American Revolution

We are witnessing an American Revolution in this country. An American Revolution is all about changing the way people perceive the role of government in our lives. It is about saying we will not be enslaved by the government. The Tea Party movement across this country is Americans standing up and saying they will not be enslaved.

The first American Revolution was twenty years of changing how people in this country saw the rule of Britain, essentially a foreign government, over the colonies. It was changing the acceptance of the Mercantile system and standing up. Britain did not accept this, and a war broke out.

The civil war was slightly different, but the principle that the oppressors did not want to end their enslavement of a population was the same.

It is happening again. But this time violence is not necessary. Our founding fathers gave us a system in which we can say no to tyranny by voting it out of office before it begins. Well, it has begun, but we are not yet entirely helpless. We can still stand up, and we are. However now the question is will you as well?

Note on Cyber Warfare

It should be noted that the scandal revolving around the current climate scientist cover up regarding global warming was brought to us through the hacking of emails. Civil disobedience may be the hackers only defense if brought to court. Sure, they are still guilty, but hey, something good came of it right? Well, not if your Phil Jones, the scientist who was oddly "cheerful" at the news of a rival skeptical scientist in Tasmania being dead.

I have shortened the list of questionable things in the already short summary by the hackers:

1189722851.txt * Jones: “try and change the Received date!”
0847838200.txt * Briffa & Yamal 1996: “too much growth in recent years makes it difficult to derive a valid age/growth curve”
1225026120.txt * CRU’s truncated temperature curve
1062189235.txt * Osborn: concerns with MBH uncertainty
0926947295.txt * IPCC scenarios not supposed to be realistic
0938018124.txt * Mann: “something else” causing discrepancies
0939154709.txt * Osborn: we usually stop the series in 1960
0933255789.txt * WWF report: beef up if possible
0998926751.txt * “Carefully constructed” model scenarios to get “distinguishable results”
0968705882.txt * CLA: “IPCC is not any more an assessment of published science but production of results”
1075403821.txt * Jones: Daly death “cheering news”
1029966978.txt * Briffa – last decades exceptional, or not?
1092167224.txt * Mann: “not necessarily wrong, but it makes a small difference” (factor 1.29)
1188557698.txt * Wigley: “Keenan has a valid point”
1118949061.txt * we’d like to do some experiments with different proxy combinations
1120593115.txt * I am reviewing a couple of papers on extremes, so that I can refer to them in the chapter for AR4


Source: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/hadley_hacked/

Warmest Year On Record

Just in case you were wondering it was 1934. Look at the actual temperature data yourself, not any analysis, but the actual core data and do the math yourself. You will be surprised. Use NASA, or any other statistical collection you wish, but 1934, not 1998 is the warmest year on USA records.

Climate Scandal Emails

They have been confirmed by the numerous sources I use, and I examined several myself. Quite simply, aside from the larger picture, my initial grasp of these scientists is how childish they all are. Not only is their willingness to communicate in proper English an issue for them, they can't hold back from insulting each other for one minute. The arrogance they have against "laymen" is astounding. If their jobs were based on getting elected by the populace, they would fail at even giving a basic conversation with the "laymen" of the would, never mind getting our vote. They are immature, childish, and the most pathetic people I have ever eavesdropped on.

Update: Even when making an appropriate and positively supporting reference from the book "1984" one engineer manages to add an insult to the person she is complimenting! These scientists are worthless as human beings as far as I'm concerned.

Recall Election

The madness surrounding the removal of Ed Barrett as Bangor's City Manager has prompted a recall petition. In order to do so the initial ten affidavits demanding the recall needs ten signatures in order to allow further gathering of over two thousand signatures for the recall to be approved. Tomorrow I am going to city council to sign my name to endorse a recall.

I encourage you to do the same.

They gave no reason other than wanting to go in a different direction. They have not yet said what direction that would be. In addition, they council is going to pay at least 15 thousand dollars to find a replacement. That is an expensive directionless change.

Change for the sake of change isn't efficient. However, change in order to end the mounting sequence of insane decisions from the council would work for the benefit of Bangor. A recall to end the madness and elect sane people. Our newly elected Cary Weston is among the sane, and electing more like him would be a step in the right direction for Bangor.

Right now getting the recall election moving forward is the task at hand and I fully support this effort.

Friends Helping Friends Who Cut Themselves

I know you are hurting because your friend or relative is in pain. However, you should focus on your friend's pain when talking about their cutting. Really it comes down to something they are avoiding or escaping. It might be as obvious as abuse by those they know, or less apparent such as stress from work or school. You need to ensure that you talk to them in an environment that will be safe for you and your friend. Most of all keep them talking, and don't be hostile. Your friend needs someone to not only listen to them, but understand and help them resolve the problem they are escaping. No matter how difficult it may get for you, remember you are helping your friend have one less scar.

From:
http://onelessscar.weebly.com/index.html

Quote

One person at a time will not change the world.
One nation at a time, now that is getting something done.
-RHK

Marriage

A difference with no difference is no difference. In the UK a straight couple is suing to have equal rights to gays and want a civil union. I do not know their reasons for not going to marriage directly, but I do know this simply highlights the insanity of the issue at hand.

Marriage granted to straights and gays, whether it is called marriage or not, is (in theory- but not in practice in Maine as I proved months ago) the same thing. The bureaucracy of having two names for the same thing (two consenting adults having their love of each other legally recognized) is pointless. Save paper and allow only one form of marriage to be available to everyone. Since love, not gender, decides the commitment people have towards each other so should a legal recognition of that commitment.

Afghanistan

A leak from the White House says we will be in Afghanistan for 8-9 years.

My gut reaction: Obama wants to anger his base and stir the anti-war movement to be more active than the Conservative revolution taking place so that he can say he was forced to compromise and pull out in two or three years taking the possible victory and leaving. If we don't actually have victory he can have the base explain it was impossible to win anyway.

I know one thing: Afghanistan could be a stable democracy allowing for our troops being removed in two years. We would need to fight the war like it was a real war, and not our current drive-by shootout strategy. Hold the line with 250,000 troops, build the infrastructure to support our troops, and when we leave allow the Afghan troops to continue using that infrastructure to use against whatever remains of an insurgency.

Utopia

The concept of creating an utopia is inherently a flaw of human existence as we all strive to achieve a better world. However, trying to make the leap from what we are to what we want to be sometimes defies nature. Communism and Socialism are two attempts at creating utopias, but they fail to recognize human greed, envy, and hatred will always exist. Not only that but humans will always be different than our neighbor in some way: if not our looks then by our thoughts.

The perfect society is one in which our differences are allowed to be as different as possible and still exist productively as a society with different interests yet also accepting others diversity. However, diversity for diversity sake is not logical, as all deserve the right to exist in their own diversity, one's diversity should not interfere in another's diversity.

Live and let live is the perfect world. When we can do that, then we will be as perfect as God or nature allows us to be.

The Truth Changes Everything

Remember when I said everything was about to change a while ago? Well it has. Today the beginning of what I see as a chain of events leading us through 2011 will alter what we know and understand of the world. The 1990s and 2000s had an increasing level of ignorance (I witnessed this first hand, at least in grade school everyone was on the same page. By the time I got to high school, people were claiming Republicans wanted to raise taxes....) However, the revelation of thousands of emails relating to the climate debate considering that science which showed data contrary to what was desired for a result was not only tampered with, but unpublished and censored. Scientists were threatened.

What is my source? You seriously need to become more self reliant and google it yourself. Mine was the New York Times, and my own further research to actually confirm it.

UMaine At Orono College Republicans

Long story short the forms to be recognized for another year have yet to be filled out so a message to the College Republicans was sent informing them to fill out the forms at a certain office time. So the VP of the UMaine college Republicans decided to parody it switching the references of Student Government to College Republicans and vice versa with office hours listed as never. Point is I am really leaning towards doubling my efforts for the College Conservatives. Anyhow, if anyone knows me they know I love to hate stupid people and wrote the following message in response:

Hopefully the forms will be filled out without further immaturity? In case you forgot the governor election is this election cycle and the GOP candidates would certainly enjoy having UMaine volunteers. Losing recognition would hinder the outreach opportunities and thus hinder the overall efforts on campus.

Susan Collins Update

One thing I like about being on Susan Collin's email update list is that I actually get updates. Mike and Olympia send something once every two months, Susan sends something it seems at least monthly or every two weeks and makes it relevant and has details. Today having a lot of news without the world actually changing gives me the opportunity to update you of how I view the day to day operations of Susan Collins lately.

I want to first thank Susan for recognizing Hasan's actions in the Fort Hood shooting as a terrorist attack. It shows some common sense on her part still exists.

Mostly she is doing a good job, some things I did take notice of. Such as:

U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, today announced that the Senate has approved the Fiscal Year 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations spending bill which includes her request for nearly $50 million in military construction funding for Maine projects.

-28 million for a new Aircraft Hangar at the Bangor Air National Guard base.
-$7.1 million for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery to be used for security improvements at Gate #2.
-$2 million for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery to be used for the planning and design funding for the Consolidation of Structural Shops.
-$12.9 million for the Joint Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC) at Brunswick Naval Air Station.

The legislation also includes $53.2 billion in Department of Veterans Affairs discretionary funding, including $50 million for a new Rural Clinic Initiative for additional to provide for additional Community Based Outreach Clinic's in rural and highly rural areas, such as Maine.

Excerpt from a press release over. How about we put 50 million to making absolutely certain our border guards have memorized the terror watch list? I am not aware of nor concerned about terror plots against Maine. 9/11 proved our open border with Canada and lax security at our airports, not only in big cities but Bangor International as well, enabled several of the terrorists to conduct their attacks that day. I do not believe we need to improve our physical security and base capabilities in Maine, only the ability of those protecting us.

Sources (Bibliography) :
"SENATOR COLLINS SECURES MORE THAN $50 MILLION FOR MAINE IN SENATE MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS BILL"
http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=092d0551-802a-23ad-4f8d-df4eb26dfaf0&Region_id=&Issue_id=&CFID=20904891&CFTOKEN=46174388

This is an interesting proposal:
"SENATOR COLLINS TO INTRODUCE BILL TO SUPPORT DEEPWATER, OFFSHORE WIND POWER RESEARCH"
http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=092e9c6c-802a-23ad-409d-b62eabb6decc&Region_id=&Issue_id=&CFID=20811960&CFTOKEN=67643797

U.N. Wants False Barrier In Climate Change Debate

That is how I interpret their focus on women in the debate over climate change. They use a person's emotion instead of the facts to support a cause, which actually means nothing about the cause. Prove it, don't personalize it. And don't allow yourself to be fooled by such a simple tactic. Use facts, not emotion, to support your various causes.

From: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C11%5C20%5Cstory_20-11-2009_pg7_28

1984

Is knowing a lie any better than not knowing?
No.

The government should guarantee a number is accurate 100% before reporting it. No more estimates, no more fictitious jobs. No more campaign lies and an end to having three health care bills at once so you can say one claim isn't in one bill, even when it is in another one. One bill at a time. You want to get rid of pre-existing conditions, then have a bill banning pre-existing conditions. I don't care if it is only five lines because the size doesn't impress me. The benefit will impress me.

Update: No more public speaking by Joe Biden.

Climate Change Hurts Women More

The U.N. study released this week says that women produce less carbon emissions but are the most affected by climate change. Quote:

"Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, even though they contributed the least to it," said the United Nations Population Fund Executive Director, Ms Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.

"The poor are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and the majority of the 1.5 billion people living on $1 a day or less are women," she added.

The report shows that the fight against climate change is more likely to be successful if policies, programmes and treaties take into account the needs, rights and potential of women.

It reveals that women are more likely than men to die in natural disasters--including those related to extreme weather--with this gap most pronounced where incomes are low and status differences between men and women are high.

The report shows that investments that empower women and girls--particularly education and health--bolster economic development and reduce poverty and have a beneficial impact on climate.

Excerpt over. The contradictions are startling. First they declare the de facto cause of climate change wealth, and say wealthy nations' climate change affects poorer nations, particularly poorer women, more. Then it says making women wealthy will have a beneficial impact on climate change.

Remember my false barriers post? If not read it. Already, knowing how wealth and male-female reasoning is used in this report I can direct you to why the U.N. report means absolutely nothing and how we can really look for an actual solution:
http://rhkinc.blogspot.com/2009/11/barrier-manipulation.html

News Article:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200911191053.html

Economics

I take your dollar, promise to pay it back, and buy candy. I eat the candy and don't pay you back when you want me to. I just say I will, but not now. Meanwhile, every day I don't pay you back I take another dollar for more candy. You would get rather angry wouldn't you? You wouldn't let me take your dollar.

The government is doing very similar things. It is taking your dollars, creating jobs in fictitious districts, promises to give some of it back, and then says it is with holding your return in order to create another fictitious job as you are on the verge of losing your own.

America, our current situation with the spending levels topping the 12 trillion dollar debt mark is unsustainable. Many news reports then say how much that is per person. It doesn't matter. I didn't want that money to be spent, and sadly I was alive for at least 7 trillion dollars of that spending. I'm only 18 years old. However it doesn't matter how much that is per person because I am not going to pay that debt. I didn't spend that money. I just know I'm not giving the drug addict more drugs.

Just say no. I am not buying health insurance and I will not let the government pay my bill. Once you let the government pay for something you don't want or need they own you. I will not be a slave. On our current path in the next 18 years of my life I fear to see that not only will the government demand I pay, but tell me what job I will fulfill for maximum returns in order to pay.

We have already lost our freedom. It is time to take it back. You want change? Then actually change something and declare your independence and freedom from being controlled by the government. Respect the government, and understand you are the government. Any government operating against your wishes and controlling your life is one of tyranny.

To the human race, if you live under any government like this you must resist. Fight back before a global dark ages comes upon us.

Stupid Economics

Obama's advice was as follows: Speaking in the heart of America's biggest lender, President Obama told Fox News in an interview Wednesday that the piling on of U.S. debt could drag the country into a "double-dip recession," though he said he's still considering additional tax incentives for businesses to reverse the rising unemployment rate.

Excerpt over. If debt could cause the recession to worsen, one would presume the next statement would be about lessening the debt. Instead, he proposes to increase the boom before the next bust by increasing the debt even more. This is just ridiculous.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/18/obama-warns-double-dip-recession/

Afghanistan Solutions

From Reuters:
Most Afghans see not Taliban militants but poverty, unemployment and government corruption as the main causes of war in their country, according to a report by a leading aid group released on Wednesday.

Excerpt over. Well, since the same issues in our country aren't even being addressed by the Obama administration, I think it is a safe bet that Afghanistan will not improve in the coming years.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP426013

Fiscal Order for Maine

Some candidates for governor have been providing general ideas to get the budget in order. Here are three things which I see could save hundreds of millions of dollars:

End Dirigo Health.
Merge the overhead of Presque Isle and Fort Kent's universities.
Spend only on existing infrastructure before expanding within the bi-annual budget.
Disregard stipulations of further spending in regards to non-essential projects in the Stimulus.

Stop Foreign Aid Immediately

I demand this because of this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/17/millions-hungry-households-us-report

Yes, I am saying the hunger of an American is more important to me than the hunger of someone else. Deal with it.

Journalism FAIL

I rarely post a full article's text as some are ridiculously long, but if I didn't you wouldn't believe me on this one (because I wouldn't believe myself if I told myself this one) :

Poll: Half of Southern Democrats dislike outburst
The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- About half of the Southern Democrats responding to a poll say they were either opposed or outraged by South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst as President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress.

The State of Columbia reported that the Winthrop University poll also showed large majorities of both independents and Democrats reacted negatively to Wilson's interruption of Obama's speech by shouting "You lie!"

More than 43 percent of Southern Republicans liked it when Wilson berated Obama as he spoke in September.

Winthrop's poll, which included questions asked exclusively for The State, showed almost 68 percent of independents said they were opposed to Wilson's outburst. Overall, 30 percent of independents said they were opposed to and outraged by Wilson's actions.

Far fewer Southern Republicans - just over 11 percent - said they were outraged by Wilson's remark. But another 36 percent of Southern Republicans said they opposed Wilson's outburst.

Just under 65 percent of all those polled said they opposed Wilson's actions.

Nearly 30 percent of all poll participants said they not only opposed Wilson's actions, but were also outraged by them.

"It was stupid," said Charles Marshall, a 74-year-old retired marketing and sales representative who lives in Bluffton and backed Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

"He acted like a redneck," Marshall said of Wilson. "And I'm no elitist by any stretch of the imagination. He was appealing to the emotions of his constituency, and that's dumb."

Wilson apologized to Obama's chief of staff for his outburst. But he has made no apologies for the millions in campaign contributions that have poured in to him since he interrupted the president's speech with his shout.

"A lot of people have contributed because Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi and MoveOn.org have raised money for my opponent," Wilson said. "It was an understanding that I had become a target."

J. Chester Gambrell, a 57-year-old salesman who lives in Florence and who voted for U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., didn't approve of Wilson's actions.

"I'm not sure if that was the right time to say that, whether you think Barack Obama is a great guy or not, out of respect for the president," Gambrell said. "The man is president.

The survey was conducted Oct. 24-Nov. 7 by telephone. There were 866 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com

Article over. Go back through and find the data for Democrats. It only mentions Independents. They seem to be getting confused. Just because Independents voted for Obama once, that doesn't make them automatic Democrats. While it can be inferred from the overall total, the actual figure for Democrats isn't even given in the article. Journalism FAIL.

Source:
http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/1029538.html

Change the Majority of Fear

I want to leave an impact on the world. I want to do something that won't be forgotten in a generation. I do not want to be the name on the family tree that is remembered as the odd one that did nothing. I want to leave an impact.
I question college. I'm there now doing the essays and journals and tests and prelims and at first it was fulfilling, but now I see how pointless it all is. Every meal a person makes for their self is about survival. It leaves an impact because if you didn't eat, you would die. You take a test and fail, you can take another and pass. You go on whether you pass or fail for a month in college, yet if you didn't eat for a month you would die. You can fail a whole semester and still go on. Until you get that piece of paper.
I could die tomorrow and be remembered for nothing. I could die in four years with that piece of paper and be remembered for nothing. I could save someone's life tomorrow and be remembered. Should they not be remembered I wouldn't be remembered either, so I want a more direct approach. I want to be a name that no matter how many times history is rewritten, I will still be there for what I did.
It isn't enough to be a senator, or even a president. We remember some presidents because they are recent, but we really remember Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan. Why? Because they changed how the world thinks and sees itself. Egypt had many rulers, but we remember Cleopatra and King Tut, why? Because what they did changed how the world saw itself. King Tut changed how the world saw Egypt's past. Cleopatra changed how the Roman Empire existed.
You don't need to be a president or king to be remembered. Ben Franklin wasn't a positioned leader, but he is remembered. He has been dead for many generations but we know him. We know he was a patriot and diplomat and free thinker ahead of him just being a scientist. Why? Because anyone can be a scientist and figure out what he figured out. However, not everyone can sway the minds of people. Thoreau and Paine are remembered for changing how people saw government. I want to be remembered.
That piece of paper gained by college means absolutely nothing. The work put into something other than changing the world is worthless. Sure, you can gain pleasure from working for money and getting newer and shinier things, but your existence will have been wasted. Unless you change the world in a way that can be remembered more than two generations after you existed your life is worthless. That is why the Kaiser was just another leader of just another warring nation notable for it breaking records in number of dead. Hitler is remembered for changing the world. Good or bad, he changed the world.
I know you see this as true. Yet we do nothing about it. Why? It is that we don't want to change the world? I think we all would like to. Not being able to change the world is actually why voting is ignored by so many. So that can't be a reason, since we do want to change the world. Is it because although everyone wants to change the world we think only one or two people possibly can change the world? Are we afraid of the majority of fear?
I say we should rise above the majority of fear to change the world. We can see the benefits of our change in whether or not it reduces the fear of people and increases their willingness to strive to change the world. That would lead to more entrepreneurs, scientists, moral politicians, and leaders of all kinds than we ever dreamed of. The best part is this world of leaders can be formed by us all. We are the change we want to see. However, our existence will only be remembered if we take up the challenge and work to change the world. Otherwise, we will turn to dust just like that piece of paper.

