone to all the research and activism I have done. Keep an eye out for it and review it if you want. I'll review your review. :)
Take care,
JM
Me:
You, sir, are unwilling to stand up for what you believe in no matter the cost. All I asked for was your time at your pace on a topic you've placed immense efforts in already. I didn't want a book, I wanted the truth. I don't play by your link to a link of a link rules that never finds the real truth and you back down. You are a coward.
His first email (my first email was really a post on his blog):
My time is very short as I am making a film at the moment, a film that I hope will answer any questions or objections you have. But I'll think about it though, I'm always up for a phone convo if this is just for your own personal curiosity.
JM
My response:
I was hoping to have this debate via email, a continuous back and forth for years if needed. Along the way some issues will be permanently resolved, and those that are not should be placed publicly demanding answers. I'm hoping through our two side examination we can compile a list of unresolved issues for people with more means than I, possibly even you, have. I understand you have a life and so do I. An email a day, or a week, whenever we get the opportunity would be fine by me.
Besides making this public my intention is to inform as many people as possible of the unresolved issues (supporting or not supporting my side) so the public will be wiser. This is an opportunity to not only cover the truth of the event, but also teach other things such as psychology, religion, engineering, politics, ect. I am not formal in any regard, and hope we can "debate" for the truth.
Truther:
OK, well, kick things off I guess.
Me:
The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. (From Wikipedia).
Truther:
Even if we accept that bin Laden and gang were the masterminds of 9/11 it does not negate a slew of evidence indicating that they were allowed to succeed and had their results amplified. 9/11 very well could have been an inside and an outside job.
Me:
Your links lead to more links which lead to even more links following by another link to a source cited in a report I found to have had the citation of a report based on the JFK assassination. So lets go a direct route in bringing the information, the data, to the email. What evidence indicates they were allowed to succeed? What evidence indicated their results were amplified (presumably by a force outside of their own means)? The second link has no derivable questions of specific value as it raises no ambiguous leads only a statement of possibilities which can be found by the first two questions in this "segment". Do you accept the fact of a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda on the United States on September 11, 2001?
Truther:
I'm sorry, but the more I think about this debate, the more I know I have no interest in it. You are in essence asking me to write a book. I tackle an issue here and there these days, but to tackle every detail in a possible multiple year long debate is frankly more time than I wish to devote to this cause. I have been a member of the 9/11 truth movement since 2004. I am pretty much finished after I complete my movie, absent some big developments. It's the capstone to all the research and activism I have done. Keep an eye out for it and review it if you want. I'll review your review. :)
Take care,
JM
Me:
You, sir, are unwilling to stand up for what you believe in no matter the cost. All I asked for was your time at your pace on a topic you've placed immense efforts in already. I didn't want a book, I wanted the truth. I don't play by your link to a link of a link rules that never finds the real truth and you back down. You are a coward.
Iran/Resource Based Socialism
The hope internationally is that the crackdown by the government of Iran on their own people will give them another reason, aside from the nuclear issue which lacks Russian and Chinese will, to change the regime by any means.
The first is of course sanctions. The economic weapon once most potent for the reliance on America by the world for any measurable economic success. Yet, as globalization moves forward and sanctions are ignored by nations seeking any buyer at any price for their own survival, the supporters of sanctions will find that while removing one source of funds works short term the long term ability for sanctions to truly isolate and alter a nation's political course is minute.
Yet the oppression (in the form of limiting freedom of speech, assembly, ect.) is inspiring the world to investigate the brutal crimes an entrenching regime employs to not eliminate, but force into hiding the dissenters (imprisonment, torture, rape, execution, ect.) Recent sanctions called for by our US Congress targeted the security apparatus in the Revolutionary Guard; not for connections to the nuclear program, but for their compliance with orders to commit horrendous crimes against their own people's freedom. A UN investigation, urged by the US, will soon take place. Perhaps Israel can be the nation to bring legitimate scorn on its Arab opponents instead of the inventive delusions the War in Gaza brought onto Israel from its neighbors.
One can also see the failure of an attempt to create a Socialist Theocracy in recent years contributing to the uprising against the Iranian regime. The smaller nations of Qatar and Kuwait succeeded due to the luck of vast amounts of oil compared to population. The external influx of wealth allowed their mixture of Socialism and Capitalism to thrive due to the massive amount of prosperity injection. With no limit of resources this system has worked yet it requires an almost eternal resource base (in this case oil) to continue indefinitely in a status quo form. Some with limits on that resource diversified before crashing.
Dubai has made the efforts to diversify but did so in a limited fashion by going directly for two sectors (banking and real estate). Dubai is standing on the edge of a cliff now as the international market loses its value in real estate and banking. Not even their diversity of location (worldwide ports, Las Vegas, ect.) has spared them from the debt crash.
Other attempts to build resource based Socialism are failing elsewhere. Venezuela attempted to use its oil, and still does (rationing power to cities but not to oil fields), to support the Socialist revolution. However the people are finding the same problem Iran has found which is that it will not succeed. The leadership can't accept its failure because then they are no longer legitimate.
In Iran they lost their legitimacy. The promises made to the poor that got Ahmadinejad elected in 2005 resulted in gas rationing in an oil producing nation. His goal of helping the poor resulted in real estate becoming more expensive by factors of two or three in some areas. The enemy chosen by Iran was not capitalism directly but the west; not due to a lack of hatred of capitalism but since a cultural hatred of the west included more than just capitalism. Such a connection allowed greater political points to be scored in the Islamic nation. For those unaware about Ahmadinejad's connection to Socialism: "[o]ne of his goals is "putting the petroleum income on people's tables"." [1]
Oil hasn't been the only resource nation's have based their Socialist promises on. Green technology and industries were promised by Spain to produce jobs and make electricity cheaper while making the carbon output lower. Lets examine the results as known in December 2009:
"For the last ten years, Spain has said all the right things about controlling its carbon emissions in the face of the looming climate crisis. It has even taken concrete action: A new law demands every new house in Spain must have a solar water heater. The country also has made massive investments in solar power plants, wind farms and public transport. However in the last ten years Spain's carbon footprint has increased by more than 30 percent."
Excerpt over. So the country isn't cleaner, how about those jobs and cheaper electricity? Well, in 2008 Spain reached 37% unemployment. Right now 4 million of a workforce of 27 million are unemployed. As for prices I tried to find real value but due to the feed-in tariff policy every industry has an artificial price meant to encourage greener energy. That means it isn't cheaper and they have to subsidize it. Resource based Socialism doesn't work in large scale, just like all the other kinds of Socialism.
Conclusion:
Not only should we support the Iranian people's demand of freedom and help them attain it by all means possible but we need to prevent our own nation's leaders' promised reliance on green technology to try to create a resource based socialist nation.
[1]: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA19Ak03.html
[2]: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121274675
The first is of course sanctions. The economic weapon once most potent for the reliance on America by the world for any measurable economic success. Yet, as globalization moves forward and sanctions are ignored by nations seeking any buyer at any price for their own survival, the supporters of sanctions will find that while removing one source of funds works short term the long term ability for sanctions to truly isolate and alter a nation's political course is minute.
Yet the oppression (in the form of limiting freedom of speech, assembly, ect.) is inspiring the world to investigate the brutal crimes an entrenching regime employs to not eliminate, but force into hiding the dissenters (imprisonment, torture, rape, execution, ect.) Recent sanctions called for by our US Congress targeted the security apparatus in the Revolutionary Guard; not for connections to the nuclear program, but for their compliance with orders to commit horrendous crimes against their own people's freedom. A UN investigation, urged by the US, will soon take place. Perhaps Israel can be the nation to bring legitimate scorn on its Arab opponents instead of the inventive delusions the War in Gaza brought onto Israel from its neighbors.
One can also see the failure of an attempt to create a Socialist Theocracy in recent years contributing to the uprising against the Iranian regime. The smaller nations of Qatar and Kuwait succeeded due to the luck of vast amounts of oil compared to population. The external influx of wealth allowed their mixture of Socialism and Capitalism to thrive due to the massive amount of prosperity injection. With no limit of resources this system has worked yet it requires an almost eternal resource base (in this case oil) to continue indefinitely in a status quo form. Some with limits on that resource diversified before crashing.
Dubai has made the efforts to diversify but did so in a limited fashion by going directly for two sectors (banking and real estate). Dubai is standing on the edge of a cliff now as the international market loses its value in real estate and banking. Not even their diversity of location (worldwide ports, Las Vegas, ect.) has spared them from the debt crash.
Other attempts to build resource based Socialism are failing elsewhere. Venezuela attempted to use its oil, and still does (rationing power to cities but not to oil fields), to support the Socialist revolution. However the people are finding the same problem Iran has found which is that it will not succeed. The leadership can't accept its failure because then they are no longer legitimate.
In Iran they lost their legitimacy. The promises made to the poor that got Ahmadinejad elected in 2005 resulted in gas rationing in an oil producing nation. His goal of helping the poor resulted in real estate becoming more expensive by factors of two or three in some areas. The enemy chosen by Iran was not capitalism directly but the west; not due to a lack of hatred of capitalism but since a cultural hatred of the west included more than just capitalism. Such a connection allowed greater political points to be scored in the Islamic nation. For those unaware about Ahmadinejad's connection to Socialism: "[o]ne of his goals is "putting the petroleum income on people's tables"." [1]
Oil hasn't been the only resource nation's have based their Socialist promises on. Green technology and industries were promised by Spain to produce jobs and make electricity cheaper while making the carbon output lower. Lets examine the results as known in December 2009:
"For the last ten years, Spain has said all the right things about controlling its carbon emissions in the face of the looming climate crisis. It has even taken concrete action: A new law demands every new house in Spain must have a solar water heater. The country also has made massive investments in solar power plants, wind farms and public transport. However in the last ten years Spain's carbon footprint has increased by more than 30 percent."
Excerpt over. So the country isn't cleaner, how about those jobs and cheaper electricity? Well, in 2008 Spain reached 37% unemployment. Right now 4 million of a workforce of 27 million are unemployed. As for prices I tried to find real value but due to the feed-in tariff policy every industry has an artificial price meant to encourage greener energy. That means it isn't cheaper and they have to subsidize it. Resource based Socialism doesn't work in large scale, just like all the other kinds of Socialism.
Conclusion:
Not only should we support the Iranian people's demand of freedom and help them attain it by all means possible but we need to prevent our own nation's leaders' promised reliance on green technology to try to create a resource based socialist nation.
[1]: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA19Ak03.html
[2]: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121274675
Sunday, February 7, 2010
February Style
You're going to notice my posts will be significantly shorter in February. I will post news and link to it but due to a personal project requiring my writing skills to be placed to another purpose (for the blog in March) I will update news and give little to no opinion pieces. Stay tuned because the news I find I will try to highlight either bias or news that the world missed. For example during the Gaza War between Israel and Hamas I've learned Israel conducted at least three air strikes in Sudan against Iranian weapon shipments heading to Gaza. Little things like this should be brought to light during events and not after them, and that is what I will try to do during February. During March my regularly scheduled programming will return in full force (and then some).
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A Night in a Pub With Gubernatorial Candidate Peter Mills
I'm going to tread lightly in this post and give a second in depth post after tomorrow's BDN is printed so as not to infringe upon the literary reporting of someone who makes a living off doing what I did tonight for nothing more than a glass of water: interviewing a candidate for governor and those around him at a lively pub. Yes, I said pub. No, I did not drink. Yes, I enjoyed meeting many new people and some old friends as well. It was particularly humorous to be the one not to remember faces, instead of the other way around.
After leaving my house and taking a ridiculously long path to get there, so as not to walk past the murder scene on my street from a few nights ago, I finally arrived at the Whig and Currie Pub and Restaurant (?) in downtown. Entering resulted in the surprise that it did not smell overwhelmingly of stale beer. That made the event tolerable.
Finding my place with Nichi Farnham I discussed with her some politics. Moving from there I talked to several others about politics, and also talked with some on-off acquaintances from Peter Mill's campaign. I also spoke with a Mr. Cousins from the Bangor Daily News, and while the liberal (or just vehement hatred of Republicans) within him oozed outward like nuclear radiation it was a rather pleasant conversation in which I watched him ask rather general questions with rather weak follow ups (meaning none at all). So if you read this get a little tougher and think faster on your feet. Also, always get the answer to the question you originally or meant to ask.
Side note: While it may seem...improper to use such a public location to critique one's work I feel there is no better place to discuss something, no matter how trivial, than in the light of day for everyone to walk past carelessly should they lack attachment to such an issue. Your work being regularly published publicly means any observation of your abilities, good or bad, should be done publicly as well. On with the show.
Later that evening I met with a former McCain campaign "boss" who just got back from working with Scott Brown. That was also rather pleasant. Many, except me, had sipped if not consumed entire measurable quantities of alcohol. None were drunk, even the guy sitting next to three empty bottles, so I remained.
A discussion throughout the evening regarded the clean election funding decision. Due to how the system tries to match what a privately funded candidate raises for a clean election funded candidate it was seen as a better option for the local candidates to match Democrats in a decision to go the clean election route. They saw it better to be equal in funds and win on a strong issue/idea/solution base than a monetary edge that would bankrupt the state with clean election opponents. I found this to be an honorable reasoning to the decision to use clean election funding. Peter Mills is a clean election fund candidate. This made the event enlightening of new perspectives.
As the night went on my blog, the one you happen to be reading, became such a topic of discussion that I was interviewed about my blog. I was surprised, unprepared, and on the inside completely regret the cavalier humor I injected to allow my lungs to function as needed in front of the camera. Luckily I survived, didn't say anything too.....damaging, and will see this as an opportunity to remember my speech and debate talent from high school and never say "um" again. I'm not even sure if the video will be put on their website, the details weren't worked out and I failed to give them my phone number. (While I only drank water, my mind was adrenalined beyond planning things by 7:30.)
My former debate career brings me to a little side project I've been working on. The details have not been finalized, but two gubernatorial Public Forum rounds may be arranged between the candidates for governor. Beyond that I am keeping this low key until confirmation of an actual event with a date and time. However, after this evening, things look positive for such an event. This made the event tonight a constructive one.
After leaving my house and taking a ridiculously long path to get there, so as not to walk past the murder scene on my street from a few nights ago, I finally arrived at the Whig and Currie Pub and Restaurant (?) in downtown. Entering resulted in the surprise that it did not smell overwhelmingly of stale beer. That made the event tolerable.
Finding my place with Nichi Farnham I discussed with her some politics. Moving from there I talked to several others about politics, and also talked with some on-off acquaintances from Peter Mill's campaign. I also spoke with a Mr. Cousins from the Bangor Daily News, and while the liberal (or just vehement hatred of Republicans) within him oozed outward like nuclear radiation it was a rather pleasant conversation in which I watched him ask rather general questions with rather weak follow ups (meaning none at all). So if you read this get a little tougher and think faster on your feet. Also, always get the answer to the question you originally or meant to ask.
Side note: While it may seem...improper to use such a public location to critique one's work I feel there is no better place to discuss something, no matter how trivial, than in the light of day for everyone to walk past carelessly should they lack attachment to such an issue. Your work being regularly published publicly means any observation of your abilities, good or bad, should be done publicly as well. On with the show.
Later that evening I met with a former McCain campaign "boss" who just got back from working with Scott Brown. That was also rather pleasant. Many, except me, had sipped if not consumed entire measurable quantities of alcohol. None were drunk, even the guy sitting next to three empty bottles, so I remained.
A discussion throughout the evening regarded the clean election funding decision. Due to how the system tries to match what a privately funded candidate raises for a clean election funded candidate it was seen as a better option for the local candidates to match Democrats in a decision to go the clean election route. They saw it better to be equal in funds and win on a strong issue/idea/solution base than a monetary edge that would bankrupt the state with clean election opponents. I found this to be an honorable reasoning to the decision to use clean election funding. Peter Mills is a clean election fund candidate. This made the event enlightening of new perspectives.
As the night went on my blog, the one you happen to be reading, became such a topic of discussion that I was interviewed about my blog. I was surprised, unprepared, and on the inside completely regret the cavalier humor I injected to allow my lungs to function as needed in front of the camera. Luckily I survived, didn't say anything too.....damaging, and will see this as an opportunity to remember my speech and debate talent from high school and never say "um" again. I'm not even sure if the video will be put on their website, the details weren't worked out and I failed to give them my phone number. (While I only drank water, my mind was adrenalined beyond planning things by 7:30.)
My former debate career brings me to a little side project I've been working on. The details have not been finalized, but two gubernatorial Public Forum rounds may be arranged between the candidates for governor. Beyond that I am keeping this low key until confirmation of an actual event with a date and time. However, after this evening, things look positive for such an event. This made the event tonight a constructive one.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Mind of Les Otten
So recently Les Otten was at the University of Maine (Thursday to be exact). He was attending the College Republican's meeting which was below 25 in attendance. One thing I have to mention simply for purposes of humor, no ill intention here at all, is in regards to his assistants. The two staffers he had there were both female, high heels, tight dresses, tall, and skinny. I thought a reunion of Guliani's wives was taking place.
The humor of the event ends there. He opened with asking us what we all thought about Global Warming. After listening to our varying viewpoints he summarized our concerns on the issue as:
Well, regardless of what you believe about Global Warming, oil is going to run out so it won't really matter either way. What we need to do is focus on oil.
Paraphrasing over. Thanks for saying you don't really care what we think. It went down hill from there. Among (paraphrasing) his most notable ideas we have the following:
Obama "stole" the Republican idea on nuclear power because of Scott Brown.
If Maine doubled electricity usage our cost would drop 25% due to infrastructure usage.
We should have excellent schools because we don't have any minority populations to "drag us down".
Lack of ethnic diversity is a problem for Maine.
We should have one superintendant per county.
We need to stop "sending money to, pardon me for saying this, Saudi Arabia".
We can build an East-West highway without state or federal funds."
Maine's mentality of a white majority is a minority viewpoint in the world.
If you're obese we won't pay your health care.
Summary over. Les Otten has little common sense.
On the topic of guns Les stated "I like guns". He said that Maine hates New Hampshire and vise versa. He also supports gambling as long as it doesn't create a monopoly. Good or bad he said these things as well.
He also spoke of "anticipatory tax credits" which is basically a "cash for ...." style program but instead of getting the credit at purchase like the Cash for Clunkers program it would be deducted on the tax returns.
Meanwhile he is very partisan. Otten continually said he goes along with Republicans even after they may take stands on issues harmful to their public opinion. He mentioned that Democrats don't fight each other and Republicans shouldn't either by moving onto issues Republicans are united on.
On the issue of having a massive donation to his own campaign from...himself Mr. Otten replied by saying he has the largest number of supporters. So, with LePage saying he has 4,000 "foot soldiers" and Otten claiming to have the most supporters I challenge the candidates to start gathering some information on their mailing lists and petition signatures.
The victory by Bruce Poliquin at the first Republican primary/caucus at Manchester was unanimous and thus securing 13 votes at the Maine Republican caucus. I consider that to be a solid sign of things to come. Poliquin leading in donors and total funds in his campaign is also a sign of leading the pack. If the other candidates would prove publicly that they have the grass roots support to beat Poliquin I challenge them to do so.
Through this process of listening to Les Otten speak to the College Republicans there was much silence when time came for questioning. Improvisation was done and the group moved forward but Otten did not connect to the people in the room. He had our ears but not our hearts and certainly not my support. Otten doesn't care about the people of Maine, or even the Republican going door to door supporting conservative ideas. He cares about the Republican leadership approving of him and has a belittling tone of conversation.
I was annoyed that he spoke to us like children. Asking our opinion and telling us it didn't matter because of something else was very insulting. Lecturing to us not about his stance on an issue but on what he wants us to know about an issue is presuming we are ignorant to not only what we believe about things but also in being aware of things.
Lastly, Mr. Otten said he will never speak ill of a fellow Republican. I'm sorry Otten but if a Republican kills someone I'm going to call them a murderer. If they steal I'm going to call them a thief. If they say a lack of ethnic diversity is a problem I'm going to call them a racist who should focus on a real problem.
If a Republican lacks common sense I'm going to call them Les Otten.
The humor of the event ends there. He opened with asking us what we all thought about Global Warming. After listening to our varying viewpoints he summarized our concerns on the issue as:
Well, regardless of what you believe about Global Warming, oil is going to run out so it won't really matter either way. What we need to do is focus on oil.
Paraphrasing over. Thanks for saying you don't really care what we think. It went down hill from there. Among (paraphrasing) his most notable ideas we have the following:
Obama "stole" the Republican idea on nuclear power because of Scott Brown.
If Maine doubled electricity usage our cost would drop 25% due to infrastructure usage.
We should have excellent schools because we don't have any minority populations to "drag us down".
Lack of ethnic diversity is a problem for Maine.
We should have one superintendant per county.
We need to stop "sending money to, pardon me for saying this, Saudi Arabia".
We can build an East-West highway without state or federal funds."
Maine's mentality of a white majority is a minority viewpoint in the world.
If you're obese we won't pay your health care.
Summary over. Les Otten has little common sense.
On the topic of guns Les stated "I like guns". He said that Maine hates New Hampshire and vise versa. He also supports gambling as long as it doesn't create a monopoly. Good or bad he said these things as well.
He also spoke of "anticipatory tax credits" which is basically a "cash for ...." style program but instead of getting the credit at purchase like the Cash for Clunkers program it would be deducted on the tax returns.
Meanwhile he is very partisan. Otten continually said he goes along with Republicans even after they may take stands on issues harmful to their public opinion. He mentioned that Democrats don't fight each other and Republicans shouldn't either by moving onto issues Republicans are united on.
On the issue of having a massive donation to his own campaign from...himself Mr. Otten replied by saying he has the largest number of supporters. So, with LePage saying he has 4,000 "foot soldiers" and Otten claiming to have the most supporters I challenge the candidates to start gathering some information on their mailing lists and petition signatures.
The victory by Bruce Poliquin at the first Republican primary/caucus at Manchester was unanimous and thus securing 13 votes at the Maine Republican caucus. I consider that to be a solid sign of things to come. Poliquin leading in donors and total funds in his campaign is also a sign of leading the pack. If the other candidates would prove publicly that they have the grass roots support to beat Poliquin I challenge them to do so.