City Mananger's Release

I've held back from making a statement on Ed Barrett being "encouraged" by the Bangor City Council to retire after 22 years on the job. I was hoping the council would either say why he should have gone or at least better explained the "disagreement" they had with his plan.

First, you do not fire someone who does their job and comes up with a proposal without having a plan of your own.

Secondly, someone in a respected position does not just go in the middle of the night from a job they had for 22 years. If wrong doing occurred, he did so with taxpayer money and taxpayer time. That alone deserves explanation.

I am going to leave the issue at that because the list of somewhat odd decisions and statements by the council since I started observing over a year ago have been growing and I am finding it hard to not just simply list every incident I've seen. A new councilor is there this year, so I will give Cary Weston time to shift the council's viewpoint of the intelligence of the residents of Bangor.

Should this shift not take place, you can forget the referendum on Obama next year because Bangor will be looking for new, transparent ideas.

Guantanimo Bay Prisoners Trial In New York

While I am certainly not happy about the decision made, I am not surprised by it. I am more surprised that people didn't know this was coming. America, wake up. This is the leadership we have in place. This is not a moderate administration. It just isn't. They will place other nationalities and minorities of any form, other than opponents, ahead of common sense.

I am not being a bigot of any kind, I am observing what has been happening. Perhaps if you did the same you would notice it as well. What to do about this other than make myself aware of situations and ultimately treat others as I want to be treated I do not know.

Yemen Situation Worsens

In the past week the situation in Yemen has escalated to levels worthy of accusations and counter accusations of responsibility for the Houthi rebel's success. Iran blames the U.S. for Houthi defeats, and demands Saudi Arabia stop getting involved. Saudi Arabia however can't really do this since the rebels crossed the border and started attacking Saudis. Yemen and Saudi Arabia are blaming Iran for arming the rebels, and the reason this matters is because the conflict has forced Saudi Arabia to evacuate 250 villages. Now, last I checked evacuating populated areas is a sign you are preparing for those areas to enter the conflict zone. So with yesterday's 250 and today's increase by 170 to a total 420 village evacuations the situation is worsening quickly. Pakistanis have also been fighting with the rebels which is something I just can't figure out a motive for other than the possible Taliban and Al Qaeda connection.

Why does this matter? Well, thus far Iran's involvement with Hamas and Hezbolla and the Somali Civil War has been ignored by the Arab world. Now, however, two clearly Arab nations are facing the end result of weapons and finance support by Iran to rebel and extremist groups. How the Arab nations unify or divide over this will be very indicative of the possible alliance system should war with Iran unfold.

However, the reason the situation may be worsening could be due to the effectiveness of the Saudi forces:

Meanwhile Saudi's armed forces arrested a sorcerer attempting to plant magic spells in the conflict zone in support of the Houthis, the Saudi newspaper Okaz reported.
The man was initially believed to be a refugee fleeing the conflict but security forces searched him and found amulets, animal remains and scrolls containing symbols.

The detainee admitted he was planning to plant amulets in the conflict zone to help the Houthi rebels sneak across the border and win their war against Saudi Arabia.
When asked why he had long nails, he claimed that he is obeying the order of the jinns, or spirits.
“The jinns will be infuriated and will kill me if I trim or clean my nails,” he told his interrogators.

Excerpt over. So as the Houthi rebels (an ethnic, traditional, and Shi'ite minority) are gaining ground, Saudi Arabia is cracking down on animists.

http://www.kippreport.com/2009/11/fighting-forces-mass-evacuation-in-saudi/
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/11/15/91350.html

What to do when your son is a racist?

I saw that question recently. I have the answer: beat them yourself.

Update: Two minutes after I first made this post, I already got several annoying emails. I simply want to clarify that after you are done beating them, you should beat yourself for teaching them such hate. Thank you.

Update 2: You people are way too sensitive. Seriously there is no justifiable reason for blind hatred in the modern era. You have a child with blind hatred? They deserve a just punishment. The reason you should be conducting the beating is because instead of having his/her hatred reinforced by having the beating come from those they incite to defensive violence, you should show them the equal evil in your own (insert false barrier here).

Venezuela Perspectives

This video was recently brought to by attention by Stephanie. I was quite impressed with references by sources which approached the issue with common sense. Enjoy.




If you enjoy this form of news presentation I encourage you to look at other reports from newsy.com.

Common Sense 3

"The US ambassador in Kabul has written to the White House arguing against sending thousands more American troops to Afghanistan.

In a leaked cable, Karl Eikenberry expressed doubts about the competence of President Hamid Karzai's government."

Excerpt over. You have an enemy, the Taliban, who need to be defeated. Send the troops. If the Afghan government isn't functioning as needed, replace it. Having us not only oversee but run the election process to ensure minimal fraud is a possibility. One can not say we don't have the resources for it. If we have the resources to place ourselves trillions in debt, we can conduct a fair election.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8356094.stm

Giddy Republicans?

I think Republicans are becoming more popular because they have become more Conservative in fiscal and political issues, instead of emphasizing social issues. They have not, by my observation, become giddy at all.

More Angry Catholics

From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111116943.html

The article states:

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it would be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city won't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.

"If the city requires this, we can't do it," Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. "The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem."

After the vote, the archdiocese sent out a statement accusing the council of ignoring the right of religious freedom.

Excerpt over. So much material in this one.

So because they won't be allowed to discriminate they will stop being charitable?
Isn't it ironic that a religious entity operating in the capital of a secular nation has trouble acting in a secular manner with secular funds?
Isn't it ironic that religious freedom, protected by the Constitution, sometimes claims to be able to over ride the other freedoms granted by the Constitution?

Questions are such a non-violent way of expressing anger don't you think?

Health Insurance

I will not purchase health insurance under three conditions:
1. I do not have the money I will not buy health insurance.
2. I am able to afford to pay for regular doctor visits and am considered quite healthy, I will not purchase health insurance.
3. If I do have the money, but am mandated to do so by the government, I will not buy health insurance.

The flaw in requiring people to purchase health insurance is that there are some who simply can not afford it, and the fine is also not going to be paid. The sentence to prison means the entire existence, health care included, of a person will then be the cost of the government.

Should that provision of the health care bill become law, it will be time for civil disobedience against an unjust law.

Freaky Origins

My blogging aspirations had a predecessor, and I've found it after three years and eleven months of completely forgetting it existed. Back then I was more focused on the alternate realities floating around in my head so I started a site on writing. Here was my first post then (I was such a nerd, then again, I still am) :

I am Randy Hughes-King. Hughes is part of my last name so don't think it is my middle. I go to high school and do a lot of homework. I like to write stories in my spare time and am considered a geek. I also wish to take over the world but my plan is only eight percent finished. My favorite television shows are Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica. My favorite books and movies are the Harry Potter series. I will often post ideas for stories that you can post replies to and hopefully they will be nice. When you make a complaint, tell what the complaint is, why it matters, compare it to another story and no vulgarity or lewd comments please.

Message To Friends, Fans, Family, Foes

I will be shifting things soon. It will not be a "major" life shift, just moving things from stale and old accounts to a new, revitalized, and more "me" style. I've been putting this shift off for a long time but the current system is not going to work at all with my coming project. So, this blog may change to a new website, my various social networking sites will most likely all be altered but for the time being things stay the same as I prepare my new system. I'm saying it now so nobody does a double take and suffers shock when I unveil my upcoming project.

Interview With Bruce Poliquin

I recently interviewed Bruce Poliquin, a candidate for governor.

Of these two statements, which represents your thinking best: you can't spend without taxing, or you can't tax without spending?

(There was an initial confusion regarding the question, and it was eventually resolved as follows.)

We will tighten our belts before taxing. We can not predict a revenue stream accurately and so we have to be able to respond as best we can bi-annually. There are all kinds of prudent things to do, so if your able to have reserves then you're able to weather the storm during a two year budget better than you can in a one year budget. The problem is last year we depleted our reserves and added the stimulus budget with rules preventing reform. When you are insolvent you can't take on more debt-

So do you believe the federal government to be insolvent?

I am focused on Maine issues and that being said, the federal issue is that it is imprudent and reckless to commit 9 trillion dollars of spending without having a way to pay for it and that is just what the fed has done. They are either going to tax or print money which is unacceptable.

Some have raised eyebrows to several figures reported by your campaign. Specifically the claim that the State spends 6.8 billion each year, when it is 5.8 billion every two years. What is the plan to prevent such innacuracies in the future?

They are not innacuracies, we have a tremendous ability to make sure we have good data, and we do. If you really look at those numbers it includes federal money.

What are your thoughts on the recent election?

Clearly disappointed about the results on Question 4. Sometimes folks have to stand up for what is right. I am thrilled to have been part of the effort and would do it in a heartbeat. I still believe passing it would have been the right thing for the state and given us a new fiscal tool. It didn't turn out that way and makes it even more important our next governor has skills in management because we don't have the tools in the lawbook to have it done as a process.

Why do you believe Question 4 failed?

We were outspent 14 to 1 and that money came out of state. When you look at where the money came from it came from unions and those that have a vested interest in protecting the status quo. It is what it is. If you are unable to get your message out which is expensive.

So would you say the message or the finances of a campaign matters more?

Both, you have to have both. Very closely linked and you can not seperate the two. As governor I will be on the side of taxpayers of maine with my message.

Would you end the Dirigo health program?

Let me give you a longer answer than you were expecting. Dirigo health is a classic example of the problems we have in Augusta. In 2003 when it was signed the goal was to enroll 130,000 Mainers who were uninsured. The goal was to not cost Maine anything and reduce premiums and increase care to the citizens. Now 8 years later, we've enrolled 10,000 and only 4 thousand were uninsured and cost us 150 million dollars. The care has not gotten better. It should have been shut down years ago. However, we need to make sure the people in that program have a place to go.They are in that program based on their own good will and judgment. We can't just throw them on the street.

I give you that answer because a short answer would be an incomplete explanation. Knowing these facts Dirigo should be shut down.

What would your replacement for Dirigo look like?

Well we have to be careful and wait to see what is coming down from DC and just be ready when it comes if it comes. We know we need to increase competition and have to have a program that is patient centric. What we know that doesn't work is the public option which is Dirigo. We have to make sure they are being successful.

Will you support a federal public option?

I can't answer that because I don't have the details. Our public option was a failure.

Would you support a 9th and 10th amendment guarantee to the State Constitution?

I would have to look into more deeply. What matters to the people of Maine is whether they have someone in the Blaine house who makes sure the 10th amendment is respected. I support federal intervention only when the people and state can't do the job.

Let me give you an example of this. When the state accepted 300 million dollars to our medicare program we couldn't reform the broken program. There is no way I'll accept federal money if in the long term it will hurt the people of Maine. It is just another sign of gross fiscal mismanagement in Augusta.

Aside from yourself, who do you want to see from the Democrat side?

I don't know. We are focused on our efforts and have no idea who is coming up on the other side. I am completely of the belief that the voters of Maine are pragmatic and will say "do we want someone from the private sector and the real world managing businesses with great acumen, or someone who has created the mess we are in? We already have one of the worst business climates in the country with people leaving. We have retirees leaving because of taxes. The type of candidate they [Democrats] will put up will be a problem creator.

Do you include Mr. Mills in that description?
Mr. Mills in an Attorney who has been part of the Augusta beuracracy for two decades. I'm sure he is a nice man but the difference between his background and mine is very stark and I'll leave it at that.

Have you been looking to anyone for Attorney General yet?

We are working non-stop 7 days a week and have been for 6 months reaching the voters of Maine. We've been to Aroostook and Washington county. We are reaching out to all corners of Maine to make sure the next governor gets it right and in order to do that we have to listen to the voters of Maine. In 6 months of doing this and listening to thousands of Mainers at parades and fairs and political events and town hall meetings they are saying two things: first they want the next governor to be a proper manager of our state. Second: they want the next governor to have the management skills to get our fiscal house in order and I expect that they will hire someone who has that skill set and the experience and courage to address these issues head on.

[Poliquin intended to say his focus right now is on the people of Maine, and selecting a cabinet will come later.]

What is next in the coming months?

We are continuing to do what has been successful for us in the past and that is recruit volunteers. We have a small and growing army of volunteers. We are going to continue to build coalitions: folks that have a vested interest that this state be governed more effectively. Raise money so we can get our message out. We're going to make sure we have the financial resources to make our message get out and we are going to directly reach out to the voters in Maine through the tools in our campaign with email updates, online connection, and our ten year old mobile home... ten year old mobile home, we do more with less, that we converted into a campaign bus and are going all across the state.

Now I might add one more thing, I want to be direct, but also clear in my comments, and it comes with the 3rd point of my last remark. As you know our campaign is traditionally funded, we are going out to the voters of Maine making our point to them, answering their questions, and asking their support. There is no purer form of support than someone giving their 5 or 50 or 500 dollars to get our message out. The first reporting deadline for the candidates we raised six times as much money from six times- I misstated, three times as much money from three times as many donors as our closest competitor in the primary. We are hopeful and expect that by the end of the year we will also demonstrate that we have a grassroots movement.

To expand on that a little further, I think it is unconscionable that a candidate for the governor to accept tax payer money for their campaign. We are in a recession and low wage state, high taxed state, and some candidates for the governorship are simply sitting back and accepting tax payer money for their campaign. "Well you either need to be wealthy or take public money for your campaign" - that is an excuse and untrue. You need to work hard and get off the sofa. Anyone can do the hard work to build a grassroots network, a professional team. My background is blue collar Waterville, it is hard work and being prepared, and the people of Maine respect hard work and Mainers are getting that message and we will work just as hard as governor. You don't have to take taxpayer money- just work hard for support. That is a huge contrast between myself and one of my opponents in the primary.



I will point out that my requests for interviews with other candidates have either been declined or have no response.

Obama Speaks (Not to Me)

From the New York Times:
Mr. Obama, during his private pep talk to Democrats, recognized Mr. Owens election and then posed a question to the other lawmakers. According to Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, who supports the health care bill, the president asked, “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit” Democratic voters “and it will encourage the extremists.”

Another freshman Democrat from New Mexico, Representative Martin Heinrich, said the president’s comments overall were reassuring. “If you want to see a recipe for failure,” Mr. Heinrich said, “don’t do the things you talked about in your campaigns and turn your back on your base. All the independent voters in the world don’t matter if the Democrats don’t turn out.”

“This is an opportunity to do something as big as Social Security,” he added. “And me, personally, I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history.”

Excerpt over. So if health care does not pass, the extremists will be encouraged. Extremists huh? Would he mean Islamic extremists such as the one which attacked Fort Hood? I think he prefers to focus on his own twisted view of an extremist: someone who doesn't support him. As for Heinrich, apparently appealing to 30 percent of the nation is more important than appealing to 50 percent of the nation. Then, mentioning Social Security, just quite simply, and children look away, wtf.

As for the last sentence he said: We all know the victors in war write the history. Who writes it during peace?


Link: http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/lawmakers-detail-obamas-pitch/

Chavez Threatens War

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has deployed 15,000 troops to the border with Colombia. Colombia is taking a liberal's approach and going to the UN and OAS. These are the same two organizations which took the side of Zelaya after he was removed for trying to rewrite the Honduran Constitution illegally (along with most South American leaders in that region, including Chavez and Uribe). Don't believe me? Read earlier posts on this blog for the Honduras situation, and the links after several quotes for the current news stories. Here is the first news story from Reuters:

During a Sunday television address, Chavez ordered his military to prepare for war as the best way to preserve peace in the region.Colombian President Alvaro Uribe shot back with a statement rejecting Chavez's remarks.

"Considering the threats of war enunciated by the government of Venezuela, the government of Colombia proposes going to the Organization of American States and the Security Council of the United Nations," the statement said.

Excerpt over. First, you only prepare for war for war. Slow down and read that sentence again. Absorb it. You only have a military if you are going to war. Costa Rica, keep up the good work. Now to the next news story from the AP:

President Hugo Chavez's government is sending 15,000 soldiers to the border with Colombia.
Repeating a frequent charge by Venezuela, Vice President Ramon Carrizalez accused Colombia on Thursday of intentionally allowing violence to spill over the border as a means of "destabilizing" Chavez's government.
"Colombia has been creating a pre-war atmosphere," Carrizalez said. Chavez has also called an agreement giving U.S. military personnel expanded access to Colombian bases a threat to Venezuela's security, but the Venezuelan troop buildup on the frontier has nothing to do with the pact signed last week, officials said.

Excerpt over. Lets pause and compare the last segment of that excerpt to the Reuters article:

For months Chavez has said that a military cooperation pact signed last month between Bogota and Washington could set the stage for a U.S. invasion of Venezuela from Colombian territory.

Excerpt over. Alright, so, the "not connected" and "connected" sentiments of Venezuela over the U.S. bases is going to be reported or not reported depending on which news source you read from.

On to a more important issue, why is Chavez doing this? Well, he has almost total control of his country and formed a new nation wide armed militia in the past few weeks, so when you have everything you want in your nation, what do you do? Well, actually, it turns out he doesn't have everything he needs in his country:

Severe shortages of electricity and water pose a growing risk to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian revolution that is powered largely by the country's petroleum revenues.
Analysts who contest that interpretation and point instead to government sector mismanagement, a prolonged drought and rising demand cannot easily express themselves, because the media that aired their views have shut down.Chavez himself went on air to warn industries they would have their utilities cut off if they did not check wastage. For citizens fumbling in the dark due to power cuts, Chavez advised the use of a torch.

"If you get up at three in the morning to use the toilet, use a torch instead of turning the light on; that's enough light, you don't need more. Just leave the torch by the bed, it's that simple," Chavez said during an emergency Cabinet meeting, broadcast live.

He advised Venezuelans to get into the habit of showering for no more than three minutes.

Industry sources said that power generation plants nationalized by Chavez in 2007 needed not only new infusions of capital but also better management and due diligence to ensure their performance was competitive and made the best use of resources.

Chavez plans to personally make random surprise visits to factories and has warned those found wasting electricity or water will be punished summarily with closures.

He has also offered advice to shopping malls to save on power or generate their own.


Faced with the shortages, the government has reacted by targeting business, accusing industries of wasting resources through inefficient management of energy and water.

Excerpt over. There has been a theory that when the Soviet Union was about to collapse, a war with the West would have saved them. Clearly this was faultly logic because a war with Afghanistan helped send them over the edge. However, perhaps the thinking for this theory was that it would allow a better excuse for people's problems than "we're slaughtering your family because they blinked without our permission".

Considering Chavez's rationing of such obviously critical resources one can see that invading Colombia and blaming sabotage of their water supply is a much less harmful excuse for their popularity than saying either it is out of their control (which people believe is since they are moving to control everything else) or they can't fix, which both of those leads to anger and removal in favor of those who will solve the problem.

I would suggest Colombia pursue the diplomatic route, but for the sake of logic match the mobilization of Venezuela (do not go above it, just equal the forces) so you won't be entire defenseless if he attacks. We do not need a Barbarossa of South America to unfold. By we I mean the U.S. because you and I both know who will come to save the Colombians should there be war and a chance they would lose. However, with Obama, no guarantees.



The three news sources used in today's WW4 Reality Check:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5A80B020091109

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCIKDzMk3thB2iiP8uhH7lXThSCQD9BPNVDO0

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2009/11/06/Shortages-pose-a-risk-to-Venezuelas-Chavez/UPI-83391257525813/

One Republican Who Will Not Return

Anh Cao, I truly believe, has guaranteed the end of his GOP career tonight.

Question to the World

How did I ever end up on Al Franken's email lists?

Economic Systems Simplified

Socialism: x + you = What we say its value is....
Progressive: What we say your value is... = 1 product
Ordoliberalism: x hour = 1 dollar
Capitalism: x product = 1 dollar

Bruce Poliquin Speaks Again

I have his words (not word for word for word, but pretty accurate) coming to a blog near you very soon. For what I have polished in my typing translation of the interview here is one of the first completed answers:

Me: Would you end the Dirigo health program?

Bruce Poliquin: "Let me give you a longer answer than you were expecting. Dirigo health is a classic example of the problems we have in Augusta. In 2003 when it was signed the goal was to enroll 130,000 Mainers who were uninsured. The goal was to not cost Maine anything and reduce premiums and increase care to the citizens. Now 8 years later, we've enrolled 10,000 and only 4 thousand were uninsured and cost us 150 million dollars. The care has not gotten better. It should have been shut down years ago. However, we need to make sure the people in that program have a place to go.They are in that program based on their own good will and judgment. We can't just throw them on the street."

"I give you that answer because a short answer would be an incomplete explanation. Knowing these facts Dirigo should be shut down."

Common Sense 2

A person has taken the lives of others today. My sympathies to those victims as well.

However yesterday a person took lives as well. The questioning of why he did so naturally began. Some revelations, not just questions, were avoided for the sake of avoiding, instead of panic, offense. To avoid panic would have not only been sensible but acceptable. However, with holding the truth on the basis of not offending someone is an insult. To presume the populace incapable of behaving in a civil manner upon gaining knowledge is not the purpose of the government nor the media.

To justify either as actions for the common good is a display of ignorance. A democracy of any form, especially one where individual action is encouraged, requires it's populace to be fully informed to function best. The common good is best achieve when the populace is informed enough to have individuals act under motivation from awareness as opposed to obedience.

Terror Attack in Fort Hood

I don't understand the justification that he didn't want to go to war. If you don't want to go to war, why do you turn your home into a war zone? Hasan also did this representing himself as Muslim instead of an American. As far as I am concerned, this was a terrorist attack. Sure he was not affiliated to any group, but he used the same tactics in a randomized fashion as the terrorists in the Middle East.

A Radical Islamist

My definition may not matter to anyone other than myself, but I consider it any Muslim who considers two things:

1. Violence over peaceful action.
2. Considers themselves Islamic first instead of American when they are serving in our armed forces.

Sentiments

I send my sympathies to the victims and their families of today's tragedy at Fort Hood.

301st Post A New Beginning

For those looking for the election information: Question 1 passed. TABOR failed, and Marijuana for medicinal purposes is legal. The rest, look it up yourself.

I support same-sex marriage while supporting straight forward sex education basics (protection, abstinence, the birthing video to scare them from doing it anyway) to students only after parental permission. I oppose abortion as a form of birth control but accept it in the case of rape, incest, or medical necessity for the life of the mother. I oppose the personal use of drugs, but will let someone stupid enough to want to use them simply go ahead and use them. I will not, however, be cleaning up the mess afterwards unless they show commitment to helping themselves clean up. I support a balanced budget and reduction of the national debt. I oppose government interventions into our personal lives including finance. I support a strong military and believe voting to be a civic duty. I agree that guns are a protection against tyranny and should not be banned. I recognize a higher power as the source of my rights but do not believe an interpretation of that power should be the basis of any government. I oppose corruption at every turn especially if it involves someone I know.

I am a moderate. I am a conservative. The two are not contradictions, but the same thing. It is time Conservatives stood up and let the country know that no longer will we be divided from a political party because one side wants Socialism and the other wants Theocracy. It is time Conservatives stand up to politicians claiming to represent us and say we represent ourselves from now on as a true Conservative should. Religious Conservatives fail to recognize the seperation of church and state well enough to control themselves from ignoring it when in power. They also often fail to uphold other forms of conservative thought when they lose grips on their church and state barriers. George Bush represents that exactly. He was not a conservative when he left office: he was a religiously inspired lame duck. I officially declare my personal definition of Conservative thought to lack an organized religion as a source of ideals. I declare we use common sense and our observations to move forward in a rational manner. I say it is time for Conservatives to no longer look away when someone they know does wrong but instead bring them to justice and let the world be better for it. Stand up because our voices are being lost and our values being destroyed by all sides. Being in the middle means a squeeze on both sides in enevitable, and that squeeze is happening. So it is time to push back and let ourselves be heard!

Election Results Part 1

Tonight I wanted to wait for Maine results to come in to do my report on the results but Question 1 is going back and forth within 5 thousand votes as the reports come in. So nationally Republicans kicked donkey today sweeping Virginia and it is projected they won the New Jersey gubernatorial race. New York's 23rd is facing numerous reporting issues among them a town that is not going to post their results online. My thoughts are this town must be Amish. TABOR seems to have failed at first glance, and the Bangor Daily News site I was using was posting voter turnout at 108 percent so I am not sure the numbers for them add up anymore, but it will all be sorted out later. More to come.

Governor Race Fielded

So far, with hopefully the field set for primaries and the run to the ballot, here is a list of all candidates for Governor:

Democrats:
Donna Dion
Dawn Hill
Eriq Manson
Libby Mitchell
Steve Rowe
Rosa Scarcelli
Peter Truman

Republicans:
Matt Jacobson
Paul Lepage
Peter Mills
Les Otten
Bruce Poliquin

Green Party:
Patrick Quinlan
Lynne Williams

Independent:
Sam Bailey
Beverly Cooper-Pete
Eliot Cutler
Augustus Edgerton
Alex Hammer
John Whitcomb

Personally to choose who I would prefer to see in the final election would include Bruce Poliquin for the GOP side and Rosa Scarcelli for the Democrat side. The other candidates do not have platforms I see as winning over more than half of Maine and Scarcelli as an underdog has her work cut out for her.

Barrier Manipulation

As a human being you and I are priceless. Upon conception or birth, which ever occasion you choose, we all have equal potential. Nothing of our existance at that time seperated us from our equal helplessness and potential. Our race, orientation, culture, faith, bloodline, and wealth are things our inherent innocence leaves us ignorant of. Growing and learning of these things in society today forces the raising of a false barrier to success in society. A false barrier is one where a person can benefit without overcoming it. These barriers work against and for you depending on circumstance. I believe that a problem in America is the manipulation of these barriers instead of their removal. False barriers rely on the acceptance of many to be susceptible to manipulation. The only real barrier is that of the work and effort required for success. Being a true barrier it can not be manipulated for benefit; you either over come or you don't succeed.
These false barriers, I believe, are being manipulated on a scale never seen before in history. This is not specifically because there are more manipulations, but because of the source of these manipulations. The U.S. government has manipulated the false barriers across all levels of society for at least the past six years. On numerous instances the race and wealth barriers have been manipulated for the benefit of a political leadership in a Democratic Republic hoping to get elected by a populace they believe is as ignorant as a baby.
A solution to this problem is to challenge only the real barriers to your success and not allow the government to tell you which barriers you care about most.

Dirigo State Opportunity

How about we, the Dirigo state, take the lead once again in America. Let us have a year of politics without calling someone a Nazi. Please, we can end the madness by simply having civility and common sense.

Sarah Palin Continues Reagan Principles

In a recent statement regarding her endorsement of Doug Hoffman, she said the following:

Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty.

Quote over. Not mentioning pro-growth policies I forgive, but she mentions almost word for word the same principles Reagan stated were the core of Conservative thought. It should be noted Hoffman is running as the Conservative Party candidate and not a Republican.

Religious Right ideas and Conservativism may agree on some things, but the Religious Right does not represent Conservatives; only a Conservative can.

Walk along with nothing better to do
Just see the sights and enjoy the view
Yet as you walk you hear a fight start to brew
A man throws her against the wall and you enter with only a single clue

To intervene on her behalf
As he strikes and makes a laugh
Your bound to make sure she isn't another dot on a graph

As you shout for him to stop
He doesn't so you give him a bop
He turns and you suddenly wish there were some cops

The guy pulls out a knife
Stabs you seven times trying to end your life
You fall back hoping this is the end of her strife
As you scream in pain entering a whole new fight

Later as you lay and recover
You think of her and wonder
Before this lightning had there been other rolls of thunder?
What made that man go asunder?

How can we turn on those we love?
Clip their wings and cage them like doves?
The tears fall like boulders in troves,
so I wish you all luck in having safer homes.

Working Families Party

The political wing of ACORN and the weld connecting the Democratic Party to ACORN has appeared in the news for voter fraud and possibly stealing an election.
For example:

Thirty-eight forged or fraudulent ballots have been thrown out -- enough votes, an election official admits, to likely have tipped the city council and county elections in November to the Democrats.

Excerpt over. They may have stolen an election. This isn't your standard accusation of gerrymandering or disenfranchising voters, this is inventing votes. Who did this? Take a read:

Someone took my signature and voted with it and I felt extremely violated," Suozzo [said]. He is a soft-spoken 28-year-old environmental engineer who says he never saw, let alone signed, the Working Families Party Absentee ballot application that carried his supposed signature. He was flabbergasted that someone would vote for him and submit it.

Excerpt over. The WFP, highlighted as the political side of ACORN in my assessment, should face the same pressure as ACORN. I say that for a time period of two years no WFP candidate (even when affiliated with other political parties) can receive Election Funds from the government. Considering the scale tipping they are willing to take when the rules are provided for them to follow, the scales should be tipped against their candidates as a punishment for tarnishing the most valued civic duty in our nation.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/20/tried-steal-election-ny-voter-fraud-case-heats/

Time for Honesty

I haven't been posting as much as I'd like to. I have followed the process of events in Venezuela for several years now, and watched how freedom of speech has slowly been wiped out. Cuba is cracking down on bloggers, and China has strengthened its "Great Firewall of China". I have been watching the opening salvos of the Fox News v. White House battle and am greatly concerned: the White House has gone to the extent where a reversal of their position will simply end their credibility and leave us with three years of basically useless government. They may be there and they will be crying, but America will have put them in the corner, turned out the lights, and closed the door.

To watch the situation go this far this fast is the same thing going on in other countries around the world. America is on a dangerous path, and my blog has already made me the target of some, but to have real power behind the attacks against me is something, to be honest, I do fear.

I'm not regretting what I post at all. I am fearful of the power some will have if they are able to say what I can post, or to tell me I can't post at all. Even worse is my fear that I will be punished for what I have posted: which is the truth followed by my opinion.

Halloween Political Correctness

A costume with a gray alien in a jumpsuit labeled "Illegal Alien" was removed due to immigrant rights group's demands.

I am only angered by this because I've made that joke for years during Halloween. People always joke I'm from another planet and should go back, so I chide back "yes, I'm an illegal alien, I forgot to get my passport from Mars." This simply shuts everyone up so we can move on to something more constructive. It becomes either silent, awkward, or both and that is just how I like it when I get insulted.

Now, taking that joke and saying other people can't indulge in expressing it through other, possibly artistic, means is simply an attempt to deny freedom of speech. Look at all the offensive things done to religions in this country protected by freedom of speech, if a person who has broken the law can't take a joke then they should simply leave the country.

With Friends Like These...

It has been revealed, allegedly, that the Italian Secret Service paid the Taliban to not attack their forces in Afghanistan. This deal ended when French forces took over as the region's NATO force of control and the French sent in troops expecting the ease the Italians had there, leading to the deaths of 10 French soldiers when confronted by the Taliban. This was the worst loss for France in over 25 years.
France has had a massive increase in demands to withdraw its forces ever since.

So what should our military's response be?

I say get out of our way. We are pulling out of Iraq, or so we are told, so how about we take some of those 140,000 troops, bring them home, send some of our other 1 million strong forces over to Afghanistan to replace all NATO and otherwise forces. Let this be a U.S. and Afghanistan military war. The Europeans don't have the stomach for a war obviously. So they should get out of the line of fire and let us do the job that needs to be done.

You see, in World War 2 allies worked together to win the war. We raced for control of Sicily with British and American forces. With the Allies and Soviet forces we raced to Berlin. The war had allies operating jointly, but separately but the difference between then and now they raced to win. We seem to be in a race to quit with the other nations.

Whether it be Spain's shameless withdrawal of troops from Iraq to the lesser vocal but still very active withdrawals by other nations from Iraq to the current calls for withdrawals in almost every nation in Europe and Canada, we have joined those calls.

Iraq was luck because of the surge. Afghanistan? It is at its worst right now. A withdrawal of forces would lead to a collapse of the Afghan government and the return of Taliban control and continuous civil war which would grant the Taliban new recruits constantly. Long road traveled would lead to more attacks on the U.S.

So instead of letting the situation get worse by having cowardly allies or withdrawals let the American forces take over and do the job the way it needs to be done.


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/world/europe/16italy.html?em

Gary Locke and Missile Tech

The current head of the Commerce Department, Gary Locke is a very unique Democrat (yes, Democrat, he served as governor of Washington). Now he controls, well, here is the article:

President Obama recently shifted authority for approving sales to China of missile and space technology from the White House to the Commerce Department. The president issued a little-noticed "presidential determination" Sept. 29 that delegated authority for determining whether missile and space exports should be approved for China to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

Excerpt over. I didn't know the White House had any issues in dealing with these problems. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. However, as for the risk, lets look at what Gary's priorities are shall we? I mean, his record should show if he actually puts money ahead of, say, the American people:

Among his spending-reduction proposals were laying off thousands of state employees; reducing health coverage; freezing most state employees' pay; and cutting funding for nursing homes and programs for the developmentally disabled. In his final budget, Locke suspended two voter-passed, pro-school initiatives while cutting state education funding. That same state budget, though, had record-high allocations for construction projects.

Excerpt over. The Wikipedia article used here is sourced, and the sources check out for the most part, several are broken (thanks Yahoo) but most check out.

So in the sake of money over us, I think it is quite clear he will go with money. Should we really let him handle sensitive materials when given the option to put them on the open, or not so open, market?

Common sense people.

Campaign Note

The recent path of the gubernatorial elections has increased the number of those running and while every candidate may be important, unless they say something not already said I will probably give it a pass. However, there is one tactic of fund raising being used by Lynne Williams in her recent email:

But this can't happen without YOUR participation.To qualify for Maine Clean Election funds I MUST raise a minimum of $40,000 in seed money paid directly to the campaign AND collect a minimum of 3,250 $5 Qualifying Contributions for the Maine Clean Election fund. Once we meet these goals, we will qualify for $800,000 in Clean Election funding, so your $105 in contributions can yield a 7,200 percent return on your investment to allow my campaign to move forward on the issues of importance to you and to Maine.

Email quote over. The Maine Clean Election fund is, in fact, already paid by us. So we are not actually get the return she says. We also are not getting the return because her campaign, not us, is getting the funds. Would you, if a person came to your door, give them a hundred dollars if they said that with your one hundred dollars they were guaranteed $7,200 which they would not give back to you? Of course not, it would sound like a scam. Which, in essence, campaign funding really is a scam. It is a false investment, and for some reason people in this country, rich and poor, are willing to place money in these no-guarantee places. The lottery is among them, so are drugs (including tobacco and alcohol), and campaigns for politicians.

Common sense tells you a scam is a scam, but for some reason people think they can get big returns without risk, and then wonder why they don't have enough money. Guaranteed investments, such as a savings account, or a government bond (considered guaranteed) need to be looked at right now. The stock market is about as much of a science as voodoo, so I suggest against it. Thank you for reading.

Deja Vu?

On 9/11 I had a feeling. It was of knowing something was going on that was bigger than us, but not knowing what it was. I was just young, but after a day of the two towers being hit when she told is the Pentagon had been hit, I told my teacher we were under attack. I didn't know by who or why, I just knew I suddenly cared.

I've been tracking the reports from Afghanistan, Somalia, and our own corrupt politics for a while now and today was a series of events that don't make sense to me.

Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize doesn't add up. It isn't just me, nobody at the university could believe it, we all agree, liberals and conservatives, that he hasn't done anything to deserve it.

Then I see we are abandoning a base in Afghanistan where some of our troops died recently, and this is just another move in that country that doesn't add up to me. We are at war, and we should fight to win which means keeping the enemy on the run, not letting them put us on the run.

Add this to Ethiopia's attack on the Somaliland government, supposedly an ally, Iran helping Venezuela find uranium, and Socialists taking over Greece and while not as apparent as 9/11, something is going on. I do not know what it is, but there is something big in motion that I can't figure it out. I've had this feeling for a while, but not as powerful a feeling as it is today. So I thought I might as well let you know, so clarity might be gained somehow if we compare notes so to speak.

We Are Doomed, Again

In Somalia, due to the drought, even the camels are dying.

Should Schools Pay For Sports?

Fundamentally, humans are evolved not because of our ability to wrestle a rhino. We are evolved because of our brains, and the things which strengthen our minds should be valued more than the things which strengthen our fists. It takes a lot of effort to wrestle someone, but just a twitch to pull a trigger.

We'll talk about who survives the apocalypse when it actually comes.

Quote

The greatest endorsement of government is silence.