Through this process of listening to Les Otten speak to the College Republicans there was much silence when time came for questioning. Improvisation was done and the group moved forward but Otten did not connect to the people in the room. He had our ears but not our hearts and certainly not my support. Otten doesn't care about the people of Maine, or even the Republican going door to door supporting conservative ideas. He cares about the Republican leadership approving of him and has a belittling tone of conversation.
I was annoyed that he spoke to us like children. Asking our opinion and telling us it didn't matter because of something else was very insulting. Lecturing to us not about his stance on an issue but on what he wants us to know about an issue is presuming we are ignorant to not only what we believe about things but also in being aware of things.
Lastly, Mr. Otten said he will never speak ill of a fellow Republican. I'm sorry Otten but if a Republican kills someone I'm going to call them a murderer. If they steal I'm going to call them a thief. If they say a lack of ethnic diversity is a problem I'm going to call them a racist who should focus on a real problem.
If a Republican lacks common sense I'm going to call them Les Otten.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
As one is beaten in the streets of America,
an enemy waits silently hidden in a far away place.
The victim of both attacks is freedom,
So let those who fight for freedom do so in safety from their fellow Americans,
Don't repeal "Don't ask, don't tell".
an enemy waits silently hidden in a far away place.
The victim of both attacks is freedom,
So let those who fight for freedom do so in safety from their fellow Americans,
Don't repeal "Don't ask, don't tell".
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Everyone who witnessed the shooting and fled should face manslaughter charges for leaving him to die. I don't care which side of the fight you were on, you left him to die. Such a thing is unforgivable. Should this be proven to be gang related, the punishments should be maximum for everyone charged. We need to send a message we will not allow our cities, our streets, our Maine to become a haven for thugs whose only motive is to intimidate and leech off the fears of others
Friday, January 29, 2010
Taliban Bailout
My response to buying out the Taliban:
Would you join a group blindly following your religious convictions and prepare to die for a cause only to be given money by those you believe to be the enemy in order to simply survive and neither rise from poverty or accomplish your religious mission?
If you would you have no idea what it is like to be part of a cult of suicide.
I oppose the plan because it is a distasteful betrayal of the values America stands for. We are not sold to the highest bidder. We work for what we earn. While the alternatives to such a method always seem easier in the long run they neither change the culture of poverty and only demoralize and disenfranchise those who at the end of the day still accept the lifestyle of a militant and will always hold that militancy within them. To believe we can forever control them through a one time "purchase" is nieve.
Not only will this program be abused by more than Taliban fighters, as nobody knows who is or is not a part of the Taliban on the lower ranks. Due to the poverty of Afghanistan people will enter as Taliban converts and never have turned to violence or radicalism ever in their lives. Among the ranks of the Taliban they are estimated at fewer than 20,000 total for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
We can win this fight through eliminating the Taliban and ensuring security to towns in Afghanistan. It will require as much military as infrastructure but a massive approach between the two is the only way to ensure a guaranteed alliance with the populace of Afghanistan. The effort needs to be enormous and jump start their society to recognize more than tribal lineage or faith as a source of security.
Would you join a group blindly following your religious convictions and prepare to die for a cause only to be given money by those you believe to be the enemy in order to simply survive and neither rise from poverty or accomplish your religious mission?
If you would you have no idea what it is like to be part of a cult of suicide.
I oppose the plan because it is a distasteful betrayal of the values America stands for. We are not sold to the highest bidder. We work for what we earn. While the alternatives to such a method always seem easier in the long run they neither change the culture of poverty and only demoralize and disenfranchise those who at the end of the day still accept the lifestyle of a militant and will always hold that militancy within them. To believe we can forever control them through a one time "purchase" is nieve.
Not only will this program be abused by more than Taliban fighters, as nobody knows who is or is not a part of the Taliban on the lower ranks. Due to the poverty of Afghanistan people will enter as Taliban converts and never have turned to violence or radicalism ever in their lives. Among the ranks of the Taliban they are estimated at fewer than 20,000 total for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
We can win this fight through eliminating the Taliban and ensuring security to towns in Afghanistan. It will require as much military as infrastructure but a massive approach between the two is the only way to ensure a guaranteed alliance with the populace of Afghanistan. The effort needs to be enormous and jump start their society to recognize more than tribal lineage or faith as a source of security.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Obama's Challenge......Accepted
The president challenged Republicans to come up with their own health care proposal. So Republicans updated the proposal they initially made in 2008. Everyone can view it at the following website:
http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/plan/
http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/plan/
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tonight's Evening Entertainment
Tonight I was in attendance of the Bangor GOP Committee meeting. Featured was Paul LePage, Mayor of Waterville and top brass at the Marden's chain store.
However, a representative of Susan Collins was there and gave a fairly well spoken update. When it came to questioning she fell apart being incapable of answering a question regarding a vote on Bernake as well as a couple of other questions for which she had no answers. She promised to send an email during the meeting and respond at the end.
She did not have the answer at the end of the meeting. Either Susan Collins is out of touch with the issues, or the staffer is out of touch with Susan.
Then local candidates were introduced and some districts lack candidates. If anyone in Veazie wishes to run as a Republican for legislature please stand up and commit yourself to improving your state.
Then Mayor LePage stood up and gave his speech after announcements of local candidates. He has a proposal that for every new regulation passed, two will be repealed. He would "pull the plug" on the "life support" of Dirigo Healthcare. He connects his own life long experience with the welfare system and how corrupting it has become to those in power very well. He said anyone on welfare within five years would be cut off and forced to sustain themselves.
He claimed he has "4,000 foot soldiers" in his campaign. He said his campaign is doing excellent. Aside from his claim of "foot soldiers" no measurement has him leading. He has a vehement opposition to the welfare system, and he has experienced the humiliation that system creates. However I am a living contradiction to the corruption of the system.
I was placed in foster care when I was 2. I was adopted when I was 8 (after living with the same family for 5 years). I have lived a happy, non-welfare reliant life aside from MaineCare which I struggled to have stay steady with no new benefits when I turned 18. I know DHHS is a massive headache, but it isn't all bad. I'm a success story. However, I am very rare. Everyone else I know involved in the welfare system has massive complaints regarding it. I've witnessed its immense abuses. However, I simply needed to add the other side to this arguement.
He gives a compelling pep talk with much humor. Yet he has to tell us he is honest. Its almost the same scenario when someone has to tell you they are cool or popular. When they do, they usually aren't. In the least they aren't humble if they have to do that. However, few candidates are humble and as such I don't hold it against him. It is just something to add to the picture of it all.
Now tomorrow Les Otten will be speaking at the University of Maine in Orono. He will be in the student union's Totmann room at 5 PM. Everyone is invited, not just College Republicans. At 7 I will be at the Bangor City Council budget meeting fighting any attempt that may be made to raise property taxes. Somewhere within the next two weeks I'm going to be in contact with the other candidates working locally in Bangor to get elected for the various districts.
However, a representative of Susan Collins was there and gave a fairly well spoken update. When it came to questioning she fell apart being incapable of answering a question regarding a vote on Bernake as well as a couple of other questions for which she had no answers. She promised to send an email during the meeting and respond at the end.
She did not have the answer at the end of the meeting. Either Susan Collins is out of touch with the issues, or the staffer is out of touch with Susan.
Then local candidates were introduced and some districts lack candidates. If anyone in Veazie wishes to run as a Republican for legislature please stand up and commit yourself to improving your state.
Then Mayor LePage stood up and gave his speech after announcements of local candidates. He has a proposal that for every new regulation passed, two will be repealed. He would "pull the plug" on the "life support" of Dirigo Healthcare. He connects his own life long experience with the welfare system and how corrupting it has become to those in power very well. He said anyone on welfare within five years would be cut off and forced to sustain themselves.
He claimed he has "4,000 foot soldiers" in his campaign. He said his campaign is doing excellent. Aside from his claim of "foot soldiers" no measurement has him leading. He has a vehement opposition to the welfare system, and he has experienced the humiliation that system creates. However I am a living contradiction to the corruption of the system.
I was placed in foster care when I was 2. I was adopted when I was 8 (after living with the same family for 5 years). I have lived a happy, non-welfare reliant life aside from MaineCare which I struggled to have stay steady with no new benefits when I turned 18. I know DHHS is a massive headache, but it isn't all bad. I'm a success story. However, I am very rare. Everyone else I know involved in the welfare system has massive complaints regarding it. I've witnessed its immense abuses. However, I simply needed to add the other side to this arguement.
He gives a compelling pep talk with much humor. Yet he has to tell us he is honest. Its almost the same scenario when someone has to tell you they are cool or popular. When they do, they usually aren't. In the least they aren't humble if they have to do that. However, few candidates are humble and as such I don't hold it against him. It is just something to add to the picture of it all.
Now tomorrow Les Otten will be speaking at the University of Maine in Orono. He will be in the student union's Totmann room at 5 PM. Everyone is invited, not just College Republicans. At 7 I will be at the Bangor City Council budget meeting fighting any attempt that may be made to raise property taxes. Somewhere within the next two weeks I'm going to be in contact with the other candidates working locally in Bangor to get elected for the various districts.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Haiti
The orphaned cries of a lonely baby
merge with others in the streets of Haiti
A child seeking his starving family
wanders altered wastelands in Haiti
A man living on the hopes of maybe
pushes his boat away from the shore of Haiti
The struggle of suffering that was daily
Expanded tenfold for all in Haiti
A radio show on Tuesday from 7-8 on 91.9 WEMB is going to do a "pay to play to benefit the Red Cross and the victims of the Earthquake in Haiti". Please listen in if you can.
merge with others in the streets of Haiti
A child seeking his starving family
wanders altered wastelands in Haiti
A man living on the hopes of maybe
pushes his boat away from the shore of Haiti
The struggle of suffering that was daily
Expanded tenfold for all in Haiti
A radio show on Tuesday from 7-8 on 91.9 WEMB is going to do a "pay to play to benefit the Red Cross and the victims of the Earthquake in Haiti". Please listen in if you can.
Build a Loving Home
There was a boy born who was insecure
compared to the rest who took life's test
of loving another lover and no other
weighing down his cure was his failure
to build a loving home
A woman raised to never graze
feels the pain of losing sanity
as the fidelity is lost with credibility
weighing down her cure was her failure
to build a loving home
The ring was lost but it wasn't the cost
that made the betrayal show she was frail
It was her scream that neighbors believed
weighed down the cure of the failure
to build a loving home
A daughter lacked glee watching fearfully
her mother freely bleed needlessly
Crying many tears because of her fears
weighed down the cure of their failure
to build a loving home
The father disagreed with the need
to worship belief in a smokescreen of relief
yet his silent approval brought her removal
from a loving home
compared to the rest who took life's test
of loving another lover and no other
weighing down his cure was his failure
to build a loving home
A woman raised to never graze
feels the pain of losing sanity
as the fidelity is lost with credibility
weighing down her cure was her failure
to build a loving home
The ring was lost but it wasn't the cost
that made the betrayal show she was frail
It was her scream that neighbors believed
weighed down the cure of the failure
to build a loving home
A daughter lacked glee watching fearfully
her mother freely bleed needlessly
Crying many tears because of her fears
weighed down the cure of their failure
to build a loving home
The father disagreed with the need
to worship belief in a smokescreen of relief
yet his silent approval brought her removal
from a loving home
From the AFP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iKXQC2HwynedmTU1YcjQQFpyPA_g
LONDON - The NATO commander in Afghanistan said his troop surge could lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban, in an interview published Monday ahead of a major conference this week on the war.