Social Security Solution

We all hear about Social Security having problems and running out. We never hear of a solution. I will warn you this is going to be a long post, this is a big problem. This post, however, if followed in full by everyone in the country, would solve our social security woes (unless proven otherwise).

Where to start, this is big. We know its a problem and we know that nobody has a solution which works when keeping Social Security in existance. The problem that has brought the house of cards down: more old people than young people.

This can't be solved by killing old people, well, it could, but that just isn't nice. It is worse than nice: it is age genocide. We don't do that in this nation.

We could just print money to pay for it but that would lead (among our current spending) to hyperinflation.

So what should we do? I say we end the program.

Please stop running around like the end of the world is approaching. Hear my case before screaming about my evil heartless existence.

How do we end it? We could just stop paying now and witness our elderly bankrupt families who care enough to try and care for their elders, and see the elderly without caring families homeless in our streets and killing themselves to give mercy to their families wallets.

That isn't what I meant by end the program. We need to phase out the program in a way that new entries do not expect to receive the benefits but those who were promised those benefits receive them.

Hear that? Those who worked thinking they were going to get it will get it, those just starting won't get it.

Solution: an alternative.

Fact of life is you do not (if your lucky) work until the day you die. So having a place, an account, to put your money for retirement (still by government mandate) is the best option. An account where you pay the Social Security tax (possibly even Medicare, but that isn't the program I studied for this) and the cash builds up without having it pay for someone else, the government, or a bank's bad loans. An account which can only be increased until you retire and can only be touched by you.

Why this approach of a mandated approach to retirement? People just don't, en masse, plan for the future. Think of this: when you were 18 did you think of how you were going to pay the bills when you retired? People really don't think about saving. This account would allow that, but there is a catch.

All those people who were promised their retirement will still get it. How will we pay for it? Well, everyone will still pay the Social Security tax. Yes, a double dose of taxes for people. It is a very painful thing I know, but hey, such a problem requires some unsavory solutions. You have a better solution, let me know.

This will allow the funds to be raised to pay for social security without (long term) leading to the unending bankruptcy of the nation.

Four paragraphs and things sound pretty sound, but wait, there is more. The fund can not stop raising (as in collecting, not increasing) the Social Security double tax (double in the sense that it goes to two places) until the last person receiving benefits has, well, stopped receiving those benefits. This means having a shift of Social Security to just handling retirement accounts, and allowing and creating other programs for disabilities and other things.

When a person with the account dies, the funds should go to declared beneficiaries. Will you get all the funds when a person dies? No, the government will never let go of that inheritance tax. So basically, when a person dies, half of the funds in their account will go to the heir, and half to the government. This way the government still gets it's cut to pay for managing the accounts.

The agency could be called the Retirement Account Agency, and a requirement of a yearly audit would ensure proper handling of the finances.

Now the rate someone withdraws their retirement should be left up to them. I would personally recommend people prepare to live for 100 years. Odds are you probably won't live 100 years, but planning that far ahead will give you some breathing room to give a helpful boost to your beneficiaries for funeral costs and other purposes.

You got a better idea? Let me hear about it. Think my plan won't work, let me know why.

Bruce Poliquin Interview

I had an interview today with Bruce Poliquin, a Republican candidate for governor. The conference call was very successful, many questions were asked and the responses were to the point and (for my taste anyway) very well spoken. We covered many topics. The first being education in which several points were made. First, he knows the schools work best without the state running them. He has the experience in managing and common sense, very important quality there to be able to balance the struggle of state and school board sovereignty. However, he did not give a specific answer to how state funds would be given if the state was giving no input.

The position of the governor on social issues being provided by the Constitution was avoided, but he did say that social issues such as same sex marriage should only be approved by the voters. He as governor does not feel like such an issue is best resolved for 1.3 million people just by his approval. He is very aware of the process that makes Maine unique in terms of voter petitions and supports that being used on such problems.

Reduced taxes in an all encompassing approach to making the code simpler is one of his primary goals. The need to expand business and give it, at least on the state level, the room it needs to grow with a combination of fewer and more streamlined regulations. The environment for business, Bruce says, needs to be made more attractive so we get the businesses we need to keep our kids here, provide jobs we need, and expand our economy.

However, politics is rarely without controversy. So I asked my first question on campaign controversy ever, which was a moment where Bruce became very passionate.

On the issue of a recent debacle in Portland, he said the accusations are baseless. He was invited like all other candidates, and his campaign accepted instantly. It was going to be a fundraiser event for the Portland City Republicans, not for the Poliquin Campaign. His campaign offered to pay for the campaign fee of $750 for their campaign to be represented, thus saving the Portland Republicans money so the event would not cost the group any funds. The other campaigns it seems made a completely false accusation in order to, by my own understanding of the situation, avoid paying the fee. He continues to be willing to fulfill that commitment at any time. Poliquin's campaign, however, supports giving voters as many opportunities to know the candidates and will take part in as many debates as possible.

To conclude: Bruce says the accusations were baseless and there will never be a conflict of interest with his campaign.

[The event in Portland was boycotted by the other campaigns on allegations of the Poliquin Campaign having a staff member benefiting from the fundraiser and, as the report I read stated, making this into a campaign fundraiser instead of the Portland City Committee fundraiser. Personally, I trust Bruce since no state filings for campaign ethics have occurred and his statements were either Emmy worthy performances or pure honesty.]

As I remember more of our half-hour conversation, I'll let you know. One thing you can be certain of: Bruce Poliquin is one of the most energetic people in politics I have ever seen. He has constant positivity and faith in this state and its people. Some candidates focus on other campaigns, but his is entirely focused on his message and policies.

There is another side of the story here. The outreach of the Poliquin campaign is one of the best I've ever seen. This opportunity to talk with Bruce was given to me by their invitation. I didn't even have to ask for it. My three emails each to the other candidates still go unanswered. However I've gotten two opportunities to speak with Bruce already and both times it was their outreach which gave me that opportunity.

I've written before about how a campaign needs a good outreach, and the Poliquin campaign has one which continues to have my support.

Afghanistan

The White House has rejected the call for more troops in Afghanistan. They wish to take a more reconstructive approach.

You can not build a school and have the benefits when the Taliban just have the workers building it bribe them not to attack, and when the school is finished burn the school down because we can't provide enough security. You need to secure the situation before you rebuild the nation. I really wish our president would do his job and use common sense at the same time.

Pacific Gone Wild

I want to send my condolences to the people of Samoa and wish them a quick recovery to normalcy, if possible. The people of Indonesia in the earthquake have the world's support, as do the super-typhoon victims in the Philipines.

What you may not have read about during all of this is two American soldiers killed in a fight against Abu Sayaff in one of the lower Philipine islands. Just so you know, we have, by my last count, 5,000 active troops there fighting the war on terror.

Constitutional Alert

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/technology/02distracted.html?hp
Quote:
Federal employees will no longer be allowed to send text messages while driving government vehicles or when driving their own cars and using cellphones paid for by the government, according to an executive order signed Wednesday night by President Obama.

Quote over. Does this mean that in states without a texting law, Federal Employees, in their own cars with their own cell phones, will still be breaking the law? Does a Federal Law in this actually have any method of enforcement?

The Federal government says it is only on federal employees, but the income tax was just on the wealthiest one percent in this country at one time. It is only a matter of time until this is expanded to everyone regardless of state laws.

Whoopie, Your Not Funny

To say that the convicted rapist movie director "didn't rape rape, you know" is not funny. It is in fact not only stupid but detrimental to common civility in our country. (He was convicted of statutory rape.)

Syria- Swing Nation? Skip if under 18.

Do not read if under the age of 18, I'm serious. Don't, this is a very mature post, the first and hopefully the last, but it was just too good to not write about.

I think Syria would be on Iran's side in a war. Some in the news are saying otherwise. Obviously we need to take a rational look at the most recent public issue for Syria. While we are talking about health care, Russia about its alcohol and drug problems, Syria is focusing on something addressed, for the most part, over a hundred years ago.

What is this issue? Follow the link to find out. I will however give some very very very very memorable quotes from this debate raging in Syria:

"Come on guys," he wrote, arguing Syrians "should not be silent about it because of modesty."

Fadal then listed "the problems caused by this abominable practice," among them a loss of focus, physical inactivity, testicular pain, bloody excretions after excessive [performance], and loss of ones ability to control urination.

"Boys are unable to concentrate on their studies and are looking very pale before prematurely ejaculating and losing consciousness in schools. Their balls are blue and sore as hell and when they sneeze or cough they are allegedly pissing in their pants. They are falling on their backs after bleeding to death from their weenies."

"Girls, Lord Have Mercy on us all, are doing this despicable, blinding and atrocious act secretly without the written consent of their male pimp," Fares continued. "They, someone hold me please before I pass out, are losing their virginity to their fingers out of wedlock."

"Let's move ahead, forge our destiny and join forces together in beating our meats and beating around the bushes, to reach an unprecedented Syrian Orgasm

Blogger Yazan Badran, from Latakia, Syria, then started a campaign in favor of (rather than against) moral decay, calling on his readers to listen to heavy metal, smoke joints, eat publicly during Ramadan, drink hard liquor and engage in public sexual experimentation.

"You shall skip school and stay home enjoying the vast porn directory on the Internet," he wrote. "Your plan for the day should include nothing but long sessions of masturbation."

Quotes over, well, wait, there is one more that just can't be left out:

"You see why we're a little disappointed with Obama here in Syria," he added. "We expected him to help, in particular with the rampant problem of masturbation."

Quotes over. I wonder what- No. Just no.

From: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=26617

University of the Stupid

From: http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2009/09/seeking-solidarity-among-k-12-and.html

There is a protest in which a building on the UCSC campus has been taken over by students and faculty in protest of the California budget cuts.

After the blog author mentions the back story and introduces the interview, one of the people he interviews states the start of their movement following the start of the protests:

[S]ome of us walked in uninvited on the large undergraduate lectures of those professors who failed to honor the picket line to make an emergency announcement about the Walkout.

Quote over. Civility is clearly not a guideline of this campaign. While their teachers go on strike, others try to do their jobs and actually teach. Seeing this as unacceptable they disrupt the non-striking professors classes. It goes on to their complaints:

The Community Studies program was gutted; minority student programs were cut back; faculty searches for departments desperate for replacements, such as the History of Consciousness, were cancelled; health-care costs for graduate students were forced up;

Quote over. "History of Consciousness" was canceled, what evils! I'm not sure what Community Studies entails, whether it is a sub-section of biology or a society examination class, I think observing demographics in political science, or the biology in zoology or basic biology covers that topic. How dare health care costs rise with the actual cost of health care! Seriously, these people think everything as a necessity, a right guaranteed to them based on their misinterpretation of the highest law of the land: The Constitution, not the Declaration of Human Rights.

But wait, there is more:

We would like to see a broad social movement against cuts to education and all other state social programs and services.

Quote over. So, despite having a massive shortfall in the California state budget, and a vote by the people saying there should be no increase in taxes, somehow 25% of the shortfall should still not be cut. The logic is non-existent in these people I swear.
But wait, there is still more:

The one-day Walkout and our occupation are only first-steps, the genesis of a year-long or multi-year effort to take back the UC, to rewrite its priorities in the interest of public education and not privatization.

Quote over. A revolution is what they are talking about. Also, to say they shouldn't move to privatization is very ignorant of them. The school isn't privatizing, the cuts are based on the public sector's budget!
But wait, yes, there is more:

We want to express our thanks for the support across the nation. Why stop at the borders of California? Let's take this effort to escalate to the nation as well! Public universities are being run like corporations all across the U.S. This must be brought to an end.

Quote over. So because corporations operate for a profit, and the public sector is being run to just be balanced, the university system is like a corporation? There is no profit in the state budgets! The state budgets have no money to spend so how this person ever thinks the state could afford it is ridiculous.
You know the phrase:

A broad-based social movement that has the capacity to articulate an alternative collective vision to the narrow, corporatist special-interests that control our budgets and strategic planning will be necessary. Nobody is sure what this will look like yet.

For now, we believe one of the first steps to building such a movement is to show that escalation and occupation is necessary and possible. We hope that groups of students, faculty, and everyday Californians can begin to see themselves, too, as people who can organize, occupy, and escalate to fight back.

Quote over. So while they do not know what the solution is or what it will look like, more protests like their own are certainly going to simply bring the answers forth from the vast collective minds in solidarity of protest about the same thing. They think that if others do the exact same thing they are doing somehow an answer to the problems will appear from their movement, which so far has no solutions.

To the people who want a solid community of one thought which results in the communal efforts to solve a problem by expanding the community, not the openness to ideas, as an approach to providing solutions: open your eyes and look at the big picture. Just because you protest does not mean the legislatures which had budget cuts did not try to solve the problem. Just because you protest and join together with others does not mean the legislatures will magically come up with a solution to appease your anger. It does not work like that. You don't like something, do the constructive American thing and solve it yourself.

We are doomed *really doesn't matter what number*

"This is not an American battle; this is a NATO mission"

-Barack Obama, on Afghanistan.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/30/content_12131915.htm

In the event you hadn't noticed, it is an American battle as long as Americans are in the fight. As long as Americans have shed blood in the conflict it is an American war. Sure, other nations can call it otherwise to their liking, but for us in the U.S. that is what matters: Our troops, our war. End of story. We will win our wars, or that should be our constant commitment. To delegate the most advanced force in the world to an allied structure is fine, but to have that structure, notorious for paper shuffling, command our forces is a disgrace. We lead NATO, not the other way around. We lead the world, not the other way around.

Mr. Obama, lead this nation, instead of following the world.

Guinea- Conakry Massacre

Whether it is 58, 87, or 157 killed, depending on the source, a massacre of people demanding nothing less than freedom and democracy occurred in Guinea's capital. Instead of sanctioning Honduras, where is the Obama outrage against Guinea's actions? Last year I saw the events taking place in the coup and thought the promises of democratic elections was sound. At the time no massacres were taking place, just awkward military patrols that made everyone confused. (The coup last year came after the death of their 30+ year ruler who himself came to power in a coup.)

Initially, they promised free elections the world could monitor and the coup leader said he would not run. Now he is running and the election is going to occur later than promised. Finally, his soldiers have slaughtered a democracy protest at a soccer stadium. The various methods of killing are numerous, and women were degraded. Where is the call for sanctions and the demand for the rule of law?

The White House still condemns Honduras despite the calls for violence coming not from the interim government, but Zelaya. Yet they chose the side of Chavez in that case. In Iran Obama chose to not interfere. He then chose to obviously interfere in Honduras. So far the path chosen as been silence on Guinea, highlighting the lack of consistency this administration has in support of "freedom". It is clear the United States government no longer is advocating freedom in the world, but is giving a pass to tyranny.

Honduras Elections

Based on a New York Times op ed, I got some ideas to give perspective on Honduras.

The upcoming elections have been denounced by many nations and said that it will not change their stance on Honduras (which is to return Zelaya to power, which would have him in office longer than he is allowed by the Constitution of Honduras).

If the leaders of Burma said they were going to hold free and fair elections, would we say no simply because they are currently run by a dictatorship?

Let the elections be the voice of the people and respect that voice as you would any other when allowed freely.

Update: I had lost the article in my travels, but I found it again. It was from the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704471504574439090743723958.html

Summary of Thoughts

Iran has a nuclear facility that has been kept secret not only by our government but Iran as well. The United Nations IAEA misses it completely. Unless Iran opens up completely by the end of the year, we will be at war by January, if not sooner.

The Post Office is going to need a bailout. They lost four billion dollars in September.

Earlier in August the Federal Reserve requested that the debt limit be raised, again.

Summary: I told you so.

This message brought to you, sponsored by, and proven by the facts of life; otherwise known as the reality of the world around you.

Corruption

Corruption can never be eliminated. However, it can be controlled and brought within the reach of punishment. This is a realization which recognizes the ever persistent fact that humans have emotions. The system which best recognizes that greed is inherent in human behavior will be the system which is best in the world. Capitalism is one of those systems.

We Are Saved 1

The discussion over civility that has arisen over recent events is a good sign for this country. Not only is "civil behavior" and "civility" commonly being used, but they are not having to place definitions with them. These two things show that this country not only remembers the days of civility, but wants them back in a way that makes us never forget.

What DO Conservatives Fundamentally Believe In?

I have always known colleges are liberally bent, nobody denies this at all. I accept that. However, there is a textbook for my reading/history class ("A People and a Nation")which has no sources and opinions which are lies or don't make sense.

For example, it mentions conservatives in the 1760s supporting the British control of the colonies. This is not possible because "conservative" thought and policy did not begin to form until the 1790s in France. While some ideas can be identified as conservative, remaining with the British Empire was not one of them.

In fact, it is the Founding Fathers, the ones who separated from Britain and formed this nation, which are looked to for the ideas of American conservatism. Wikipedia explains it as: Conservatism refers to various political and social philosophies that support tradition and the status quo.

This is a lie. In the context of a classroom many do not know the difference between worldwide conservatives and U.S. conservatives. In evidence, one person in the classroom said "they are people who want to conserve the environment right?" While conservatives may believe that depending on their stance on the issue, that is not the fundamental core of Conservative beliefs.

I have gone to GOP meetings for the past year regularly in various forms and never has maintaining the status quo come up as a goal. It has always made a focus on a reverse heirarchy, like our Founding Fathers believed in, which started from the bottom up, not top down. Conservatives will enable the individual, then the family, then the community, then the state, then the government to care for their needs. When you have a strong government and a weak populace you have a dictatorship. When you have a strong people and a "weak" government you have a successful Democracy. A government with a division of powers with elected representatives that make the top a gauranteed entity of force you have a Republic. We have a Republic where the Founding Fathers knew that government was a necessary evil, but as little as possible was desired to have a strong populace. Today, the government is growing in power while our population is being weakened by taxes, poor education (involving lies), and a government which takes our ability to work and removes it through various policies which make us reliant upon the government.

This book that also says "There was no definition of civil rights in America before the Civil War." Three things off the top of my head: Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. This book is biased, and so much so that I am going to go through page by page and bring truth to the class.

This one is up to you...

Look up the latest data on Social Security. Find the info, its out there, just google it. We are yet again, maybe this time enough to wake some of you up, screwed.

My Response to The President at the United Nations

I am writing this as I read through President Obama's speech. I recommend you read the transcript or watch his speech before reading my response. I have sent the following to the White House, and prefaced it with a request that this be promoted by Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Here it is:

To use a global forum as a place in which to apologize for your predecessors is a terrible display of bias without recognition for our efforts of the past. To present your efforts as the first and only committed movement for global betterment since the times of FDR is selfish and detrimental to our image in the world.

I believe that the hopes of any child will always enrich our world, never impoverish it. There is only innocence in a child's hope that has ideals for betterment, and it is only removed when the reality of corruption takes hold. The hopes of a child never impoverish our world, the removal of those hopes does. To not make this distinction is a philosophical failure of you to present an understanding of the human peoples for whom you claim to speak of.

Again, to present the focus on your actions as the only effort for which our commitment to the global community can be judged is disrespectful to the efforts of maintaining peace in the world after our efforts in founding the U.N.