Excerpt over. I'm going to go polish my Sharia legal study for a while. I'll be back February 1.
LONDON - The NATO commander in Afghanistan said his troop surge could lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban, in an interview published Monday ahead of a major conference this week on the war.
Excerpt over. I'm going to go polish my Sharia legal study for a while. I'll be back February 1.
My Human Rights Record
I started writing this post as a "flashback" to my early days and was going to highlight one post. Well, that post went from amusing to a political/humanitarian cause which now led me to write this post where a "flashback" to all of the causes for freedom and peaceful action that I've written about will be highlighted with a quote or two from the post.
I stopped quoting around late July because this post would never end if I went all through 2009. However, the list of nations I wrote about to improve human rights are as follows:
Iran
Honduras
Colombia
Russia
North Korea
Nigeria
Sudan
Somalia
Morocco/Sarahwi Democratic Republic
Afghanistan
Venezuela
Nicaragua
Peru
Yemen
Egypt
Switzerland
China
Guinea
Cuba
Mexico
United States of America
So lets begin:
From March 15, 2009:
I know this may not even reach you, or anyone in Pakistan, but let it be a statement that I will appreciate to be held to account should I ever do otherwise. I give permission to all to call me a liar if I ever do anything contrary to this statement: Release the judges and lawyers held during the Musharaff crackdown before he was elected from office.
From March 15, 2009
If you believe your richer because of your race, your a fool. Your rich because of your effort, or your dumb luck. However your stupidity in taking your wealth for granted means you will probably lose it, because your race did not give you your wealth and so relying on it to get you more will fail miserably. In conclusion: There is only one race: human. The human race is equal, the same, and gives all within it the ability to make themselves unique and capable of achieving anything.
From April 1, 2009
If you go to a 'protest' because of anger, you are not going to protest. If you go because you have a message, a story to tell someone, to let someone know then you are going to protest.
From April 8, 2009
It comes down to something more than religion. It comes down to ignorance to the truth. A lie about gays has been spread to deep into society scrubbing it out will take time. It is getting better though. Nobody can deny that. The hatred remains, but like racism against blacks, although some still remains it is much better as time goes on.
From May 11, 2009
The tea party protests were not an act of racism. They were a call to Obama to do as he promised on the campaign and bring the corruption of spending in Washington to an end. They were and still are a representation of the freedom American's have to voice their opinion. These protests were not racism against a black man, they were frustration against deficit spending. Until the Democrats realize this the anger will continue to rise in America and 2010 will be fast approaching for many of them.
From June 11, 2009
Waterboarding is torture. The other techniques require the use of occassional chains, slapping, and blindfolding. If it is not torture, which those may not necessarily be, they are in the least unusual if not cruel. I do not oppose them because they violate the Geneva conventions. If they do, fine, if they don't, so what. We have a Constitution in this country that says no cruel and unusual punishment. While that is often interpreted as a right given to our citizens, I believe it is also a command. We can not experience those punishments based on our 6th Amendment. What do we think gives us the right to conduct those practices on someone else? I think the Constitution tells us not to use those techniques and so I agree with them being banned as they already are based on the Constitution.
From June 11, 2009
A threat against one person should not be considered more serious than a threat against many. This shooter in Washington D.C., the name of whom I will not glorify on my blog, had a forum through which he threatened to kill gentiles. This could have been prevented. It should have been prevented. Our legal system needs to stop protecting the threatening of life in any form. It is not free speech, it is a threat to our security. Our nation's security is our citizen's security because our people are the nation.
From June 13, 2009
Healthcare is not a right. Choosing if you have health insurance or not is a right. Read your consitution. What powers are not granted to the federal government are granted to the states and the people. We have the right to live our lives.
From June 16, 2009
The people of Iran, and of the world, are entitled to freedom. Freedom is the engine of progress for mankind. In shutting down foreign news sources and placing their employees under, essentially, house arrest you are proving yourselves to be cowards. For all sides in Iran the act of silencing the opposition and using violence against those with whom you disagree with are what makes you coward. By not facing your opposition intellectually and resorting to barbaric brute force you are a coward. Speak to your opponents instead of shooting and stabbing them. Rally around your voices instead of your weapons.
To the world I urge you not to allow Mirhossein Mousavi become the next Benazir Bhutto. Stand in unity of democracy and freedom in Iran and against the censorship of its people. In a world where injustice is commonplace those who stand for justice should not stand by to prevent being looked at as 'meddling." If meddling in another nation's affairs brings freedom and restores justice then it is indeed a good thing.
From June 17, 2009
I urge the support for their freedom to continue and for the world to not lose interest at this crucial moment and to continue to support the freedom of Iranians until this regime is altered in a way that is beneficial to Iran's people and will thus help the world's efforts for peace.
From June 19, 2009
The people of America were oppressed by the British. The Revolution gave independance and freedom to the whites. They did not demand the British also pay money in return. The only payment was freedom. The blacks had their freedom granted in the civil war when whites and blacks fought together for the freedom of the blacks. This is not to say that racism is not an issue, but slavery, as a practice of the U.S. government, has ended.
June 20, 2009
For Persia's people to not have the blessings of freedom urged by the rest of the world we have failed in bringing one of the oldest nations on earth to the modern free age of man.
However I will not give up. I will condemn the acts of violence by all sides and the silencing of voices wherever they occur in Iran. Freedom must be given and peace will be what is returned.
From June 24, 2009
We are the shining city on the hill. We shine with the energy, the feelings of freedom. We can share this power source to the world at no cost by simply standing up for the rights of others.
From June 29, 2009
I will not support the use of violence against the protestors, but I also do not support the protestors methods of holding protests with the specific purpose of confronting the military forces at the presidential compound. The media blackout is also what I am against. However, while these violations make the new government violators of the nation's constitution and reduce their legitimacy, Zelaya's government is no more legitimate. It violated the Constitution and needed to be removed. The first mistake of the new government was ordering his exile instead of his impeachment.
From July 1, 2009
If you see the homeless in your city, help them. If a politician tells you about the homeless to get something they want done, tell the politician to be quiet.
From July 4, 2009
Why is it that the leading nations, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela, calling for freedom and democracy in Honduras, are the same nations that are taking away those two essential things in their own countries?
From July 16, 2009
Too many Russian activists and critics have been killed without justice in the past five years. A Democracy is accountable to its citizens and should always remember that its citizens choose whether or not those in power stay in power. The time for political assassinations and the silencing of opposition in Russia must pass.
From July 16, 2009
They say healthcare is a right. Apparently freedom of choice only applies to what they want. A good example is the strange divide on guns and abortion. Freedom of choice for an abortion but not for a gun. One gaurantees a death, the other is only meant for defense and hunting with no gaurantee of death. The whole ideology is contradictory. What they say and what they do are completely different. The lies need to end if our country is going to survive.
From July 19, 2009
Violence is not the answer. Protest without violence. If you use no violence there will be no curfew or media restriction. Your voices will be heard if you use them instead of weapons. No more violence. Bloodshed will not solve this crisis. A democracy is formed through discussion and writings of law; not the skulls of those you disagree with or the blood of the innocent.
I stopped quoting around late July because this post would never end if I went all through 2009. However, the list of nations I wrote about to improve human rights are as follows:
Iran
Honduras
Colombia
Russia
North Korea
Nigeria
Sudan
Somalia
Morocco/Sarahwi Democratic Republic
Afghanistan
Venezuela
Nicaragua
Peru
Yemen
Egypt
Switzerland
China
Guinea
Cuba
Mexico
United States of America
So lets begin:
From March 15, 2009:
I know this may not even reach you, or anyone in Pakistan, but let it be a statement that I will appreciate to be held to account should I ever do otherwise. I give permission to all to call me a liar if I ever do anything contrary to this statement: Release the judges and lawyers held during the Musharaff crackdown before he was elected from office.
From March 15, 2009
If you believe your richer because of your race, your a fool. Your rich because of your effort, or your dumb luck. However your stupidity in taking your wealth for granted means you will probably lose it, because your race did not give you your wealth and so relying on it to get you more will fail miserably. In conclusion: There is only one race: human. The human race is equal, the same, and gives all within it the ability to make themselves unique and capable of achieving anything.
From April 1, 2009
If you go to a 'protest' because of anger, you are not going to protest. If you go because you have a message, a story to tell someone, to let someone know then you are going to protest.
From April 8, 2009
It comes down to something more than religion. It comes down to ignorance to the truth. A lie about gays has been spread to deep into society scrubbing it out will take time. It is getting better though. Nobody can deny that. The hatred remains, but like racism against blacks, although some still remains it is much better as time goes on.
From May 11, 2009
The tea party protests were not an act of racism. They were a call to Obama to do as he promised on the campaign and bring the corruption of spending in Washington to an end. They were and still are a representation of the freedom American's have to voice their opinion. These protests were not racism against a black man, they were frustration against deficit spending. Until the Democrats realize this the anger will continue to rise in America and 2010 will be fast approaching for many of them.
From June 11, 2009
Waterboarding is torture. The other techniques require the use of occassional chains, slapping, and blindfolding. If it is not torture, which those may not necessarily be, they are in the least unusual if not cruel. I do not oppose them because they violate the Geneva conventions. If they do, fine, if they don't, so what. We have a Constitution in this country that says no cruel and unusual punishment. While that is often interpreted as a right given to our citizens, I believe it is also a command. We can not experience those punishments based on our 6th Amendment. What do we think gives us the right to conduct those practices on someone else? I think the Constitution tells us not to use those techniques and so I agree with them being banned as they already are based on the Constitution.
From June 11, 2009
A threat against one person should not be considered more serious than a threat against many. This shooter in Washington D.C., the name of whom I will not glorify on my blog, had a forum through which he threatened to kill gentiles. This could have been prevented. It should have been prevented. Our legal system needs to stop protecting the threatening of life in any form. It is not free speech, it is a threat to our security. Our nation's security is our citizen's security because our people are the nation.
From June 13, 2009
Healthcare is not a right. Choosing if you have health insurance or not is a right. Read your consitution. What powers are not granted to the federal government are granted to the states and the people. We have the right to live our lives.
From June 16, 2009
The people of Iran, and of the world, are entitled to freedom. Freedom is the engine of progress for mankind. In shutting down foreign news sources and placing their employees under, essentially, house arrest you are proving yourselves to be cowards. For all sides in Iran the act of silencing the opposition and using violence against those with whom you disagree with are what makes you coward. By not facing your opposition intellectually and resorting to barbaric brute force you are a coward. Speak to your opponents instead of shooting and stabbing them. Rally around your voices instead of your weapons.
To the world I urge you not to allow Mirhossein Mousavi become the next Benazir Bhutto. Stand in unity of democracy and freedom in Iran and against the censorship of its people. In a world where injustice is commonplace those who stand for justice should not stand by to prevent being looked at as 'meddling." If meddling in another nation's affairs brings freedom and restores justice then it is indeed a good thing.
From June 17, 2009
I urge the support for their freedom to continue and for the world to not lose interest at this crucial moment and to continue to support the freedom of Iranians until this regime is altered in a way that is beneficial to Iran's people and will thus help the world's efforts for peace.
From June 19, 2009
The people of America were oppressed by the British. The Revolution gave independance and freedom to the whites. They did not demand the British also pay money in return. The only payment was freedom. The blacks had their freedom granted in the civil war when whites and blacks fought together for the freedom of the blacks. This is not to say that racism is not an issue, but slavery, as a practice of the U.S. government, has ended.
June 20, 2009
For Persia's people to not have the blessings of freedom urged by the rest of the world we have failed in bringing one of the oldest nations on earth to the modern free age of man.
However I will not give up. I will condemn the acts of violence by all sides and the silencing of voices wherever they occur in Iran. Freedom must be given and peace will be what is returned.
From June 24, 2009
We are the shining city on the hill. We shine with the energy, the feelings of freedom. We can share this power source to the world at no cost by simply standing up for the rights of others.
From June 29, 2009
I will not support the use of violence against the protestors, but I also do not support the protestors methods of holding protests with the specific purpose of confronting the military forces at the presidential compound. The media blackout is also what I am against. However, while these violations make the new government violators of the nation's constitution and reduce their legitimacy, Zelaya's government is no more legitimate. It violated the Constitution and needed to be removed. The first mistake of the new government was ordering his exile instead of his impeachment.
From July 1, 2009
If you see the homeless in your city, help them. If a politician tells you about the homeless to get something they want done, tell the politician to be quiet.
From July 4, 2009
Why is it that the leading nations, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela, calling for freedom and democracy in Honduras, are the same nations that are taking away those two essential things in their own countries?
From July 16, 2009
Too many Russian activists and critics have been killed without justice in the past five years. A Democracy is accountable to its citizens and should always remember that its citizens choose whether or not those in power stay in power. The time for political assassinations and the silencing of opposition in Russia must pass.
From July 16, 2009
They say healthcare is a right. Apparently freedom of choice only applies to what they want. A good example is the strange divide on guns and abortion. Freedom of choice for an abortion but not for a gun. One gaurantees a death, the other is only meant for defense and hunting with no gaurantee of death. The whole ideology is contradictory. What they say and what they do are completely different. The lies need to end if our country is going to survive.
From July 19, 2009
Violence is not the answer. Protest without violence. If you use no violence there will be no curfew or media restriction. Your voices will be heard if you use them instead of weapons. No more violence. Bloodshed will not solve this crisis. A democracy is formed through discussion and writings of law; not the skulls of those you disagree with or the blood of the innocent.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Selective Service Stupidity
Personally I've been struggling to be recognized as a U.S. citizen by the Selective Service System, but that isn't what this blog is about (I am a citizen). I noticed something on their website which I found rather interesting:
ATTENTION, UNDOCUMENTED MALES
& IMMIGRANT SERVICING GROUPS!
If you are a man ages 18 through 25 and living in the U.S., then you must register with Selective Service. It’s the law. You can register at any U.S. Post Office and do not need a social security number. When you do obtain a social security number, let Selective Service know. Provide a copy of your new social security number card; being sure to include your complete name, date of birth, Selective Service registration number, and current mailing address; and mail to the Selective Service System, P.O. Box 94636, Palatine, IL 60094-4636.
Be sure to register before your 26th birthday. After that, it’s too late!
Selective Service does not collect any information which would indicate whether or not you are undocumented. You want to protect yourself for future U.S. citizenship and other government benefits and programs by registering with Selective Service. Do it today.
Website excerpt over. Now, taking this at face value, what it is saying is illegal immigrants ("undocumented") can get a social security number, and from there who the hell knows what else they'll be able to do. I don't want anyone who is not a U.S. citizen getting a social security number. There are too many benefits, programs, ect. involved to just open up everything except official citizenship to these cheaters and criminals.
You either stand on principle or you stand for nothing at all.
ATTENTION, UNDOCUMENTED MALES
& IMMIGRANT SERVICING GROUPS!
If you are a man ages 18 through 25 and living in the U.S., then you must register with Selective Service. It’s the law. You can register at any U.S. Post Office and do not need a social security number. When you do obtain a social security number, let Selective Service know. Provide a copy of your new social security number card; being sure to include your complete name, date of birth, Selective Service registration number, and current mailing address; and mail to the Selective Service System, P.O. Box 94636, Palatine, IL 60094-4636.
Be sure to register before your 26th birthday. After that, it’s too late!
Selective Service does not collect any information which would indicate whether or not you are undocumented. You want to protect yourself for future U.S. citizenship and other government benefits and programs by registering with Selective Service. Do it today.
Website excerpt over. Now, taking this at face value, what it is saying is illegal immigrants ("undocumented") can get a social security number, and from there who the hell knows what else they'll be able to do. I don't want anyone who is not a U.S. citizen getting a social security number. There are too many benefits, programs, ect. involved to just open up everything except official citizenship to these cheaters and criminals.
You either stand on principle or you stand for nothing at all.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Races - Be Aware
The reason one should never use just one source is because the following analysis could come from faulty or misleading news reports such as the one I found (I wrote the article based on the news source, only to check the numbers and find some interesting truths explained at the end of this post after the article link) :
So the fund raising totals were reported yesterday, and some candidates did better than others. Some candidates made themselves to be hypocrites while others made themselves to look stupid (and I don't mean by the numbers they raised, but how they raised them). For example Les Otten a few months back mentioned how Poliquin had given himself $100,000. Well, turns out this time he gave himself more than $586,000. Yet, the award for just plain ridiculous goes to Rosa Scarcelli.
Opening my mail, the usual campaign reports were all there. However, with Bruce Poliquin raising a grand total of $633,593, I was rather stunned to see this quote in Rosa's email:
You may have already received the message below, but I'd like to share some exciting news with you. The campaign finance reports released yesterday contained a huge surprise: Rosa emerged as the top fundraiser in both parties.
Quote over. How her email didn't say how much she actually raised. I feel they are intentionally lying. Because she in fact raised only $258,465. Now, I'm no Ph.D. scholar, but $633,000 is a bit bigger than $258,000.
Part of Rosa's money is also in loans, the amount really doesn't matter ($16,300). The principle of funding a campaign on liquidity is simply stupid. It sounds like how our current state legislature plans to make up the deficit in our budget.
Which is why I also condemn Paul LePage for taking more loans than Scarcelli with $20,000 out of his $61,115 raised. Fiscally responsible Republicans would know what a safe investment would be. A campaign for any political office is never a safe bet, as the win by Scott Brown proved last night. Thus, LePage shows that if he has Conservative ideals they are certainly not based in sound economic policy.
Matt Jacobson is holding on with a steady campaign that will lose traction as the other candidates work harder and out perform him in many ways. His reported total was $88,400.
Donn Dion (now out of the race) wasted $2,500 of supporters money. I think she'll just transfer it over to her other campaign but her switch seems rather bipolar and power driven.
So the clear money front runners are Bruce Poliquin and Les Otten. However, Poliquin's lead is based on grass roots support for his common sense leadership. Les Otten is self-financed. Rosa Scarcelli has a grass roots base, but clearly she lacks common sense. It is clear her supporters are Democrats.
The other Democrats are hoping clean election funding will save their lack of an energized base. None raised more than $100,000 and the leading seed money raiser was Elizabeth Mitchell with $70,000 raised. For the Democrats it goes downhill from there, fast. John Richardson was $25,000 under Elizabeth, and several candidates didn't even report (due to entering so late).
I'll have the overall rankings later today.
Source:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2010/01/20/gops_poliquin_boasts_biggest_war_chest_in_maine_governors_race/
Note, the data in the article is actually misleading and inaccurate. What? A liberal news source misleading readers? Never......
I'll have the real data in realistic comparisons tomorrow. In case you didn't know the article uses Poliquin's total fund raising and others quarterly funding, and others on hand funding. So in reality you're comparing the candidates in the article on different things.
Its like comparing cars but only getting fuel mileage from one, age from another, and price for the third and then picking a winner. That is what Boston.com did in that article in comparing out candidates. So be very aware of news, and always use more than one source.
So the fund raising totals were reported yesterday, and some candidates did better than others. Some candidates made themselves to be hypocrites while others made themselves to look stupid (and I don't mean by the numbers they raised, but how they raised them). For example Les Otten a few months back mentioned how Poliquin had given himself $100,000. Well, turns out this time he gave himself more than $586,000. Yet, the award for just plain ridiculous goes to Rosa Scarcelli.
Opening my mail, the usual campaign reports were all there. However, with Bruce Poliquin raising a grand total of $633,593, I was rather stunned to see this quote in Rosa's email:
You may have already received the message below, but I'd like to share some exciting news with you. The campaign finance reports released yesterday contained a huge surprise: Rosa emerged as the top fundraiser in both parties.
Quote over. How her email didn't say how much she actually raised. I feel they are intentionally lying. Because she in fact raised only $258,465. Now, I'm no Ph.D. scholar, but $633,000 is a bit bigger than $258,000.
Part of Rosa's money is also in loans, the amount really doesn't matter ($16,300). The principle of funding a campaign on liquidity is simply stupid. It sounds like how our current state legislature plans to make up the deficit in our budget.
Which is why I also condemn Paul LePage for taking more loans than Scarcelli with $20,000 out of his $61,115 raised. Fiscally responsible Republicans would know what a safe investment would be. A campaign for any political office is never a safe bet, as the win by Scott Brown proved last night. Thus, LePage shows that if he has Conservative ideals they are certainly not based in sound economic policy.
Matt Jacobson is holding on with a steady campaign that will lose traction as the other candidates work harder and out perform him in many ways. His reported total was $88,400.
Donn Dion (now out of the race) wasted $2,500 of supporters money. I think she'll just transfer it over to her other campaign but her switch seems rather bipolar and power driven.
So the clear money front runners are Bruce Poliquin and Les Otten. However, Poliquin's lead is based on grass roots support for his common sense leadership. Les Otten is self-financed. Rosa Scarcelli has a grass roots base, but clearly she lacks common sense. It is clear her supporters are Democrats.
The other Democrats are hoping clean election funding will save their lack of an energized base. None raised more than $100,000 and the leading seed money raiser was Elizabeth Mitchell with $70,000 raised. For the Democrats it goes downhill from there, fast. John Richardson was $25,000 under Elizabeth, and several candidates didn't even report (due to entering so late).
I'll have the overall rankings later today.
Source:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2010/01/20/gops_poliquin_boasts_biggest_war_chest_in_maine_governors_race/
Note, the data in the article is actually misleading and inaccurate. What? A liberal news source misleading readers? Never......
I'll have the real data in realistic comparisons tomorrow. In case you didn't know the article uses Poliquin's total fund raising and others quarterly funding, and others on hand funding. So in reality you're comparing the candidates in the article on different things.