To claim that you prohibited torture by the United States is a lie. You signed a bill confirming the rights granted to prisoners within the Constitution, nothing more.

No war is responsibly started and thus can never be responsibly fought, controlled, or ended.

As a nation with immense wealth and various measurements of higher quality than the rest of the world our leadership role should never be diminished for the inclusion of all nations for solutions which could involve the very dictators which wish to see our nation's freedom crumble.

The alignment of nations rooted in the Cold War are various and involve NATO, the European Union, the WTO, and to say we should move away from these alliances is a betrayal of the cooperative and beneficial relationships we have with other nations of the world.

To demand that Israel surrender control of areas acquired in wars against Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria and abandon the territory of Israel to 1947 boundaries, including their capital, the Holy City of Jerusalem, amounts to a biased approach to resolving the conflict in the Middle East.

In placing the United States support of democracy worldwide as a negative influence is an insult to all the nations which have waved American flags with their own to honor the joy they have at our support of their freedom. From Japan to Kosovo, supporting Democracy has been the most effective foreign policy goal of the past seventy years. To present a negative for our support of Democracy in such a paradox on the global stage is perhaps one of the most dangerous mistakes you made in your speech.

Mr. President, I demand an honest discussion of the issues I raise, and expect you to hold yourself to my level as individuals in this global community and respond to my statements.

Freedom of Speech?

Keep in the back of your mind a very simple question: For who does freedom of speech apply?

Alright, Senator Baucus, according to the New York Times, has taken a Humana Inc. letter to their members, which stated that his bill's $123 billion cut to Medicare is going to hinder care for seniors, as a, well, here is the quote:

Mr. Baucus took it as a declaration of war. He complained to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal health-care agency, which on Friday duly ordered Humana to cease and desist. CMS claimed the mailer was "misleading and confusing" and told the company it has opened an official probe as to whether the mailer violated laws about how the insurers that manage Advantage plans are allowed to communicate with their customers, as well as other federal statutes.

Article quote over. If by now your common sense doesn't tell you why this has struck me as odd, I'll guide you a little further:

"it has opened an official probe as to whether the mailer violated laws about how the insurers are allowed to communicate with their customers"

So there are laws about how a company can communicate with its customers? Does this law LEGALIZE only certain forms of communication, like store front displays? Does it regulate those displays to be reasonable, fair, unoffensive? Where are these laws? Who passed the laws? Why has nobody asked these questions, found the answers, and made a Constitutional challenge?

Now, remember that question: For who does freedom of speech apply?

It is without doubt that it applies to us, citizens, people within the United States. We as citizens have the right to form companies, or join unions. However, does our freedom of speech extend to those companies and unions?

It does for unions. I can name at least four precedents off the top of my head where union speech was protected regardless of controversy. However, laws, according to Baucus, exist to dictate how a company may use its freedom of speech. Two possibilities come up: not only Baucus but CMS, a government agency, has lied about these laws or: unions are protected, companies are not. The first one is very likely, and the second one leads to yet another question: why are unions protected by freedom of speech but companies are not?

However lets look at the full scope: one company against the health care gets threats and investigated and the rule is expanded to all Advantage providers. What about those other companies supporting the plan and sending out messages? Will they be charged with the communication violations?

I will do something I have only done in regards to the international alliance so far and make a prediction: We will not see the news reports about the Humana investigation when it starts. If charged, Humana will be the primary example of government intimidation and you will see market opposition to the government's proposals disappear. When the "elite" they constantly claim is the only source of opposition is gone, we will see individuals, based on wealth and then by audience, become targets and be silenced.

When we allow companies to be given double standards to unions and other companies when it comes to freedom of speech, we also allow it to be applied to individuals. Companies are an economic art, a form of expression of skills in management, product creation. When art projects such as the infamous "Jesus in a jar of urine" display are funded by the government and protected by freedom of speech, we must allow the arts in business to be protected as well. A message sent by a company is a message sent by an individual or groups of individuals. If the message of a union represents its members, the message of a company must also be protected as it represents its owners.

We must challenge these "laws" which violate our Constitution, the highest law of the land.

Honduras Proven Legal

I have been saying it for months based on a very simple review of the Honduran Constitution. Our government which initially responded with declaring a coup, has now come to its senses. In a report found here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574423570828980800.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The report states the following:

Now a report filed at the Library of Congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides what the administration has not offered, a serious legal review of the facts. "Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied constitutional and statutory law in the case against President Zelaya in a manner that was judged by the Honduran authorities from both branches of the government to be in accordance with the Honduran legal system," writes CRS senior foreign law specialist Norma C. Gutierrez in her report.

Do the facts matter? Fat chance. The administration is standing by its "coup" charge and 10 days ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went so far as to sanction the country's independent judiciary. The U.S. won't say why, but its clear the court's sin is rejecting a U.S.-backed proposal to restore Mr. Zelaya to power.

Report over. You know why they won't change their stance? They have a stubborn need to appeal to Hugo Chavez; because after the "declaration of war" Hugo claims we have against him with our bases in Colombia we can't support the regime in Honduras because of some small realities as that too was a direct response to the Bolivarian process of Constitutional rewrites to empower dictators.

So why would we support a position just to be in line with Chavez and Castro when the facts directly contradict the thinking? I do not know.

Selling A Bill

If you are in the executive office, whether it be a mayor, governor, or even president, you can not sell a bill based on its specifics. Why? Because you are letting the legislature write the bill. Lets use an example.

You want to get health care passed, so how do you sell it to the American public? You can't sell the specifics because people will get bored and you also don't know the specifics, the bill isn't written by you. So what do you do? You sell its merits instead.

You connect the bill to a better America. Instead of going through subsection c of the fourth proposal for a bill from a fifth committee, you sell your vision of an America without high costs and exemptions for pre-existing conditions. Often you tell horror stories of the current system to connect the bad with the current, and the good with the future. Don't slip up and lie about the horror stories though, or you'll lose your support and never gain it back.

Sometimes when a bill seems certain to be the one coming to your desk, you can sell some general improvements that are very shiny, say, a health insurance exchange. Something bad in the specifics? You can try to sell the bad, but you'll lose more support. So what do you do? Connect it to the very shiny improvement and make the public connect the bad as an acceptable side effect of the good. Don't promote the bad too much, or you'll be lying again. And never, ever deny saying something when it is recorded on video tape or you'll lose more points.

You can slip up and correct yourself on any one of these, but never correct one and you won't sell the bill. If you have all but one making you lose support and never change that one thing, you'll never sell the bill.

This all of course only applies if your the standard generic politician. From the current health care issue, to the Iraq War, to the Mogadishu "Black Hawk Down" Incident when you are a standard politician you need to sell its merits and focus on the merits because the details are not going to sell. Sometimes you can sell it even with the bad, but you'll never have an easy time doing anything else ever again.

So what do you do to avoid this struggle of the standard politician? You could slow down and get something done right, such as the Reagan Tax Cuts, which took a year to write and pass. However, the careful monitoring of a bill to make sure it reaches that perfect blend of good details and good merits can take time. If you need something fast for an emergency or want to get things done quickly just to say you did it, what can you do? Break the cycle.

Allow the legislature to do the regular stuff, but take the time yourself to draft a bill on your own that is short, to the point, has the merits, and gets the job you need done quickly. Then, make the bill public, let the legislature look it over and see if they'll pass it. If you wrote a good bill, you'll have no trouble at all.

Now I know you're thinking that can't be done. However, anyone can write a bill, and any senator or representative can bring it to vote. As evidence, it already has.

Now you know the slow and steady approach by Reagan, but the fast and quick approach was taken by FDR. The bill that gave the government massive powers to remove us from the Great Depression? Eight pages written by the Roosevelt administration. Imagine, eight pages. We have thousand page bills for TARP, health care, the budget and on and on and on and we still have massive problems.

So if you want to break the Washington cycle, either take it slow and let the legislature make baby steps to get something done right, or do it yourself and let them run with it.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Venezuela now officially recognizes these two nations. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are, as stated by officials in both secessionist regions, willing to join Russia. With Russia having troops in their borders, citizens of the two regions considered Russian citizens, and the leaders saying they would be willing to merge with Russia, are they really independant?

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/10/content_12030863.htm

Mr. Anonymous

How about you stand by your statements and use your name when you comment. In fact, lets have a debate, and actually debate. You can choose any topic you want, post first, or second, and lets have more than one post. Come on, I dare you. Or are you still afraid to stand and defend your own statements?

Obama Pulls Missile Shield Deal From Poland

I've seen an alliance forming against the United States. This is a very big way our country has now encouraged this global alliance against us. As my blog is failing to reach sane minds and I face the same trolling Mr. Anonymous on my blog, I have only one thing to say unless encouraged otherwise: I QUIT.

Message to Jimmy Carter

If your reading this blog Mr. President, stick to Habitat for Humanity and keep your mouth shut because we like you better when your doing something constructive, instead of dividing this country.

Poll Rigger: Matt Jacobson

I like politics when they are conducted to present the best candidate. However, polls simply judge who people support.

Yet, despite this, leading a poll is a big deal for some. Matt Jacobson sent out an e-mail which urged his supporters to vote on The Maine View gubernatorial poll located here:
http://themaineview.wordpress.com/maine2010primaries/

As of my last check, despite leading his herd to the poll, he is still behind in the numbers by at least 100.
The e-mail is as follows:

The Maine View has a poll up for who you would choose in each primary of Maine’s gubernatorial election.
http://themaineview.wordpress.com/maine2010primaries/
Please go and vote – and pass it around to your friends and family. We know Matt is the best candidate – let’s make sure that others know as well!

E-mail over. Matt Jacobson has lost any and all support he had from me. To place this in the context of the extreme times we live in, if he is fine with rigging a poll how much further is the steps to rig a vote?

If you disagree that this is an attempt to rig the results of a poll meant for people who visit The Maine View blog, please let me know what you think.

My 9/12 Project

Alright, so today I took it upon myself to do a little project of my own. I went to a pro-health care anti-war protest, and a Tea Party.

First, the anti-war pro-health care rally covered several topics with its signs and songs:

Respect our Constitution - Do not torture people or spy on our citizens.

Leave Afghanistan - I was talking to a Vietnam veteran who was against the war in Afghanistan who said we should just leave Afghanistan like we left Vietnam.
Sir, 2 million people were slaughtered by the North Vietnamese when we left Vietnam. I hope you do not wish this fate upon the Iraqi people.

Fund health care, affordable housing, instead of the military in order to give us real security - Common sense alert. Without the military a few guys, notably the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, we would be royally screwed. That, and any nation that would like a slice of our country would have not only an open border to invade across, but no resistance once they did. If they wish for money for health care and the military, with waste overall removed, they sound very similar to the Tea Party protest.

At the Tea Party, the core themes were:

Spend less overall to tax less overall - We can buy our own cars, we don't need a government stimulus check given to us from our own taxes to pay for it, just for you to not take it from us in taxes in the first place.

Respect our Constitution - Do not spy on our citizens, do not expand government beyond its original purpose, and have every person in the administration face a congressional hearing to be appointed.

This was the core of the Tea Party.

You see, the liberal Americans and conservative Americans are divided by where government's role in charity is. Liberals want the government to tell us to feed those in need and control the mechanisms through which that happens. Conservatives believe it is our responsibility as neighbors, Americans, and believers in God to feed those in need and to do so as individuals, friends, and families, not government workers.

9/11 Prayer

This is the anniversary of the attacks on 9/11. Prayer may not be your way and to be honest it isn't mine either. However, every 9/11 I always say a prayer, once a year and different every year. Foolish I know, but I do. So if prayer is your way, this message may appeal to you.

On 9/11 my uncle Wilfred, a priest, was going to fly to California. The flight he was going to be on was overbooked, and he gave up his seat for someone else to go on that flight. That plane hit one of the Twin Towers.
Life is like that isn't it? Sometimes we just luck out. Kindness led my uncle to not be on that plane. Perhaps if we were all kinder to each other we would all luck out.

God bless America.
Amen

March Tomorrow

Grass roots- the common or ordinary people, esp. as contrasted with the leadership or elite of a political party, social organization.

In other words, a genuine movement by people not directed by an organization or political party.
So lets fast forward to tomorrow, where a "Walk for Real Security" will be taking place downtown by the Progressives from UMaine. Lets examine their message:

We  need folks who are willing to act as peacekeepers on Saturday in case hecklers show up.  Let us know if you can arrive at Davenport Park  around 11:45 to meet with Larry Dansinger who will coordinate the peacekeeping team.  We will have handouts about dealing with hecklers available. We will also have signs for people to carry.
The walk is being organized by area peace & justice groups to demonstrate there is a visible and vital grassroots movement calling for policies and priorities focused on meeting human needs. 

Message condensation over. Lets translate:

We need folks who are willing to act as peacekeepers on Saturday in case hecklers show up. We will have handouts about dealing with hecklers available. We will also have signs for people to carry.

Translation over. It seems translation is not necessary, only common sense. Think of this when considering what grass roots is, now lets translate again:

The walk is being organized by area peace & justice groups to demonstrate there is a visible and vital grassroots movement calling for policies and priorities focused on meeting human needs.

Translation over. It seems again common sense is only necessary. If the walk is being organized by peace and justice groups, does this not instantly destroy the "grass roots" description? See, I'm a grass roots person. I write this blog of my own power, and I am going to go down there to ask them questions of my own will. I am not "organized" into marching for anyone.

Yes, you read correctly, I will be attending to ask questions. I want to have a discussion with them, and what better time than a three mile walk on a beautiful Saturday? I will bring an audio recorder which I hope will not be drowned out by the traffic.

See, this blog has a purpose. It is to inform people. This march is also to inform people, but marches occur every day in D.C. but they are never heard. This, I believe, will have the same result. Which is why I am going to ask first about why a march, and secondly what their beliefs are. Their "peacekeepers" will hopefully not charge me with their blue helmets. That was a joke. You know: HAHA HEHE. Critic.

We are Doomed 101

A jobless recovery.

Common sense alert:
It isn't a recovery without jobs.

We Are Doomed 53-100

For all the people who think Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990.

He didn't. If he did, he would be in prison.

Alright, Keith Olbermann has decided to play the dig up dirt game on someone other than a politician, and chose Glenn Beck.

Reading through the Daily Kos article which covered the request for information on Glenn Beck, his side kick Stu, and a third guy higher up, I read the comments below. Among them was this one:

Olbermann,

Are you sure this is what Obama would have you do? Do you think He wants this dragged through the public eye yet again?

Obama thanks Jones for his service, but agrees that he must go. He is a distraction to this administration and to the plans this President has. You should learn to listen.

Don't put yourself into opposition to Obama and the Party. Listen, and learn.

He will lead. You only need follow.

Quote over. Erm, "He will lead. You only need follow." Is it me or does that just not sound right? Anyhow, to help Olbermann's cause, I can give a synopsis of this past week of listening and watching.

Stu likes to dress like Sebelius, Glenn promotes prayer on his radio show, and the other guy heads Fox News (as is my understanding, that is a crime in your opinion Olbermann). Well, having done my civic duty for the State, I am going to continue reading the news for things that actually matter.

Daily Kos article:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/6/777880/-Send-Me-Everything-You-Can-Find-About-Glenn-Beck

Obama's Speech To Schools

I am opposed to the speech Obama will be giving to schools. I oppose it because teachers constantly complain about not having enough time to teach what they have to every year. Also, the timing (at least for schools in Maine) would interrupt lunches, which really means kids will not even be listening to the speech if it cancels the lunches because the speech will be drowned out over complaints of hunger. I also do not think that kindergarten students will even remember the speech in high school when it really would matter.

So, to also provide a solution which would be more effective: speak to the parents of the country. I know cutting out the middle man is often desired in government deals, the parent is one middle man which should never be taken out of issues involving kids. Make a speech to parents instead of students and request an effort for parents to get more involved in their student's schools. Let parents know they are a crucial part of keeping their kids away from drugs and inspiring their kids to finish high school and look to college as the best option following high school. That is a speech that needs to be made by someone other than our pastors and school principles. It would also keep the parent in control of the final decision as it should be. A government close to, but not controlling of the people is what this country was founded on.



I would also like to point out to blogger.com that Barack and Obama should no longer be words which are underlined as misspelled. It would make my typing so much faster as I always pause at an error.

Onward

I am not running for city council. The past three days at Camp Wama-something-near-Winthrope-acha for the Onward camping trip has been an amazing experience. I am truly in a new family of sorts. A new community of about fifty people, and I know most of their names. We worked together, gained trust, had amazing conversations, and got to know everyone.

The commitment to this partnership for success in college will require me to give more than I was planning to. Onward has added the sense of wanting to be there to help people, which no amount of planning of the clock can adjust for. I had originally factored in travel, classes, and homework. I had disregarded the community I was going to be in and knowing what I do now has changed my priorities.

It is excellent to be in a group of people with the same goal. Don't get me wrong, our majors are as diverse as our names but our goal is to graduate. We know that without support we will not get there, and we know that if we do not provide that support to each other we will most likely not succeed this time through. I want to be part of that support which will consume time that can not be planned for. A lunch could become a great discussion, waiting for the bus could become a moment to help tutor someone making you take a later bus. Whether you are the tutor or the stydent, your time, your plans are changed by the need for support.

We all, for the most part, got along. A few decisions caused some concern over the possible outcomes for two people in particular, but we still recognize boundaries and know their decision is theirs and we need to let them face those results. It was an ultimate community of learners all knowing what the other person was going through.

With this new community comes a necessary commitment to let nothing get in the way. City council would not have college get in the way, and college should not have city council get in the way. It is just too soon for me to enter into public office while I have the necessary task of supporting my fellow Onward classmates, and other people on campus as well, on the table.

We are Doomed 52

From: http://delawarelibertarian.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-do-you-say-im-from-government-and.html

In Peru, the government recently delivered a boatload of laptop computers to over 2,000 school kids in indigenous communities. There's just one big problem. In 50 of the 73 communities where the computers were sent, there is no electricity to keep them running (these are not self cranking types).

As it turns out though, this is actually a big improvement over the last program like this. In that case, the computers were set up in English (!!!!) and the batteries were defective.

We are doomed 10-51

10-50 for every Czar and Dictator America has ever had.
51 is for having the Press Secretary of the Obama administration explain what the term "wee-weed up" means.

Campaign Mishap

While on campaign tonight I was attacked by a nasty horde of flies. I come to a door, knock, and suddenly a dozen or so flies go right at me. Very unpleasant.

Ethiopia Invades Somalia Again

This is good news for the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. It gives them the needed forces to hold territory against Al Shabaab. While this will spark recruitment to Al Shabaab, if used properly Ethiopia's new intervention may be used to bring the military side of the conflict to an end. However, do not be too hopeful as the Ethiopian military probably has the resources to conduct up to six months of occupation, but then will probably stalemate like the previous occupation did. How Puntland responds to this will be crucial, as their merger with the TFG was the lifesaver when Ethiopia withdrew.