Its like comparing cars but only getting fuel mileage from one, age from another, and price for the third and then picking a winner. That is what Boston.com did in that article in comparing out candidates. So be very aware of news, and always use more than one source.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Scott Brown Wins
Whether or not this is a true victory has yet to be seen. I do not know if he is just party line or has actual values behind his stances. Time will tell.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Races - Another Candidate
Bill Beardsley is running for governor. I'll review his website tomorrow, but if you want a head start:
billbeardsley.com
billbeardsley.com
Part 2
Why is God important?
In having the ability to feel pain humans (which hold potential for caring for others) can extend the efforts of avoiding pain to more than themselves. In the unknown is the reason for our existance. Part of our existance is pain, and as such knowing why we feel pain is part of the unknown. Yes science explains through very real facts and studies both physical and psychological in nature, the ultimate reason why we, and as an extension our pain, exist is unknown.
As all recognize the unknown (whether they apply the title of God to it or not has many explanations) all wish (unless defying the natural purpose of our instinct) to prevent and end the pain of others. Due to the causation of the unknown for our pain we turn to the belief that the unknown can also end our suffering.
What much of faith does it look to what we control and what we do not control in regards to what casuses our pain. That is the source of religion's rules for people. Some forms of pain are more quickly addressed than others. The emotional pain of adultery, for example, is more important than the physical punishment of beatings if certain interpretations of Sharia Islam are followed. Some see pain acceptance or experience as a form of responsibility for actions, so as to prevent pain again as a percieved learning from pain is assumed of mankind. Thus some faiths have pain as necessary to prevent pain in the future.
However the overall goal of having the faiths is so that the knowledge of what causes pain and how to avoid it is never forgotten but passed on to the next person so they can live their life with less pain than the person before. Some faiths were made before the progress of commerce, others were made afterwards. Some adapted to it. This is why at first banking by some was considered by the Catholic faith to be evil. However, the process of having lessons passed down was no longer tied to the title of God, and banking became safer and less painful. While these lessons may be ignored as the emotional power of greed can overcome some people, it does not mean the process ends.
However, the title of God carries with it these lessons. When outside of the title of God these lessons go under law, or just basic rules whether it be in a house, classroom, ect. The belief in God created the faiths that created the structures of government which create laws. Sometimes the religion and government were seperated, and the protection of the people became forgotten. Sometimes the government became the religion, and served to protect the government from pain and not the people.
God has served as the preventor of pain through the creation of leadership. This leadership believed the power of the unknown was granted to them to rule the people. Some forms of leadership abused such a connection indefinately (even to this day), others were overthrown to create systems where the unknown power was given to individuals over the government and the responsibility for connecting to that power was that of the people and not of the government. The control of the unknown by government has created oppression as such a system places one man in a position of more opportunity of power than another. Yet, it isn't the power of the unknown that is abused. It is the power of leadership. That will be Part 3.
In having the ability to feel pain humans (which hold potential for caring for others) can extend the efforts of avoiding pain to more than themselves. In the unknown is the reason for our existance. Part of our existance is pain, and as such knowing why we feel pain is part of the unknown. Yes science explains through very real facts and studies both physical and psychological in nature, the ultimate reason why we, and as an extension our pain, exist is unknown.
As all recognize the unknown (whether they apply the title of God to it or not has many explanations) all wish (unless defying the natural purpose of our instinct) to prevent and end the pain of others. Due to the causation of the unknown for our pain we turn to the belief that the unknown can also end our suffering.
What much of faith does it look to what we control and what we do not control in regards to what casuses our pain. That is the source of religion's rules for people. Some forms of pain are more quickly addressed than others. The emotional pain of adultery, for example, is more important than the physical punishment of beatings if certain interpretations of Sharia Islam are followed. Some see pain acceptance or experience as a form of responsibility for actions, so as to prevent pain again as a percieved learning from pain is assumed of mankind. Thus some faiths have pain as necessary to prevent pain in the future.
However the overall goal of having the faiths is so that the knowledge of what causes pain and how to avoid it is never forgotten but passed on to the next person so they can live their life with less pain than the person before. Some faiths were made before the progress of commerce, others were made afterwards. Some adapted to it. This is why at first banking by some was considered by the Catholic faith to be evil. However, the process of having lessons passed down was no longer tied to the title of God, and banking became safer and less painful. While these lessons may be ignored as the emotional power of greed can overcome some people, it does not mean the process ends.
However, the title of God carries with it these lessons. When outside of the title of God these lessons go under law, or just basic rules whether it be in a house, classroom, ect. The belief in God created the faiths that created the structures of government which create laws. Sometimes the religion and government were seperated, and the protection of the people became forgotten. Sometimes the government became the religion, and served to protect the government from pain and not the people.
God has served as the preventor of pain through the creation of leadership. This leadership believed the power of the unknown was granted to them to rule the people. Some forms of leadership abused such a connection indefinately (even to this day), others were overthrown to create systems where the unknown power was given to individuals over the government and the responsibility for connecting to that power was that of the people and not of the government. The control of the unknown by government has created oppression as such a system places one man in a position of more opportunity of power than another. Yet, it isn't the power of the unknown that is abused. It is the power of leadership. That will be Part 3.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Part 1
What is God?
God is the thing we believe in to answer the unknown. The origins of our existance, even if explainable by science, will always lack an answer for why we exist. That is the eternal reason for God's existance.
God is neither good or bad. The use of people's ignorance to further one's own goals is bad. To use the belief in God to keep people from knowledge is bad. To use the belief in God to present yourself as God is bad.
Believing in God to pull on forces beyond your control to improve your situation and calm yourself is good. That is why we pray. We feel that God, having unknown powers, can hear us and help us with what we can not control.
I believe in God and nobody doesn't. One can ignorantly not know of God by not knowing there is the unknown. An illiterate doesn't know how to read if they've never learned of what a book or writing is.
Most animals don't represent the unknown by a figure, but by emotional responses. People do this as well. When a single eye can be seen in the distance of a forest, a grazing animal will not know what it is. However, it will respond with either curiosity or fear. The emotional response is the same for people. Some fear the dark, as one doesn't know what is in the dark.
The unknown, God, is not good or bad. It just is. Does this mean the powers that can influence our existance don't exist? They could very well exist, they are just unknown to our use. It could very well be that a being more powerful than us can hear us, and control that unknown power and respond to us. That is what the belief in religion is: the believe we can interact with the unknown. The forces in play are within our control if we make ourselves capable of using it, and we try to extend ourselves to the unknown in that manner.
We apply the force of God behind what we believe people should behave like as God, the unknown, can't be challenged as it is beyond our control. That will be Part 2.
God is the thing we believe in to answer the unknown. The origins of our existance, even if explainable by science, will always lack an answer for why we exist. That is the eternal reason for God's existance.
God is neither good or bad. The use of people's ignorance to further one's own goals is bad. To use the belief in God to keep people from knowledge is bad. To use the belief in God to present yourself as God is bad.
Believing in God to pull on forces beyond your control to improve your situation and calm yourself is good. That is why we pray. We feel that God, having unknown powers, can hear us and help us with what we can not control.
I believe in God and nobody doesn't. One can ignorantly not know of God by not knowing there is the unknown. An illiterate doesn't know how to read if they've never learned of what a book or writing is.
Most animals don't represent the unknown by a figure, but by emotional responses. People do this as well. When a single eye can be seen in the distance of a forest, a grazing animal will not know what it is. However, it will respond with either curiosity or fear. The emotional response is the same for people. Some fear the dark, as one doesn't know what is in the dark.
The unknown, God, is not good or bad. It just is. Does this mean the powers that can influence our existance don't exist? They could very well exist, they are just unknown to our use. It could very well be that a being more powerful than us can hear us, and control that unknown power and respond to us. That is what the belief in religion is: the believe we can interact with the unknown. The forces in play are within our control if we make ourselves capable of using it, and we try to extend ourselves to the unknown in that manner.
We apply the force of God behind what we believe people should behave like as God, the unknown, can't be challenged as it is beyond our control. That will be Part 2.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Note: Not safe for children.
This is the last letter of my life
This is the last cut of the knife
I don't know where I'm going next
I just know that this was heck
I don't have anything else to say
Other than it was a really bad day
These lies don't keep me alive
They kill me inside
They make me want to die
You don't have anything you can say that I can believe
So have a bad day just like me
These lies are piling into a heep
These lies keep me away from sleep
I say let the darkness spread
Because inside I'm already dead
From all these drugs in my head
If only there had been more of what I had bled
I might not have said what I have said
With me you've lost all your cred
Cause you had a need to see me plead
Down on me knees begging for forgiveness from you
Yet the entire time you never told the truth
I don't have anything else to say
Other than it was a really bad day
These lies don't keep me alive
They kill me inside
They make me want to die
You don't have anything you can say that I can believe
So have a bad day just like me
Is there a way
to possibly forgive?
Despite the bad days
Enjoy what I live?
With you I endure
What makes me insecure
I don't care about the future
As I know what my life will procure
These bad days never seem to end
When one does another one begins
Over and over again and again
I still can't believe what you have to say to me
So have a bad day just like me
I see through the lies
That make me want to cry
You can't deny all of your lies
Even as I hear all of your replies
There is nothing you can say
That I can believe
I'll tell you this
Because without your ignorance
You won't be consumed in bliss
I realized something just today
I still have a lot to say
About what I can't believe
So have a nice day
Just like me.
This is the last letter of my life
This is the last cut of the knife
I don't know where I'm going next
I just know that this was heck
I don't have anything else to say
Other than it was a really bad day
These lies don't keep me alive
They kill me inside
They make me want to die
You don't have anything you can say that I can believe
So have a bad day just like me
These lies are piling into a heep
These lies keep me away from sleep
I say let the darkness spread
Because inside I'm already dead
From all these drugs in my head
If only there had been more of what I had bled
I might not have said what I have said
With me you've lost all your cred
Cause you had a need to see me plead
Down on me knees begging for forgiveness from you
Yet the entire time you never told the truth
I don't have anything else to say
Other than it was a really bad day
These lies don't keep me alive
They kill me inside
They make me want to die
You don't have anything you can say that I can believe
So have a bad day just like me
Is there a way
to possibly forgive?
Despite the bad days
Enjoy what I live?
With you I endure
What makes me insecure
I don't care about the future
As I know what my life will procure
These bad days never seem to end
When one does another one begins
Over and over again and again
I still can't believe what you have to say to me
So have a bad day just like me
I see through the lies
That make me want to cry
You can't deny all of your lies
Even as I hear all of your replies
There is nothing you can say
That I can believe
I'll tell you this
Because without your ignorance
You won't be consumed in bliss
I realized something just today
I still have a lot to say
About what I can't believe
So have a nice day
Just like me.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Brought from sadness to joy
A loss to a gain
A mute to a life
A birth to a death
Yet it never happened that way
A gain became pain
A life became strife
A death that left me living
An empty soul
Left by mistakes
Created of the heart
Now just torn apart
Recovering to full strength
From tearful reserves
Now to preserve
A road with no length
A loss to a gain
A mute to a life
A birth to a death
Yet it never happened that way
A gain became pain
A life became strife
A death that left me living
An empty soul
Left by mistakes
Created of the heart
Now just torn apart
Recovering to full strength
From tearful reserves
Now to preserve
A road with no length
Personal Troubles
So today I found out the love of my life was having an affair with someone else for months. The only reason I found out was because the decision as to which person loved my fiance more and who made my fiance happy was made last night without my knowledge. He kept up the act of a stable, almost perfect relationship up until the end.
I'm not one for dramatics. I sent the other man a message requesting that he be certain to keep my love happy. I told my love that I forgive and can never love anyone else; because I can't love anyone more. I wished my love to have what makes them happy. I explained why I love them (their kindness, their brilliance, trust, ect...). I added a word of advice to be more honest with the other man than they were with me.
I finished by saying I had the capacity to forgive, not being able to love anyone else as much as I do my love, and I would always accept with open arms a return to our relationship if it was seen as best for them.
I could be sad and cry, but I wont. Love is neither good or bad, it just is. When dishonesty enters it becomes painful for everyone. I will be lonely but I hear that a cure for human will soon be made.
The same is true for capitalism. You seriously didn't think I was going to be all sappy and emotional to the public for no reason did you?
When you have capitalism allowed to operate without physically hindering others (not allowing monopolies and harmful practices) it will be excellent. Yet when greed and dishonesty enters and people stop being kind with their excess earnings you end up with this economic collapse. Government, however, can not achieve this process in any form. It is beneath us all, no matter how big it will become a single person can always do more on their own than an entire government.
Reasonably I will probably take a few days off to adjust my life plan, and luckily for me I won't be sad. I was so convinced that this day would never come that I literally removed the sadness parts of my brain, so now I shall return to my life a robot with a monologue.
Thanks for reading, and have a good day.
I'm not one for dramatics. I sent the other man a message requesting that he be certain to keep my love happy. I told my love that I forgive and can never love anyone else; because I can't love anyone more. I wished my love to have what makes them happy. I explained why I love them (their kindness, their brilliance, trust, ect...). I added a word of advice to be more honest with the other man than they were with me.
I finished by saying I had the capacity to forgive, not being able to love anyone else as much as I do my love, and I would always accept with open arms a return to our relationship if it was seen as best for them.
I could be sad and cry, but I wont. Love is neither good or bad, it just is. When dishonesty enters it becomes painful for everyone. I will be lonely but I hear that a cure for human will soon be made.
The same is true for capitalism. You seriously didn't think I was going to be all sappy and emotional to the public for no reason did you?
When you have capitalism allowed to operate without physically hindering others (not allowing monopolies and harmful practices) it will be excellent. Yet when greed and dishonesty enters and people stop being kind with their excess earnings you end up with this economic collapse. Government, however, can not achieve this process in any form. It is beneath us all, no matter how big it will become a single person can always do more on their own than an entire government.
Reasonably I will probably take a few days off to adjust my life plan, and luckily for me I won't be sad. I was so convinced that this day would never come that I literally removed the sadness parts of my brain, so now I shall return to my life a robot with a monologue.
Thanks for reading, and have a good day.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Iraq-Iran Border Dispute.....Continued
A standoff at a shut down oil well in Iraq has guaranteed that Iran and Iraq are not going to be best friends by any measure anytime soon. Oh, it is also the same oil well from December. Yeah, the situation still isn't resolved. Forces are dug on both sides of the well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803654.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803654.html
Something doesn't add up.....
Could it be that Ben Bernake is a block to making the bailout spending Bush and Obama gave him ineffective? Being a follower of Chicago economics (nothing really to do with the city itself, or Obama) he would want to limit government intervention as much as possible in order to prevent a second great depression, which due to the governments authorization of the funds would be a real possibility if the trillions in the FED are wasted or simply invented without a real source.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021108/default.htm
http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021108/default.htm
Rob Tegeder
Well known and liked by those who know him, he is a possible candidate for 2010. Passionate and honest in the very little I know of him, his positions are good. Whether he is able to run the state, or a campaign effectively will have to be shown by him should he choose to run.
The Races- Another Candidate....
I just checked and a few other places got here before me, but I have confirmed that Steve Abbott will be running for governor of Maine.
Conspiracy, Plots, and Common Sense
If you feel anyone will be given a perk because of a way they vote, or that something you are told isn't as you are told (such as 9/11, or the Kennedy Assassination), or that you aren't as powerful as a part of the "Elites" all I have to say is wake up.
You are letting yourself achieve less because you think something is impossible. Either your ability to impact the situation or the situation itself is impossible. Well guess what, you can take action. Action is different than violence. While an act of violence is possible, committing that act really just means you are turning into an animal.
Vote for someone else. Stop saying your vote doesn't matter because it does. The whole point is that the more people vote the better the choice that will be made. Even then you aren't limited to just voting. Talk to the people you know, and if they have facts that you don't absorb those facts and compare them to your own. Investigate. Find the truth.
Even if you have to look at the census.gov website and crunch the numbers yourself find the facts. If you have to poll the people at your workplace go ahead and find out if the data in the news is accurate.
Then take the facts and tell as many people about it in as many ways as possible. Be honest, don't make up facts so that you can "silence" opposition. When facts aren't the same find the facts of those facts: what the difference in getting the facts were between yourself and someone else.
If you think this sounds complicated it isn't. It is what I do every day for five minutes to write this blog. Seriously you can do this if you can count apples on a table, take an apple away, and count to a number less than you started with. Eventually when you compare to more and more people your facts will become more and more accurate.
Once you have the facts look at the situation. If someone else has facts which aren't in reach of your own don't discount the other facts. Look at your own, and find a third set of facts. Either repeat your fact finding (such as with a different source of information.)
Now your probably thinking this is a lot, especially to read. Well too bad. If you're going to be worth something intellectually you better start doing this. If you think I'm part of the "plot, payroll, party, police" why are you still reading (you know I speak the truth and so you will continue reading).
So you have the facts. You've proceeded to share your facts with other people with facts. You've got a lot of information. Tell people without facts what your facts are. Discuss, talk to people all along the way. Don't raise your voice. If you have the facts you don't need to fight with people, just talk to them. If they fight just remember Ghandi:
"First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win."
Quote over, I really like that quote. So after much talking you see the power of decision in the hands of someone who doesn't accept or share the facts. Replace them. Run for office, start your own business, work with those who you've worked with to find the facts and become the ones with the power through our economic or political system. It isn't impossible.
Seriously who would have thought an 18 year old first year college student in Maine would have a successful (and FREE) blog which has allowed him to interview many important people and attend political events which spark my interest.
If your complaint (as so many of the one's I started out with) is about the people in power you have the power of yourself to get near that power and influence it.
Why? Because you are in America. Not because you are human, see, North Koreans are human yet they don't have that power. You do and only in America. So take the power you have, stop complaining, and start working. Go, right now. Something you don't understand but keep harping about? Look it up. Figure it out. Become an expert on your own. Take it from me that a Ph.D. or law degree doesn't make anyone better at connecting the dots or invincible.
You are letting yourself achieve less because you think something is impossible. Either your ability to impact the situation or the situation itself is impossible. Well guess what, you can take action. Action is different than violence. While an act of violence is possible, committing that act really just means you are turning into an animal.
Vote for someone else. Stop saying your vote doesn't matter because it does. The whole point is that the more people vote the better the choice that will be made. Even then you aren't limited to just voting. Talk to the people you know, and if they have facts that you don't absorb those facts and compare them to your own. Investigate. Find the truth.
Even if you have to look at the census.gov website and crunch the numbers yourself find the facts. If you have to poll the people at your workplace go ahead and find out if the data in the news is accurate.
Then take the facts and tell as many people about it in as many ways as possible. Be honest, don't make up facts so that you can "silence" opposition. When facts aren't the same find the facts of those facts: what the difference in getting the facts were between yourself and someone else.
If you think this sounds complicated it isn't. It is what I do every day for five minutes to write this blog. Seriously you can do this if you can count apples on a table, take an apple away, and count to a number less than you started with. Eventually when you compare to more and more people your facts will become more and more accurate.
Once you have the facts look at the situation. If someone else has facts which aren't in reach of your own don't discount the other facts. Look at your own, and find a third set of facts. Either repeat your fact finding (such as with a different source of information.)
Now your probably thinking this is a lot, especially to read. Well too bad. If you're going to be worth something intellectually you better start doing this. If you think I'm part of the "plot, payroll, party, police" why are you still reading (you know I speak the truth and so you will continue reading).
So you have the facts. You've proceeded to share your facts with other people with facts. You've got a lot of information. Tell people without facts what your facts are. Discuss, talk to people all along the way. Don't raise your voice. If you have the facts you don't need to fight with people, just talk to them. If they fight just remember Ghandi:
"First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win."
Quote over, I really like that quote. So after much talking you see the power of decision in the hands of someone who doesn't accept or share the facts. Replace them. Run for office, start your own business, work with those who you've worked with to find the facts and become the ones with the power through our economic or political system. It isn't impossible.
Seriously who would have thought an 18 year old first year college student in Maine would have a successful (and FREE) blog which has allowed him to interview many important people and attend political events which spark my interest.
If your complaint (as so many of the one's I started out with) is about the people in power you have the power of yourself to get near that power and influence it.
Why? Because you are in America. Not because you are human, see, North Koreans are human yet they don't have that power. You do and only in America. So take the power you have, stop complaining, and start working. Go, right now. Something you don't understand but keep harping about? Look it up. Figure it out. Become an expert on your own. Take it from me that a Ph.D. or law degree doesn't make anyone better at connecting the dots or invincible.
Susan Collins Is Confused
So in her recent update to followers Susan Collins announced how she has made $814,000 available to food and shelter in Maine, which can be explained as a necessity for survival. Then she announced how since October she has spent 25 million for the University of Maine wind power research. She finally finishes it off saying the deficit will bankrupt the country (she says it in the political jargon showing enough concern for her to work on a committee in Congress to address the issue, which is the same thing because otherwise everyone in the world would never pay back a loan).
So are the benefits of increased spending on those projects going to outweigh bankrupting the nation?
A little side note on food stamps: require people only purchase from the Dollar menu at any location with a dollar menu (a meal for a dollar, hello), and only meal a day per person.
If you're telling me a Big Mac doesn't give enough fuel for a day you haven't looked at the calories in the thing.
Does that sound heartless? Well because it is. Government isn't supposed to be nice, or evil. It is supposed to simply be. We as a society, not as a government, are meant to show kindness to each other and care for those in need.
As people we can be giving or greedy. Yet for a government to give it must first take. We can give without ever taking, but by receiving. The whole point is to give our labor to have someone else give us our pay, which we then can generously give to those who can't give themselves. If you don't understand this you might just be a soulless government robot. If you do understand this, join the GOP and the Green Independent Party in fighting all new taxes proposed by the current Maine state legislature.
Lastly to those who don't know and keep asking repeatedly: GOP is the short form of the nickname of the Republican Party.
So are the benefits of increased spending on those projects going to outweigh bankrupting the nation?
A little side note on food stamps: require people only purchase from the Dollar menu at any location with a dollar menu (a meal for a dollar, hello), and only meal a day per person.
If you're telling me a Big Mac doesn't give enough fuel for a day you haven't looked at the calories in the thing.
Does that sound heartless? Well because it is. Government isn't supposed to be nice, or evil. It is supposed to simply be. We as a society, not as a government, are meant to show kindness to each other and care for those in need.