Humanity Of War

Currently, the only thing that makes the United States superior to what the rest of the world has done in the past millenia, which brought us to our dominance globally, was our respect for human life. This can be disputed but the situation we are in puts us against another ideology, one which Russia does not follow to this day, that accepts and encourages emotion in war. We do not have hardened soldiers with no regret for taking life. Those who lose their emotion often commit crimes which are punished severely, and when not punished the American public has an outcry for the punishment to take place.

This seperates us from the terrorists who target civilians and allow for no neutral zone. They have no emotion when they kill other than hatred. Taking away kindness and compassion for human life creates a terrorist. We do not fight home-grown terrorists on our streets. We do not have ethnic and religious violence caused by the government policies of modern day. Sadly, not long ago the riots in LA and the marches of Martin Luther King were inspired by injustices of our government. Luckily, many of those injustices have been corrected. The populace may have different views, but the government overall has improved.

Russia, however, has not. Their president recently spoke of a terrorist bombing which killed 25 and woulded over a hundred others:

Medvedev called Wednesday for tougher measures to fight militants.

"We must continue to fight them without ceremony and liquidate them without any emotions or hesitation, or we won't succeed," Medvedev said.

Excerpt over. Every American soldier, when no shots have been fired, must approach, declare themselves an American soldier and request a surrender. Should a shootout already have started, all bets are off and the battle is on. Yet, surrender is not an option given by Medvedev. He calls for their "liquidation". To say you must kill them to succeed is part of the failure of the former Soviet Union.

When you see your people angry and rebellious you do not oppress them. When you slaughter your opponents, the humanity in others observes this and knows the wrong doing, which leads to further dissent and a sense of fear which in and of itself creates doubts of a government. By taking away emotion you are becoming a terrorist yourself. I hope the words spoken by Medvedev, like those spoken by our own president, do not reflect the reality of the situation.

We Are Doomed 6,7,8......?

Recent news article located here: http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/19/news/companies/texas.banks.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

It says:

Guaranty Bank, an Austin-based savings institution with $13.5 billion in assets, is expected to be seized by the FDIC by the end of the week.

A private equity group led by investor Gerald Ford -- who got a federal bank charter in November so he could buy failed banks -- also reportedly made a bid for Guaranty. Other banks said to have expressed interest were JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Toronto Dominion (TD), which made a failed bid for Florida's BankUnited when that bank was auctioned by the FDIC in May.

Guaranty's (GFG) closing would mark the second-biggest bank failure of 2009, after last week's collapse of Alabama's Colonial Bank, which was seized by the FDIC and sold to regional bank BB&T (BBT, Fortune 500).

Excerpt over. I have a simple question:

Where in the Constitution is the FDIC allowed to take over failed businesses?

Simple question over. I have a more difficult question:

Why does a beyond bankrupt bank get sold to the highest bidder?

Difficult question over. I have a.... more difficult question:

Why do people not ask these questions?

In other news, this was in a VOA article:

The United Nation's World Food Program says rogue members of Somalia's extremist al-Shabab group attempted to raid its compound late Sunday in the Somali town of Wajid, about 300 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu.

Excerpt over. Turn on the common sense. Still don't get it? Al Shabaab is a terrorist organization, they are all rogue! Do not give them an excuse or try to explain their actions because they are simply driven by hatred. If you apologize for them they will still kill you.

Article: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-08-17-voa29.cfm

Another article: http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSLJ662663

In this one a clear contradiction is seen:

Eritrea has battled arch-enemy Ethiopia since the 1960s with a brief respite in the 1990s. The United Nations, Somali government and other groups accuse Asmara of sending weapons and providing training for Somali insurgents. Eritrea denies the accusations, saying that outside influence is what is causing Somalia's problems.

Excerpt over. Common sense please. I don't even need to explain this one.

In a rundown of other important, yet overwhelming amounts of news which can not fit into the single blog I write now that most of my day is campaigning:

SUCRE (the ALBA currency) moved forward this week.
Chavez said his name was "Bolivarian Revolution."
Haiti raised its minimum wage by $3.25 to 5 dollars. Pre-increase wage was $1.75.
And a blog worthy bit of news from Palestine... see tomorrow's post. I'm going to have a peanut-butter cup because it is late and I'm hungry.

Viva la American Regulation de Capitalism et Democracy Revolution! Ahem, lets rephrase this to what I really want:
Long live the American Democratic Capitalism with Limited Regulation Revolution!

Translation

Many world leaders say a phrase involving the following:

For too long the people of (Africa, South America, Southwest Asia, Europe, ect.) have suffered under the oppression of (Europe, Colonialism, The United States, ect.).

The next time you hear this, do a self translation:

Now it is time they suffered under our oppression.

The reason for my translation? Iran, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Libya, North Korea, Russia, France, ect. I believe common sense can make the connection.

Bangor and Brewer Advisory Committee

I say proper management of the budgets and city operations, independantly or cooperatively, should be the best way of saving the taxpayers money. Another committee isn't needed for this, just common sense management.

You can read about the proposal and how it failed in the Brewer city council here:
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/116283.html

Update: The Bangor city council approved such a committee, it was pending approval by Brewer.

A Fear I Have

"Remember to keep smiling and paying your taxes, otherwise the police won't be a change you have to deal with."

I have often said this in a joking manner. Sadly, I fear that the direction our nation is going will make that statement a command and a threat, instead of a joke.

Cursed Humidity

It is only fit that the powers beyond my control would make the weekend, a time when people are naturally at home, unusable for my purpose through excessive heat which I have been repeatedly, by all sources of opinion ranging from family, friends, and complete strangers, told to avoid. So it is this day, a Sunday, in which the morning leaves many in cars or pews to their destinations for later today or in life that I have given in to the wisdom of eleven unanimous voices against my desire to continue to garner signatures in the heat of August, for there is no other time to do so.

It is with great dismay, and apologies, that I not be traveling the streets in an act of civic duty today.

Obama Contradiction

Today Obama had a town hall meeting. The last question asked why he villified insurance companies. His response was:

First of all, you are absolutely right that the insurance companies in some cases have been constructive. So I'll give you a particular example. Aetna has been trying to work with us on some of this pre-existing condition stuff and thats absolutely true and there are other companies who have done the same. I just want to be honest with you, and I think Max will testify, that in some cases what we've seen is also funding in opposition by other insurance companies to any kind of reform proposals. So my intent is not to villify insurance companies. If I was villifying them what we would be doing would be to say that private insurance doesn't have a place in the the health care market and some people believe that. I don't believe that. What I believe is lets work with the existing system and have some private insurance out there.

Excerpt over. So, not villifying the companies and working with them on the solution. First, what would he call his previous statements on insurance companies?
Statements like these (which I gained from his town hall transcript at whitehouse.gov) :

Right now, insurance companies are rationing care.

We are held hostage at any given moment by health insurance companies that deny coverage or drop coverage or charge fees that people can't afford. It's wrong. It's bankrupting families. It's bankrupting businesses. And we are going to fix it when we pass health insurance reform this year.

Right now we have a health care system that too often works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people. And we've got to change that.

In the past three years, over 12 million Americans were discriminated against by insurance companies because of a preexisting condition. Either the insurance company refused to cover the person, or they dropped their coverage when they got sick and they needed it most, or they refused to cover a specific illness or condition, or they charged higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs. No one holds these companies accountable for these practices.

One woman testified that an insurance company would not cover her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was five years old.
Despite all the hand-wringing pundits and the best efforts of those who are profiting from the status quo, we are closer to achieving health insurance reform than we have ever been.

But let's face it, now is the hard part -- because the history is clear -- every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got.

And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against people for the simple crime of being sick.

All we want to do is just make sure that private insurers are treating you fairly.

Obama quotes over. He isn't villifying them? How do you feel about those companies when you read or hear those statements? Think about it before you go on with this blog.

See, for me, they bring out a sense of wrong being done to someone. The statements hold the insurance companies as responsible for the wrong doing and thus are the bad guy, I.E. villan. However these statements definately blame insurance companies for causing the problems in health care. Now they are working together to solve the problem which I think is good. However, why is he working with them if he thinks they caused the mess considering this statement:

“But I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking”.

Quote over. I don't have the answers, it is up to you to ask him for the answers.

One final note on a health care related item, Obama mentioned his grandmother once saying the following:

I will never forget my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final months, having to worry about whether her insurance would refuse to pay for her treatment.

Quote over. Yes, this last statement I included because of the fact that his grandmother died two days before he was elected. If he cared so very much for her, why didn't he, a millionaire, step in and pay for it himself? Use common sense and realize who is lying to you.

Bangor, Trees, and Responsibility

By code and policy, all trees in the city of Bangor, unless otherwise determined, are the ownership of the city. If the tree is not damaged or dying from whatever reason (in which case it is covered by the city forester), any removal or altering of the trees must be covered by a council vote. The trees are the City's property.

So when those tree's roots damage pipelines which flood basements, or breaks through the walls of someone's basement, it should be the city's responsibility to pay for the repairs. Similar to how a parent is responsible for their child's actions legally, the city should be responsible for our trees.

I've heard several complaints about how the city denied responsibility and place the cost of repairs to several homes where a tree's roots damaged the water line to the house and broke through the basement walls thus flooding the basement. The tree caused the damage, but the city did not do the responsible thing. From what I know of the situation the homeowners were at no fault.

I will make certain the council takes responsibility for damages caused by our trees, and anything else we "parent" in the city.

We Are Doomed 5

A book which covers the controversy of the cartoons over Islam's Prophet Mohammed will not include, by decision of the publishers to avoiding controversy themselves, will not include the cartoons. A book about a picture which will not include the picture. We are doomed.

Lockerbie Bomber Released

Quoting an article:

Britain has decided to release the former Libyan agent convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing on compassionate grounds, two British television stations reported late on Wednesday.

Excerpt over. If this report is true, then I have only one thing to say on releasing the bombers on compassionate grounds:
The bombers did not have compassion for the 270 people they killed. No amount of compassion should interfere in the necessary justice that must be followed.

The Apollo Project Part 1

When you think of the Apollo program you think of the supremacy of U.S. technology, society, and freedom over the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union. We proved our nation's greatness in the world and finalized our position as one of the greatest nations to ever have existed.

So now, with a new Apollo Project in progress, we are not seeing the massive praise and promotion for the program. Yes, we have a second Apollo Project. It is focused on our economic shift to green technology. $500 billion dollars has been approved for this program.

Why haven't we heard about this? Where is the national spotlight on our future greatness to come from this program? Why are we not following it with eager eyes and ears to see our nation prosper step-by-step? It is because Obama wanted it, and now has it, and no longer cares what happens with it, because he now has focused on the rest of his agenda.

He didn't even have to fight for this one. The stimulus bill and bank bailouts and the budget and health care have distracted us from so many other things. Once Obama gets something he wants, he pushes it aside for his czars and other government agencies to act on while he takes the cameras and moves them onto the next issue. The more he fights for something, the less accountable he has to be (and those in his administration) on the other projects already passed.

This is where health care has failed. He didn't distract us long enough because the House of Representatives took too long to rush it through like they did the other things. That is why the opposition to it was initially, and to a certain extent, still referred to as artificial and had an evil source.

So now the Apollo Project has grabbed my attention because of the contradiction between the former and the current Apollo project. The original was a source of pride and achievement for our nation as a whole. That is why we all followed it. This one, however, is more selective:

The carefully constructed plan, The New Apollo Program: An Economic Strategy for American Prosperity, was prepared over the last year by a coalition of experts from business, labor, the environmental, and social justice communities.

Excerpt over. A plan made by experts from the business, labor, and environmental communities is an excellent plan. So what is with the social justice communities? Shouldn't the Apollo Project, in any form, be a plan for America as a whole and not only the communities who are deemed to have been wronged by society?

What place do they have in this? Does the plan use affirmitive action to create a clean energy industry in a city of those who face "social injustice" over other cities that are exactly the same in every way?

We need a plan to make all of America great. Social justice will come if we do that. A plan which targets only bringing social justice does bring all of America forward, just those deemed deserving of justice. Who is punished in these attempts for justice? The answer, quite simply, is everyone else.

In addition this website has many companies supporting it, yet rarely shows where a company has paid for any of it. It does, however, encourage us to contact representatives to support legislation to send more money to this program and its affiliated business, labor, environmental, and social justice communities. Where does this money come from? The government. I will leave it up to common sense for you to know where the government gets the money it sends out (hint, it is us, and printing).

To explain the emphasis of social justice, I shall continue to use quotes from their own website:


-Up-front financing for home energy retrofits, which will allow low and moderate income ratepayers to get deep savings on their energy bills.
-Community-driven outreach and mobilization, which will reach economically marginalized neighborhoods where utility marketing is ineffective.
-High-road jobs for community residents in energy efficiency retrofit work, providing family supporting wages and benefits, strong health and safety measures, and a path to unionization.
-A voice in the process for marginalized communities.
On July 28, the EEAC passed a resolution that partially approved the utilities’ proposals but required them to add:
-Up-front financing, probably including on-bill cost recovery (you make the repairs now and pay them off over time on your utility bill).
-Community mobilization as an outreach strategy.
-High job standards and responsible contractor provisions.
Fully implementing the Green Justice Coalition’s proposals will help the utilities achieve 3% energy savings every year.

Excerpt over. This does sound like a good proposal. It also explains what area of the nation will be improved: the community organizing, and economically marginalized neighborhoods, and unions. It will also give those marginalized communities a voice in the process they currently do not have from voting, or attending their local government sessions and speaking to their representatives on any level of government. I agree completely (not) that these people deserve more of an opportunity to represent themselves than I do in this country where all are created equal.

However, you may be slightly confused. It said this was from the Green Justice Coalition. Well, who are they? Lets read their website:

The Massachusetts Green Justice Coalition, an affiliate of the national Apollo Alliance, won a victory for social justice and the environment yesterday.
The Green Justice proposals combine energy efficiency with racial, economic, and environmental justice – thus, “Green Justice.”

Excerpt over. Time prevents me from finishing this blog, I shall in time.

http://apolloalliance.org/

Areas To Watch

The world is slightly less stable in the past month for various reasons. So, a simple listing of areas which have gotten worse in the past month should give perspective.

Isreal-Hezbolla (Lebanon)
Russia-Georgia
Ecuador, Venezuela-Colombia
Yemen
Eritrea
Iraq

Government - Good or Bad?

Considering the discussion has always been philosophical, and sometimes humorous, lets have a serious discussion. So, I am going to be reporting in addition to my campaign over the next two weeks, the arguements for and against big government. My source for big government positions is the number one supporter of big government:
http://governmentisgood.com/


To simply quote:
Let me clear about what I am not arguing here. I am saying that government is good, but not that every particular government is good. People often say they dislike the government when what they really mean is that they dislike the policies of the current Democratic or Republican administration – such as the Bush regime’s war in Iraq or its failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina. But just because the policies of a particular administration are bad doesn’t mean that government as an institution is bad. That would be like condemning film as a medium just because you are disappointed with the current crop of movies. This website is about the value of government as an institution, because that is what is under attack by conservatives. They are trying to undermine the basic enterprise of modern democratic government itself– with its substantial commitment to social programs and regulation – and that is what I am defending. I am arguing that the large democratic state and the basic functions it fulfills have been good – very good – for Americans.

Quote over. As you can see this is a website meant purely to provide the arguements for big government, which the conservatives dislike and when in office screw up, but I swear we won't be side tracked by conservatives too often.

Ahem, in other words this website is simply a creation to be a contradiction to the conservative way of thinking and to insult Republicans on the issue of big government. So, my response will be to take the high road and only quote, never use my own adjectives, to describe Democrats approach to big government.

Stand Up For Democracy

The man in the following video provides the best demonstration of Democracy and our freedoms in this country. He also highlights the dangerous path we are going down in which we allow our freedoms to be controlled by the government. A road in which we allow the government to tell us when we can excercise our freedoms.



First, as I watch the video, two things immediately stand out to me: the reaction of the guy two rows behind the man who spoke out to stand up and push the speaker back to his chair, and the voice of the man who spoke.

Do not ever resort to violence as a rule of civility.

Now the man's voice stands out to me because of the passion. This man was lied to, promised a chance to speak to someone meant to listen to him, and then not given the opportunity promised to him. His voice says everything.

Our system is not broken, the people within it are. At no point in my career do I ever want to have someone brought to emotional hysteria because of my policies or a lack of communication between my staff and myself. The best way to do this is to make certain people always can communicate with me and I will do my best to always reply to e-mails within the day while I am on city council. If I am given the opportunity to serve in higher levels of government at the state level I gaurantee within a week I will respond. If I am lucky enough to go to Washington and not be the president, within a month. No letter or e-mail will go without a reply and I gaurantee that.

By a reply I do not mean it will be the standard message either. There will be no standard message. I think serving the people should require that I write more to my constituents than I do the bills I sign because we need simplified legislation that everyone can read.

It is an interesting thing that I think of these thousand page bills now, yet the New Deal legislation passed by Roosevelt was eight pages. Perhaps the largest government involvement in our economy in history and it was done in eight pages. We do not need a thousand page health care bill. We need a ten pages or less policy in all legislatures across the country. This will also cut down on the wasteful spending because the other projects will not be added in.

Muse - Uprising

Pursuation

As an odd combination of Republican, conservative, libertarian, and a follower of factual logic, I am often disregarded as an opponent to all sides. I was snarled at by Republicans for stating that Barack Obama was a naturally born U.S. citizen, and my belief in basic human rights was called "a liberal fantasy" at a Democrat's forum. With me enjoying rap music and also being gay, many respond "how can you be a Republican!" and some believe that being libertarian instantly means you are a progressive, which I am not.

So, to all who insult, push, and expect me to fulfill some belief this message is for you.

I am responsible for myself. My actions are my responsibility and your actions are your responsibility. I will not apologize for the torture of the Bush administration, nor will I say it was not torture. I will condemn torture but not apologize for what I did not cause or take part in.

The town hall meetings across the country I will encourage and take part in questioning and furthering the discussion of the health care issue. I will not apologize for the rude actions of some, nor will I say it is right. Dialogue, not screams, should be the goal of the town hall meetings. The meetings should allow discussion instead of question and answer formats.

You are responsible for your actions, and nothing can change that. You do something, you are responsible. You hurt someone, you are responsible and justice will be carried out. You earn a reward, you keep that reward for yourself. Your actions led to both outcomes, and you are equally deserving of the results.

You are not deserving of my kindness, respect, or friendship until you earn it. I will give the basic civility to meet someone, but I will not give my trust to those who do not earn it. You are not entitled to anything from me until you earn it.

Some call me aggressive, and this is not true. I respond to aggression. You push, insult, or take from me I simply push, insult, and take back. I will not be treated badly without making certain those who cause suffering also know what I felt, but no more than what I felt. Does this mean I break the law? No. They break the law, I use the justice granted to me for being a human being. However, my friendship is not gauranteed to anyone as a human right; until you earn it you will not recieve it from me.

So stop complaining and accusing and lying about me. I have had enough. Basic civility has made me keep my silence for many years, but I have finally had enough. You doubt my efforts and goals, I accept that. You insult me and the people who have earned my friendship and my trust is something I will not accept. Be civilized and hold discussions instead of riots.

Former Website Evolves

The joshh19.webs.com website has changed, and although no longer part of my campaign, it is for a good cause. I encourage you to check it out, and hope you learn from the successful experience of Josh Haskell and his tips for a successful diet (nothing is being sold, its honestly to help people.) Enjoy.

What is the value of one life? / My Health Care Insurance Reform

There is no price, or value to a life. It is however too valuable to give away. Some say the elderly or the young are less valuable than those who are 15-40 years old. It is an idea under the surface of some more radical beliefs. In practice, it is not desired but a resulting system of value for nations which seek to provide limited resources to as many as possible.

No life at any point is any less valuable than that of another. When I wrote about race I spoke of the equality of all people, our inherent possiblity being equal. I stand by than and wish to expand upon it. No matter how old you are your potential for success is the same as anyone else.

We are social creatures and every life we come in contact with leaves an attachment which, if broken, causes pain. A system which considers the attachment to the elderly as less valuable than the attachment to the young, or the "productive", will eventually dehumanize our emotions and remove our ability to connect. This will make us no longer human.

So when you look to countries which provide universal anything, be it college, health care, housing, think of how they value life. When a government you live under proposes giving everyone a part of something which is finite, question how they will value human life.

When I look to this health care insurance proposal by the House of Representatives, and Congress, and Obama's unwritten yet often spoken of proposal, I think of the various groups having more lines given for certain groups. I do not want, under a universal plan, to see veterans, or the elderly, or the young, or the rich, or the poor get a different deal from this. All people are created equal and should be treated as such.

As for what plan would be best, in terms of the government option in the health care insurance reform, I believe that a new approach needs to be taken. Instead of getting covered when your problem arises, have a system in which people are in a position to be prepared to pay for the treatments they need.

Having a bank account, one that will not be taxable, which will have an interest rate paid by a bank, like a regular account, but a fund-match program by the government. The money can only be retrieved after a person has gotten medical attention, which can have a system similar to a credit card where the account is instantly accessed at the store, in this case a hospital or doctor's office.

This program will be in combination with other insurance plans, but a government gaurantee of $1,000,000 for emergency medical treatments, usable only when the account has been overdrawn and for a chronic condition (cancer included). This could be expanded that chronic conditions always be covered by the government, while basic health care such as doctor visits and emergency surgery be paid for by the currenty system in combination with the bank program.

A law with this could be written, in common understanding (instead of "legal speak"), as the following:

A. Health Care Bank Fund
1. A savings account only accessable by medical practitioners.
2. A savings account which will have a match-fund through government funds.
3. A savings account not accessable for any other purpose.
B. Chronic Conditions Gauranteed Treatment
1. A government fund to cover the first $1,000,000 of a cancerous disease.
2. Upon the excess of $1,000,000 a secondary fund from which citizens choose to donate will be drawn upon.
2a. This secondary fund will be funded by citizens choosing an option on their income tax to donate.
3. A government fund to cover the unlimited cost of other chronic illnesses.

New law over. It isn't 1,000 pages long. It will improve the financial side which has to pay for treatments. Does this solve the rising cost of health care? No, but it is a start to the reform we need. It gives people another option, which is good. That option is not taking away other options, which is good.

More of my health care plan is in the works.

New Website URL

Alright, after some slight complications, a new campaign website is located at http://randyhughesking.webs.com/Index.html . Enjoy.

My Race (Campaign) Begins

Today I became a registered voter, and in the process became eligible for City Council. Getting the petition forms I needed, I left City Hall with all I needed to get on the ballot in November.

So it begins. This evening I am going to cover Somerset and parts of Essex street. My goal is ten signatures.

Now, for business cards and other campaign handouts, my budget limit of $0 (set by myself) has limited my options. While top professionalism is the goal, so is efficiency. Regular business cards cost money, so I have to take an original approach.

Enter in several thousand note cards from high school. Essentially brand new, and allows for customization. This allows me to address traffic issues on the cards for those who live in gridlock areas (such as Stillwater, or downtown). Such customization allows for a better outreach, and thus better connection with the voters.

As for professionalism, great ideas come from a great mind, not a great suit. Whether my ideas are great is up to the voters, but I believe practicality over expense is what we need from our leaders. This gives me an opportunity to have low cost, with the same effect. Leadership deserves a combination of professionalism and practicality, which is where my ideas come in. The ideas are my professionalism that proves I'm the man for the job.

Now tonight I will be knocking from 5 to 7. I would have started sooner, but today posed several issues of documentation (I am getting my photo I.D. tomorrow) which delayed me for most of the day. Now I am making my first pamphlet/contact cards to hand out.

These first fifteen are going to be basic (since I have less than an hour until I begin the travels). There is still something to be said about the culture of someone who still writes hand-written letters. My cards are no different. They will read as follows:

Randy Hughes-King For City Council
I am running for city council
because the City of Bangor deserves
leaders who have common sense and
good will. I have those qualities
and want to bring them to the council.


The back side reads:

I am running my campaign without money.
I want those who support me to do what
you do every day: talk to your friends,
collegues, and family about the issues
that you care about including this
November's election. If you'd like to
know more about what I will bring to
the Bangor City Council, you can visit
joshh19.webs.com or e-mail me at
nascar77779@AOL.com.

Highlights From Mob Rule

Thinking of the recent conspiracy rising from the town hall uproars I had two options for this post. I could either present the case proving the conspiracy is false (I have yet to recieve a check in the mail and I've been against this public option for a very long time) or use humor (their own words) to allow common sense and laughter to disprove the conspiracy. I've chosen to do both.

The difinitive proof for many has been an MSNBC piece on the Maddow show, and it is soundly disproven here: http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/08/think_progress_msnbc_manufactu.asp

Now it is time to bring the highlights of the war of conspiracies over the town hall "paid mob" that has risen. I do not make these up, they are comments from various blogs and news sources which I find quite, well, amusing:

Republican operatives have been secretly receiving training at a Montana Militia camp under the guidance of MoveOn, Code Pink, ACORN, ActUp and the New Black Panthers. They are reading Saul Alinsky and William Ayers writings and simply replacing the name "Leon Trotsky" with "Barry Goldwater".

We see how grassroots and nonpartisan these repugnant one groups are as they are nothing but covers for their corporate masters and former deadbeat politicians like that texas jerk Dick Armey who has been instrumental in wrecking our economy during his reigh of terror in Congress.

The GOP--truly a party of extremists and thugs. All they need now are the brownshirts to go along with their goosesteps.

Where does the money come from to bus all these screaming idiots to the town hall meetings, well not sure, but have been reading lately that Hearth-care industry is proudly stating that they are behind the rowdy behavior of these so called town meetings.

Republicans tactics and politics are comparable to many third world countries.

What was happening at the McCain/Palin rallies was pure hatred showing his ugly head. When I heard the shouts of terrorist, kill him, it made me fear for Pres Obama's life. When I see the signs at these so-called tea parties calling democrats communists, Hitler, fascists, socialists, it makes me fear for this country. The tea parties stir the pot of the crazies and the anti-HCR tactics continue along that line. What happens to the GOP when something violent occurs at the town halls, and it troubles me to say that if this mob mentality continues to prevail, some innocent person or member of congress will be injured or killed. How will the GOP spin that? We know they'll just say it was a lone wolf acting on their own. May they rot in hell for not discouraging this behavior.

Anyone on here trying to justify this type of behavior by senior citizens who can travel from town to town terrorizing people because they live off of people like me who actually work to take care of them belongs in an insane asylum or needs an exorcism.

True town hall meetings are for the residents of the "town," and warrants are given to residents so that they can attend. A public forum where anyone who wants to can attend is a valuable event, but it is not a town hall. If members of the House and Senate want to inform people in their district of what is going on, they might consider limiting attendance to people who actually reside and vote in the district, whether or not they are of the same political party as the speaker.

I just have to say that all of these comments referring to the President as a Thug or Obie and stating that he is part of the New Black Panther party needs to stop. If you don't like having a black president then just say that. Stop hiding behind the mask. Be proud to be a racist!!

I know there are a few democrats that have been trying to obstruct TRUE healthcare reform too. But the main problem is the Bush Republicans. Removing them is the best thing tactically to do. On the other hand. If you can easily replace a democrat obstructionist with a supportive democrat, DO IT!
You have been AMAZING!!! my people. Don't loose heart. You knew it wasn't going to be easy saving the World. :-)

Campaign Website

Check out the website please: http://joshh19.webs.com/Index.html

The Race For Governor: Late Entry?

Eriq Manson is going to run for governor as a Democrat. Anyone want to start guessing how many there will be running?

Is it too soon to say anyone entering the race now is a late entry? With Poliquin setting the bar for fundraising and exposure so far is it possible for new names to catch up?

Future of Afghanistan's Front Lines

First, on this blog I've covered many things worldwide. Iraq and Afghanistan have been missing from many of my posts. This is because rarely do they play into the future alliances or local politics that my blog covers. This is because I believe we have essentially won Iraq and Afghanistan needed Pakistan to take the road against the militants.

So today Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban, may be dead. If this is true the Taliban are going to fracture into various groups. While still a threat and a military problem the coordination, message, and unified front the Taliban has made under Mehsud will be over. They will fight each other as well as the Afghan, Pakistani, and Coalition forces. Is the fight over? No. Are they a major threat? Yes. Will they grow in strength and power as a whole now? No. The tide has turned with Pakistan's offensive. The death of Mehsud only confirms their coming downfall.

Why am I not mentioning Osama bin Laden? He is still a symbolic leader. Dead or alive he will always carry some level of stigma. However currently I believe him to be irrelevent in the current operations. With his age and possible injuries combined with his liver disease he is probably not in the command structure anymore.

So what is the future? Splinter groups like we saw in Iraq. Will it be easy? No. Will it be quick? No. Will we win? Yes.

Campaign Website

After several coding nightmares, the website is ready. Part of the complications with it being free is it needs to get a certain amount of traffic, so out of kindness please visit it.

http://joshh19.webs.com/Index.html

Barack Obama on Agressive Activism

He said the following during his campaign: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” (Senator Barack Obama, Campaign Remarks in Elko, Nevada, 9/17/08)

Party of No Ideas on Health Care

The GOP has proposals for health care. If you would like to read about them in the news, check out a few of the links at this website: http://barackobamaexperiment.com/gop-health-care-solutions

Democrats E-Mail "Facts"

1+1=2 and always will. This is a fact.
?+?=? is what the recent Democratic e-mail contained for facts.

See, I am a man of facts. I prefer to use them to explain my points when it is not a matter of common sense. When it is a matter of having common sense I prefer to use the pull of emotional and mental reality to make you see yourself what the facts are. Democrats have used emotional and mental responses in the hopes that the facts will be found. I get the emails from all three political parties in Maine. The e-mails usually contain bias and misleading statements, but this is the first time an e-mail has insulted grass-roots movements and described them as mobs. I will give you the full e-mail text:

There's been a lot of media coverage about organized mobs intimidating lawmakers, disrupting town halls, and silencing real discussion about the need for real health insurance reform.

The truth is, it's a sham. These "grassroots protests" are being organized and largely paid for by Washington special interests and insurance companies who are desperate to block reform. They're trying to use lies and fear to break the President and his agenda for change.

Health insurance reform is about our lives, our jobs, and our families -- we can't let distortions and intimidation get in the way. We need to expose these outrageous tactics, and we're counting on you to help. Can you read these "5 facts about the anti-reform mobs," then pass them along to your friends and family?

5 facts about the anti-reform mobs

1. These disruptions are being funded and organized by out-of-district special-interest groups and insurance companies who fear that health insurance reform could help Americans, but hurt their bottom line. A group run by the same folks who made the "Swiftboat" ads against John Kerry is compiling a list of congressional events in August to disrupt. An insurance company coalition has stationed employees in 30 states to track where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings.

2. People are scared because they are being fed frightening lies. These crowds are being riled up by anti-reform lies being spread by industry front groups that invent smears to tarnish the President's plan and scare voters. But as the President has repeatedly said, health insurance reform will create more health care choices for the American people, not reduce them. If you like your insurance or your doctor, you can keep them, and there is no "government takeover" in any part of any plan supported by the President or Congress.

3. Their actions are getting more extreme. Texas protesters brought signs displaying a tombstone for Rep. Lloyd Doggett and using the "SS" symbol to compare President Obama's policies to Nazism. Maryland Rep. Frank Kratovil was hanged in effigy outside his district office. Rep. Tim Bishop of New York had to be escorted to his car by police after an angry few disrupted his town hall meeting -- and more examples like this come in every day. And they have gone beyond just trying to derail the President's health insurance reform plans, they are trying to "break" the President himself and ruin his Presidency.

4. Their goal is to disrupt and shut down legitimate conversation. Protesters have routinely shouted down representatives trying to engage in constructive dialogue with voters, and done everything they can to intimidate and silence regular people who just want more information. One attack group has even published a manual instructing protesters to "stand up and shout" and try to "rattle" lawmakers to prevent them from talking peacefully with their constituents.

5. Republican leadership is irresponsibly cheering on the thuggish crowds. Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner issued a statement applauding and promoting a video of the disruptions and looking forward to "a long, hot August for Democrats in Congress."


It's time to expose this charade, before it gets more dangerous. Please send these facts to everyone you know. You can also post them on your website, blog, or Facebook page.

Now, more than ever, we need to stand strong together and defend the truth.


E-mail over. Time for a highlight reel (yes, this is a time when you need common sense) :

organized mobs intimidating lawmakers
These "grassroots protests" are being organized and largely paid for by Washington special interests and insurance companies who are desperate to block reform.
These disruptions are being funded and organized by out-of-district special-interest groups and insurance companies who fear that health insurance reform could help Americans, but hurt their bottom line.
A group run by the same folks who made the "Swiftboat" ads against John Kerry is compiling a list of congressional events in August to disrupt. An insurance company coalition has stationed employees in 30 states to track where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings.
People are scared because they are being fed frightening lies.
anti-reform lies being spread by industry front groups that invent smears to tarnish the President's plan.
Their actions are getting more extreme.
Maryland Rep. Frank Kratovil was hanged in effigy outside his district office.
One attack group has even published a manual instructing protesters to "stand up and shout" and try to "rattle" lawmakers to prevent them from talking peacefully with their constituents.

Highlight reel over. One final one that made me write this post:

It's time to expose this charade

Excerpt over. With facts like those, how could anyone doubt the Democrats. I mean, with an ambiguous and unnamed group causing trouble over there, and another group that was involved in something years ago being involved, yet unnamed, I don't see how any of this could be believed. Yes, I am not even going to use sarcasm on this one. This is ridiculous. Also, the guy being hanged in effigy, where were the complaints when George Bush was being hanged, burned, and stepped on for the past 8 years? Seriously if they want to complain about the use of effigies when they justify it with freedom of expression, so shall those who oppose them.

What is true is that ACORN, SEIU, and AARP endorse Obama's healthcare plan. My parents have an AARP monthly magazine which says so.

Lets notice that in all of the Democratic message, I have more facts in one sentence than they do in the entire "fact check" e-mail.

Shirt Color

History has had fascism associate itself to having an armed affiliate of supporters who clad a certain shirt color. To name a few: Mussolini' black shirts, Hitler's brown shirts, William Dudley Pelley's silver shirts, golden shirts of Mexico, Franco's blue shirts, the Iron Gaurd's green shirts.

Let it be known that a fascism/socialism mix is coming worldwide. From Chavez and his ALBA to those rising up in Europe who follow "The Coming Insurrection" fascism is attacking democracy worldwide. For us, in the United States, I will make a prediction.

Their shirts will be purple or orange, maybe even both.

Stimulus In Bangor

Alright, I have been hearing the stimulus bill get credit for every road project and new job from people here in Bangor. I have informed them repeated this is not true. I was simply using common sense, but apparently a little more evidence was needed. So, after a bit of searching through very ambiguous contracts, I finally found the four things in Bangor that the funds have gone to. They are as follows:

Bangor Clean Water State Revolving Fund $2,837,000.00
Bangor Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Ages 5-20) $523,755.00
Bangor Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Preschool (Ages 3-5) $7,962.00
Bangor Title I-BANGOR $1,162,154.00

Excerpt over. I am still waiting for a reply on what Title I-Bangor is from the website, and once I find out, so shall you. I am also still waiting for a response from the city council on the four officers in four years that need to be paid for. If I have no response at the end of the week, I am going to create my own plan to cover the cost of maintaining that force. However, I can conclude that Title I programs are involved in education and not road work. No construction work in Bangor, according to the recovery.gov website for Maine, is due to the Stimulus.

So please, stop telling me it is.

http://www.maine.gov/recovery/county/penobscot.shtml

Burma Seeks Nukes

According to this news report Burma (Myanmar) is building nukes: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-08-03-voa16.cfm

It says: Researchers in Thailand say two defectors from Burma say the military government has a secret nuclear program that aims to build nuclear weapons, and could have a nuclear test as soon as five years from now. The two defectors said that a hidden nuclear complex is being built in caves excavated in a mountainous area of northern Burma.

The defectors said that they were directly involved in the secret program, and that Burma's goal is to build nuclear weapons.

Excerpt over. Alright, so the North Korean bunker connection comes to light once more. Where is the global attention on this? While we in the U.S. watch beer get warm at the White House nuclear missiles are being developed to get hot enough to create plasma when used. (I say plasma because the weapons being developed today are far more powerful than the ones that almost turned Japan to glass).

However, Russia enters the picture as well:

One of the defectors, a former Burmese army officer, told researchers he was trained in Moscow as part of Burma's plans for a "nuclear battalion" of one thousand men to build the weapons.

The other said he handled Burma's nuclear contracts with Moscow and Pyongyang and arranged the night-time delivery of equipment from North Korea.

Phil Thornton is a freelance journalist based in Thailand and the other researcher who interviewed the men. He says, although the defectors did not know each other, their stories agreed on the main facts, lending some weight to their credibility.

Excerpt over. A nuclear battalion trained in Moscow. Russia is now connected to Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Burma's nuclear programs by my tally. Russia always says it is for civilian purposes. When it comes to Iran, Venezuela, and other countries that has at least some random chance of being true. However, for Burma and North Korea that is impossible: It is a government program. There is no capitalism, everything is government run. That goes in the opposite sense of being civilian.

There are three levels of nuclear energy: military, government, and civilian. Military is explained by you using common sense. Civilian involves businesses. Government is usually a fusion of civilian and military purposes, which is what these programs seem to be: both. That is why they can hide their military portions until they have what they need to fast track military research.