As people we can be giving or greedy. Yet for a government to give it must first take. We can give without ever taking, but by receiving. The whole point is to give our labor to have someone else give us our pay, which we then can generously give to those who can't give themselves. If you don't understand this you might just be a soulless government robot. If you do understand this, join the GOP and the Green Independent Party in fighting all new taxes proposed by the current Maine state legislature.
Lastly to those who don't know and keep asking repeatedly: GOP is the short form of the nickname of the Republican Party.
The Race We All Forgot?
A special election to replace Ted Kennedy is coming up on January 19th. Now I am not certain why there is the silence on this critical vote. So either Republicans are keeping national hush hush in order to get their resources into the race without every other party in the nation getting involved, or Dems are keeping hush hush because the candidate is relying on the (D) on the ballot box to get elected.
If the both are true the Dems in Massachusetts are dead in the water and will lose their majority. The other possibility is the national news media doesn't want to make a race with a powerful GOP candidate and a weak Democratic candidate rely on the headline making mud slinging that would occur if it did become national. It would focus the entire nation on one race and lies could spin the whole thing upside down.
The other possibility is everyone presumes a Democrat will win and that it is not really news worthy since we "know" what will happen.
Examining the Democratic candidate there are some obvious skeletons that could come to haunt her before this thing is a done deal.
If the both are true the Dems in Massachusetts are dead in the water and will lose their majority. The other possibility is the national news media doesn't want to make a race with a powerful GOP candidate and a weak Democratic candidate rely on the headline making mud slinging that would occur if it did become national. It would focus the entire nation on one race and lies could spin the whole thing upside down.
The other possibility is everyone presumes a Democrat will win and that it is not really news worthy since we "know" what will happen.
Examining the Democratic candidate there are some obvious skeletons that could come to haunt her before this thing is a done deal.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Poliquin Announced Fundraising Numbers/ Campaign Reflections
Earlier today Bruce Poliquin's campaign set the mark for the competition in fundraising. As the newsletter states:
Since entering the race, Poliquin raised $637,128 through 1,033 individual contributions. In the final reporting period, he totaled $360,189 from 575 contributions with 68% of the amount raised coming from in-state sources.
Additionally demonstrating the strength of the campaign's fundraising strategy, Poliquin reports raising $47,421 through his website during this reporting period, and finished an overall fundraising blitz by raising more than $57,000 in December.
Excerpt over. As no other candidate has updated their email followers (or blocked me from receiving the emails) this sets the mark for fundraising. Now he announced 68% came from in Maine. In a perfect world no campaign would have funds, never mind in or out of state. That figure is not exactly good, but I'm not sure if it is comparably better or worse than other candidates. However reporting it shows continued honesty in the campaign.
The December total is either a result of a good campaign or the effect of the Christmas season. Any new tactic they used at the time I'd recommend they use again to see if the effects can be replicated.
For example the $24,000 in 24 days campaign often occurred in the McCain campaign but it was often unannounced to the public. The fanfare with having goals and reaching them wasn't public.
The Bangor office for the McCain campaign was the most consistent with reaching its goals for outreach in phone calls and door knocking. Yet it wasn't advertised. Being in politics I only know this because I patiently learned as much from the process as quickly as possible and was as involved as much as possible, even though I fully knew McCain had no chance in Maine (even though I know he was more qualified, which is why I supported McCain).
Yet we had to go out and work without creating much buzz so that we could reduce the number of physical confrontations (there was an odd spike in anti-Republican violence during the campaign: for example the flag in front of my house went missing a day after we put a McCain sign up in our front window, people's tires were slashed on cars with McCain stickers, someone stole my ticket to the Sarah Palin event at the airport, ect). However we should have announced it, and show all, including violent opposition, that we were successful.
It is ironic that I look back now and see the McCain campaign (which at first was my entry into the political system) and critique so harshly. At the time I was neither in a position to question decisions because I had my own efforts in going door to door and making phone calls to work with. However looking back the ground operation was excellent while the PR department was terrible.
Never hold back for fear of being attacked. To quote Ghandi with paraphrase off the top of my head:
"First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
Then you win."
Note to Blogger: Fundraising is a word. So is Obama. Update your spell checker.
Since entering the race, Poliquin raised $637,128 through 1,033 individual contributions. In the final reporting period, he totaled $360,189 from 575 contributions with 68% of the amount raised coming from in-state sources.
Additionally demonstrating the strength of the campaign's fundraising strategy, Poliquin reports raising $47,421 through his website during this reporting period, and finished an overall fundraising blitz by raising more than $57,000 in December.
Excerpt over. As no other candidate has updated their email followers (or blocked me from receiving the emails) this sets the mark for fundraising. Now he announced 68% came from in Maine. In a perfect world no campaign would have funds, never mind in or out of state. That figure is not exactly good, but I'm not sure if it is comparably better or worse than other candidates. However reporting it shows continued honesty in the campaign.
The December total is either a result of a good campaign or the effect of the Christmas season. Any new tactic they used at the time I'd recommend they use again to see if the effects can be replicated.
For example the $24,000 in 24 days campaign often occurred in the McCain campaign but it was often unannounced to the public. The fanfare with having goals and reaching them wasn't public.
The Bangor office for the McCain campaign was the most consistent with reaching its goals for outreach in phone calls and door knocking. Yet it wasn't advertised. Being in politics I only know this because I patiently learned as much from the process as quickly as possible and was as involved as much as possible, even though I fully knew McCain had no chance in Maine (even though I know he was more qualified, which is why I supported McCain).
Yet we had to go out and work without creating much buzz so that we could reduce the number of physical confrontations (there was an odd spike in anti-Republican violence during the campaign: for example the flag in front of my house went missing a day after we put a McCain sign up in our front window, people's tires were slashed on cars with McCain stickers, someone stole my ticket to the Sarah Palin event at the airport, ect). However we should have announced it, and show all, including violent opposition, that we were successful.
It is ironic that I look back now and see the McCain campaign (which at first was my entry into the political system) and critique so harshly. At the time I was neither in a position to question decisions because I had my own efforts in going door to door and making phone calls to work with. However looking back the ground operation was excellent while the PR department was terrible.
Never hold back for fear of being attacked. To quote Ghandi with paraphrase off the top of my head:
"First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
Then you win."
Note to Blogger: Fundraising is a word. So is Obama. Update your spell checker.
Today's American Tragedy
This day is a very dark day in the nation. I no longer feel safe, nor do I have confidence in the value of the stock market, budget reports, spending bills, anything. If it is a number used by anyone in government to support or explain something I now believe it to be a lie.
Timothy Geithner should be in a cell next to Madoff. When I said they were adding zeros to the accounts I thought I was exaggerating the situation with the bailouts. Apparently it is much worse than anyone thought: they erased the zeros in the expense balance.
Guess what else? This happened under George Bush. Yet, Obama promoted him. So not only has he cheated on his taxes, he cheated on the economy too. I want any politician involved in the Federal Reserve to immediately resign. I want the Fed to be audited.
Now whether or not my request to investigate the corruption is heard depends on the action those of you reading this take.
Just go past the advertisement (if you get one) :
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-07/geithner-s-new-york-fed-told-aig-to-limit-swaps-disclosure.html
Timothy Geithner should be in a cell next to Madoff. When I said they were adding zeros to the accounts I thought I was exaggerating the situation with the bailouts. Apparently it is much worse than anyone thought: they erased the zeros in the expense balance.
Guess what else? This happened under George Bush. Yet, Obama promoted him. So not only has he cheated on his taxes, he cheated on the economy too. I want any politician involved in the Federal Reserve to immediately resign. I want the Fed to be audited.
Now whether or not my request to investigate the corruption is heard depends on the action those of you reading this take.
Just go past the advertisement (if you get one) :
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-07/geithner-s-new-york-fed-told-aig-to-limit-swaps-disclosure.html
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
For the items on the debt clock that are in a decreasing state I did the calculations to see how long, at their current pace, it would take to reach zero.
Total personal Debt 64 years
Mortgage Debt 82 years
Consumer Debt 141 years
Credit Card Debt 33 years
Federal Reserve Monetary Base 4 years
Personal Savings 1.4 years
Small Business Assets 26 years
Corporate Assets 48 years
Personal savings and the Federal Reserve Monetary Base are slightly disturbing and need immediate action. Then getting small business in order. The decreasing debt is a good thing so keep that going.
Total personal Debt 64 years
Mortgage Debt 82 years
Consumer Debt 141 years
Credit Card Debt 33 years
Federal Reserve Monetary Base 4 years
Personal Savings 1.4 years
Small Business Assets 26 years
Corporate Assets 48 years
Personal savings and the Federal Reserve Monetary Base are slightly disturbing and need immediate action. Then getting small business in order. The decreasing debt is a good thing so keep that going.
Prediction
I will attempt to prevent the next massive recession by simply requesting that all "Credit Default Swaps" be made null and void and any future such agreements illegal. Let them get insurance like everyone else.
If the Total US Debt is reduced by a million dollars per minute it will take 104 years to pay off. Based on my completely amateur observations I determined the following by watching http://www.usdebtclock.org/#
U.S. National Debt +
U.S. Federal Tax Revenue +
U.S. Income Tax +
Payroll Tax +
State Revenue +
State Debt +
Local Revenue +
Local Debt +
U.S. Federal Spending +
U.S. Federal Budget Deficit +
Medicare/Medicaid +
Social Security +
Federal Pensions +
Defense/Wars +
Interest on Debt +
Earmarks +
U.S. Gross Domestic Product +++
U.S. Total Interest +
U.S. Total Debt -
Total Personal Debt -
Mortgage Debt -
Consumer Debt -
Credit Card Debt -
Federal Reserve Monetary Base -
Currency and Credit Derivatives +++++
U.S. Government Bailouts -
Personal Savings -
U.S. Debt Held By Foreign Countries +
U.S. Trade Deficit +
U.S. Trade Deficit with China +
Imported Oil +
Small Business Assets -
Corporation Assets -
Household Assets+++
Total National Assets ++
Social Security Liability +
Prescription Drug Liability +
Medicare Liability +
U.S. Unfunded Liabilities ++
U.S. National Debt +
U.S. Federal Tax Revenue +
U.S. Income Tax +
Payroll Tax +
State Revenue +
State Debt +
Local Revenue +
Local Debt +
U.S. Federal Spending +
U.S. Federal Budget Deficit +
Medicare/Medicaid +
Social Security +
Federal Pensions +
Defense/Wars +
Interest on Debt +
Earmarks +
U.S. Gross Domestic Product +++
U.S. Total Interest +
U.S. Total Debt -
Total Personal Debt -
Mortgage Debt -
Consumer Debt -
Credit Card Debt -
Federal Reserve Monetary Base -
Currency and Credit Derivatives +++++
U.S. Government Bailouts -
Personal Savings -
U.S. Debt Held By Foreign Countries +
U.S. Trade Deficit +
U.S. Trade Deficit with China +
Imported Oil +
Small Business Assets -
Corporation Assets -
Household Assets+++
Total National Assets ++
Social Security Liability +
Prescription Drug Liability +
Medicare Liability +
U.S. Unfunded Liabilities ++