So, lets update my list when I started this blog:

I see a series of alliances forming in the world against the United States. In these alliances of the world I see four nations leading the pack.
1. Russia
2. Iran
3. Venezuela
4. China
I see the following nations being part of the alliance by affiliation to one or more of these nations.
V- Venezuela C-China I-Iran R-Russia, NK-North Korea, simple enough so lets go.
1. Syria I R C
2. Lebanon I
3. Ecuador V I R
4. Peru V
5. Bolivia V I
6. Burma (Myanmar) R NK
7. Nicaragua V R
8. Cuba V R I C
9. North Korea C
10. Serbia R
11. Somalia I
12. Pakistan C I R
13. Belarus R
14. Abkhazia R
15. South Ossetia R
16. Eritrea I
Then you have other nations unaffiliated but they hate the United States anyway.
1. Zimbabwe (Power sharing must work for me to revise this.)
2. Sudan
3. Mexico (If government loses civil war.)
4. Vietnam (If not taken over by China.)
5. Chile (If ties with Cuba and Venezuela continue to strengthen.)
6. Libya (Minor player at the moment, but one of the most powerful African states led by Pan-Am bomber Gadaffi. Gadaffi holds African Union presidency this rotation. The agenda of removing opposition is in direct conflict to our promotion of democracy.)
8. Kazakstan, other Central Asian countries (More trade, money, and promises from Russia, their former rulers during the Soviet era, than anyone else.)
Political Battlegrounds:
1. Honduras (Mitchelleti vs Zelaya)
2. Peru
3. Somalia (Government vs Islamists)
4. Yemen
5. Palestine (Hamas vs Fatah)
6. Pakistan (Government vs Taliban, Islamists)
Hidden Possibilities:
1. Sri Lanka
2. Madagascar
3. Turkey
4. El Salvador
5. Guyana
6. Nigeria
7. Guatemala
8. Argentina
9. Costa Rica

Obama On Eliminating Private Insurance

I told you so.

Partisan Voting

I have stated many times I will never vote for a Democrat. I apologize and retract that statement. No, I don't plan on it. However, in a Democracy my vote is to go to the most qualified candidate regardless of political affiliation. Should someone from across the isle, or even somewhere further or closer, be a better representative of my values of government then they will get my vote.

It is our civic duty to ensure that the most qualified people get elected to office. By limiting ourselves to one political party we are disregarding (usually) more than half of the candidates available. By doing so we give ourselves less than 50% chance of voting for the most qualified individual for leadership and public service.

So to those who refuse to vote Republican, or Democrat, or even both, please look at the people and not the letter. While voting for people is preferred over organizations, sometimes the best people come from the political party system.

Socialists Invited

If you want a place to discuss your ideas I invite any and all Socialists to my blog. Send me an e-mail and what you wish to say and I will post it. This does not mean there will not be a silent approval, there will be discussion. You will always be invited to respond to any counter to your statements or make further statements.

We Are Doomed 4

The human race now resorts to stealing sand for resorts.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jgHmDqLU_femenG_nkw722vLPzlAD99P68DO0

We are doomed.

Bass Park Director FAIL

The Bangor State Fair is one of the most looked forward to events of the year. This year, the admission/ticket system was replaced with a $10 for all fee (food not included). The Bass Park Director Mike Dyer forced the Fiesta company to charge this. As a result, fewer rides, longer lines, and an overall worse experience. This is why I, as a Republican, am opposed to government involvement (Mike works for the city). In the attempt to increase attendance, they lessened what was offered, the carnival makes less money, people are less happy, and this overall lessens the good image of Bangor. Lines were wrapping around other rides today in painful heat and humidity. Nobody seemed to be happy, and to be honest there were a lot of people who were rude. From the staff trying to force people to seperate their group (on one of the scarier rides, the guy told a mother to part with her daughter who was going on the ride for the first time) to people sitting at the tables without buying anything forcing the police to be called the whole thing just had a bad aura about it. Why? More people for lower price. Who did this? Mike Dyer.

The Race For Governor - Outreach

One of the best experiences I've had was being part of a political campaign. Lets just make it known that while I refuse to run my city council campaign with any money, the candidates for governor all have monetary donation requests. So, it is what you can do WITH their campaign that actually makes all the difference. If you have seen the candidates and wish to work with them, I'm going to let you know the other options they have on their websites which are listed here:
http://rhkinc.blogspot.com/2009/07/candidates-websites.html

Alright, lets start with Donna Dion's options:
None. You can't even subscribe to campaign updates yet.

Lynne Williams: You can subcribe for updates, but nothing else so far.

Dawn Hill: Her volunteer page sends you to a customized automated response with the following options:
Be a Volunteer Captain
Go Door to Door - Canvass
Host a House Gathering
Make a Donation
Make Phone Calls
Place a sign in my yard
Request Sticker for my Car
Tweet or Blog about Rep. Dawn Hill
Will volunteer in general
Willing spread the word in my community
Write to My Local Newspaper

Steve Rowe:
Host a House Party
Make Phone Calls
Go Door to Door
Make a Donation
Write to My Local Newspaper
Be a Volunteer Captain
Blog about Steve
Put Up Yard Signs
Put On a Bumper Sticker

He also has this question:
May We Use Your Name Publicly as a Rowe Supporter?

I suggest you mark no. If you want to support someone, you can support them publicly by volunteering. However, in the political environment we have it could be dangerous, and releasing those names could create a possible hit list for opponents (as in, you could become critisized just for being on his list).

Rosa Scarcelli has the following ambiguous choice:
General Volunteer

Les Otten:
go door to door
make phone calls
host a house party
work my neighborhood
attend event
blog
volunteer at HG
write my local paper (declare support)
place sticker on my car
help out in other ways

Matt Jacobson is lacking in opportunities right now.

Lastly, Bruce Poliquin:
Go Door-to-Door
Make a Donation
Make Phone Calls
Talk to Others About Bruce
Work My Neighborhood
Attend Events
Put Sign in My Yard
Blog About Bruce
Place Sticker on My Car
Help Out in Other Ways
Host House Party
Volunteer at Our HQ
Write My Local Newspaper


So, the scoreboard has Bruce Poliquin in the lead with 13 options.
In second place:Dawn Hill with 11.
Third goes to: Les Otten with 10.
Fourth: Steve Rowe with 9.
Fifth: Rosa Scarcelli with 1.
The rest do not qualify for the scoreboard.

Congradulations Bruce Poliquin. A year and four months before the election you are giving voters the most options to be involved in your campaign. I thus award you the first ever Life Blog Award for Campaign Involvement Opportunities.

The reason I decided to count them was because getting supporters involved is an important part of making certain that your campaign has what it takes to win. If you don't have positions on the issues to get people out there then you won't win an election. You need to stand out. The best way to stand out it to have your supporters out there for you. These options make it easy for supporters to get involved. The more options the more people you can reach out to in order to have them get involved. "General volunteer" is intimidating. It could mean go door-to-door, or clean the HQ toilets. Poliquin's options allow his campaign to know who to go to for certain things and know their supports will enjoy doing it. Poliquin continues to have the best outreach of all the candidates so far.

Fanatical Blindness

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/UNNECESSARY%20%20%20LOSSES.htm

In the letter the person writes:

But after all the garbage has been left behind I do hold certain basic tenets from my old left background. The first is that there are classes and the rich are not on the same side as the rest of us. They exploit. The second is that I am still a socialist. I still be­lieve in theory socialism is better than capitalism. If it has not worked so far, it is because it has not really been tried.

What concerns me about you is that you have lost the compassion and humanism which motivated our parents to make their original choice. There can be no other explanation for your support of the vile policies of Ronald Reagan. Except that you are operating from an emotional position which surpasses rational thinking. Also, by as­suming that because you are no longer "left," you must be "right, "you appear to be lacking a capacity to tolerate ambiguity; and the real world is indeed ambiguous. Why do you feel the need to jump on es­tablishment bandwagons? I assume they are paying you well for your efforts.


Excerpt over. The rich work, they do not exploit. I know the rich and the poor in person. They work for a living. Is it true for all? No, but the majority do work.

Socialism has not been tried, because it is impossible to achieve with human beings. To create a classless, wealthless society you need to remove human emotion. Socialism requires a human race that has no desires in any form. It requires us to forgo excess but also in times of need not feel hunger should food not be available for all. Socialism can not be tried.

I am looking for an intellectual discussion. Socialists, contact me.

The last line is just spiteful.

The entire article is personal, and real. This is the fanaticism we face, and we must not allow one line of rhetoric to go unanswered. In response, if they believe what they say, they should refute every line we on the side of democracy and capitalism say. The points without refutability are the solid basis of truth. The side with the most solid basis after any number of interactions is what should decide this truth. So I challenge you, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists to send me your vision of a better world and how to get there. I will respond, without being spiteful or insulting I promise, and we will settle the fanatical debates once and for all regarding these philosophies.

Listen Close Republicans

No more witch doctor photos of Obama. Alright? We live in a Democracy, a free nation. We have the greatest country on earth to call our home. You lower our level of civility by making these pointless and uncivilized attacks on Barack Obama. We focus on the issues, not the looks. Lets focus on the taxpaying dollars spent by a politician's vacation, and not Michelle Obama's dress or Barack Obama's jeans and baseball pitches. We focus on the issues and there is nothing that the Democrats could ever do to hurt us. Let them act like attack dogs, lets be civilized.

Interim Government Crackdown

The legal government of Honduras must not abuse the power it was given Constitutionally. From this point on a police of only having commanding officers carry armed guns should be made to prevent any further needless bloodshed being blamed on Honduran authorities.

There should be a public forum, open to the public to attend where both sides can appeal to an independant jury with one jury for Zelaya, one for the interim government, and a neutral international diplomat from the U.N. along with two Constitutional experts. These five jurors will make the case of the situation and allow the public to see the facts, dispell the rumors, and clarify the situation. While the forum takes place, hopefully people will listen more than protest.

However, the crackdown by the interim government must end. A democracy is founded on the freedom to think and express yourself. While the Mitchelleti government is legal, it should not be outside the law. Going in that direction is why Zelaya had to be removed.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5701J420090801

Missile Defense Works

Well, on short range missiles. However, if North Korea launches towards us it will be a long range missile we have to worry about. Which makes our test in Hawaii seem almost pointless.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5in-BbOZrPDAgjSNDPjFjGxuijnjw

Cash For Freedom

I am deeply troubled. The Cash for Clunkers program is nothing less than invasive, illegal, and totalitarian. I give what has been discovered about the Cash for Clunkers program 24 hours to become a national news sensation. If not, I am going to do two things:
1. Scream.
2. Post a blog.

My Race Begins

I am hoping that by the end of the week I will have accomplished two things:
1. Have a campaign website up.
2. Have the petition forms needed to get me on the ballot.

By the end of August I am hoping to have the following accomplished:
1. Have the minimum 150 signatures to be on the Bangor ballot in November.
2. Spoken publicly with other candidates on at least two occassions.
3. Have my college preparations complete.

My daily plan this week is to prepare my walk through Bangor. Now, I will post on twitter when I can, which will be before and after I go on my door-to-door campaign. This will allow people to know when I am out walking so they can come talk with me and we can discuss issues in a more in depth manner.

You have no idea how weird this is for me. Most of my life I have critisized politicians for saying the things I am saying but once your in that position it comes like a genuine instict. I am writing this part of things down so I remember this feeling and make certain it stays genuine. I really mean what I am saying.

The Races - Oh Forget It

Paul LePage is going to run for governor. Or not, we will find out in a month.

Running To City Hall

You all know I'm running for Bangor City Council, well soon I will have a campaign website up and running. I will have the link when it is finished, but here is where you come in. I have reviewed other candidates websites, and although my attempt is through a free website and some knowledge of coding, I'd like to have you compare its quality to others. Yes, I will bring you into the fold and allow you a guest appearance (the random guest appearance approach isn't working, so I'll give you a target) and you can review my campaign website. Post a comment below if your going to be involved, or send me an e-mail.

Twitter - The New Frontier

Twitter. This simple website had created a frenzy, helped stage an attempted political revolution in Iran, and has mired the communication of humanity into 140 characters. The White House has breached the defenses of twitter and now has other famous political identities like Jay-Z speaking on their behalf. Its immense quality of net speak combined with the shortness of a night with Stan from the Golden Girls, twitter truly leaves speedy yet catchy number of phrases in the minds of those reading the tweets of millions.

Slogans of politicians, advertisements by businesses, updates by health authorities along with the rally cries of millions of video gaming addicted 13 year olds expressing themselves the only way they know how (virtually) display the immense knowledge and creativity of the global populace. With messages like "wut b ur pbm mn, go tok a reef" to "Maine is boring" a buffet of exposure to new and wonderful things in the world is now within grasp of anyone with a two hundred dollar electric bill, a five hundred dollar computer, with a twenty dollar internet access, and an evolved mind capable of comprehending the messages.

Twitter is truly the newest frontier of humanity. The internet has been taken to a universal jump with twitter. A jump which, when entered, is frightening. The millions of users sending messages at lightspeed communicate in a global highway you are suddenly standing in the middle of. Moving from a universe where thousands of chirps moved by at stunningly slow email speeds to this new million-message-collaboration of humanity can be an experience that will leave you staggering like a victim of Bubba. Yet no amount of Presidential "Sud" Summits one may enter, the initial shock lasts not for long. Soon you are hitch-hiking for a way home, and once picked up, you are on the highway forever.

Your initial screams are no more than tweets. The importance of pain is lost in the beauty of instantly heard, and instantly forgotten communication. You know everyone is watching, and at the same time you know that everyone is twittering themselves into the universe. The focus constantly shifting may leave some ignored, but they continue to tweet addicted to the chance of something they lack outside of the inescapable highway: social interaction.

Being here is a wonderous moment and also a curse. Yet twitter makes that curse disappear and leaves only the friendship of acronyms and a keyboard as necessary. It provides a new voice in a new universe. This is why I have crossed into the world of twitter. I entered, got on a bus, and have yet to see reason to pull the brake line. However, I was faced with a massive mountainous obstacle. There were many titles and positions of power that were removed entirely by this new universe. We all were equal. Our value determined by the number of our tweets. Names meant nothing, and yet they distiguished us from our fellow insta-socialites. What would I call myself?

What would a name mean if it was not valued by anything other than a passing judgement in a highway of millions? Why call myself anything at all? The message said it was required. So a new approach had to be taken.

Could this be a chance to bring something from the old world into the new? I was losing hold of my former memories as the new information was taking the place of my worthless real life knowledge. I had already prepared the information of breathing and liver function to the recycling bin of my CPU. Shipments of friends and family were on their way. Was my name among that? It certainly had to be. Who you were was defined by your former human self by who you seperated yourself from. My thoughts raced the dump trucks to the incinerator that was my heart. They arrived too late. In fact the trucks had made two other trips before my army of reduced thoughts arrived (they got bottle-necked in a pile up at the cereberal cortex). The only thing left coming was the remaining knowledge of the internet. Something had to be saved.

Preserving the knowledge of the internet served two purposes. One, find some manner of identifying myself. Second, in the event of a maintainence roadblock on the tweeting highway there would be some escape possible. Withdrawal could be starved with distractions on youtube or the ignoring of messages on myspace and facebook from friends you knew no more. Arriving, the title of a blog was one of the sole virtual creations of my former self. A name was chosen. A name was found. A name, for twitter, to be communicated with, was determined. The world could now tweet me as well as hear my equal yet different tweet. That name was: @rhkinc

--My Twitter-Addicted Future Approach To Blogging (should I get addicted)--
I am now on twitter. I'm confused as to why only 140. I suppose it will challenge me to ramble less and say more. Luckily, more in depth approaches will still be here, but my rambling (see http://rhkinc.blogspot.com/2009/07/donna-dion-running-with-three-pdf-pages.html ) faces the risk of forming a more adjective-less form.

If you wish to follow the shortened version of me with some extras of humor and piontless displays of distraction thrown in, you can tweet away at me @rhkinc .

Just Cruel And Creepy

I was looking on how to get this blog more following, and I went to a site with a list of ideas. One was to see what was popular on several other websites, one being reddit.com, and I went there. I clicked on the number one post, and got sent to this page about a pharmaceutical drug dealer being arrested and how my IP address had been logged and I would be subpeona'd by the FBI.

My heart is racing. I want to get out there, but not by being in the press for an FBI investigation. I hope the FBI will look at my record, read my blog, and understand.

Why that would be there is just - urg. Its annoying and cruel. Its not a good feeling to just be informed your being watched. (I'd rather they not inform the criminals, and catch them when they come to that drug store for the drug they so eagerly desire.) It is just so- I can't even describe it. I will never go to reddit.com thats for sure.

New Tax Code

I was going to present here the whole issue over the newly passed tax law in Maine. I read through probably 1/20 of the bill, and it took me an hour. I give up on that mess of BS. Just when one part makes sense, they follow it up with "alternative method" sections that are as confusing as an eternal question.

So I decided to write my own tax code. I hope common sense is turned on when you read it. Then you will understand why there are no deductions (otherwise translated as incentives). Common sense also tells you that fines for crimes and fees to register pets and so forth are not covered here.





A. Tax Code
1. Code
a.The only alterable section of this code is "c" subsection of sections "2" and "3". The alteration is only allowed by citizen referendum.
b. These taxes are to take effect at the time of currency exchange.
1. Sales Tax
a. Sales is defined as an exchange of currency for anything other than labor.
b. Labor is defined as the efforts of a person.
c. Sales Tax: 5%
2. Income Tax
a. Income is defined as the exchange of currency for labor.
b. Labor is defined as the efforts of a person.
c. Income Tax: 5%
B. Tax Code Exemption
1. Government
a. Any exchange of currency with the government as a party or observer will not be taxed.

Cash For Confusion

The cash for clunkers program is, or isn't on its deathbed. It is, or isn't, out of money. It will, or won't, have an emergency expansion of funds for a program that may, or may not, be running on fumes. The news reports are numerous, and all of them contradictory of the one that came before it.

Good to know used car sales have the same effect on the government as it does on us.

Just think, soon we could have this level of confusion about our health care too!

Cash For Clunkers

My initial opposition to this program has faded because indeed it has been getting car sales going. Now, to the situation at hand.

6 days, a billion dollars, and 200,000 cars at least by my figures, and the cash for clunkers program is broke. Out of cash that it, not broken. The response? Lets find more cash to throw at the program:

Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, and other lawmakers called for an infusion of taxpayer money to subsidize more new-vehicle purchases in the effort to revive dealerships and automakers while getting older, less fuel-efficient vehicles off the road.

Excerpt over. Why am I paying for someone's new car? I demand this program be halted immediately. It is not the government's place to buy people new cars. The billion dollars isn't used up though:

The administration’s reports on clunkers applications from dealers didn’t indicate that the funds were near exhaustion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is running the program, said yesterday that 22,782 vehicles worth $95.9 million had been sold.

Excerpt over. Still, why should I be the one to pay for this? Until that question is answered it should not go forward.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWKYBKED5EKI