VATICAN: Condoms...Conservative reaction...

New article from the Associated Press: CONSERVATIVES AT ODDS WITH VATICAN OVER CONDOMS.

I knew it would not take long for the backlash. Some are probably saying that the pope is too old and possibly mentally feeble to speak to people, especially authors, by himself; someone should watch him at all times, which is a different topic all together (next time).

I think what ticks conservatives off is that all this time they were defending the Church’s conservative (if nonsensical) stance on condom use and here the pope reverses himself.

The book in question is called: “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times” by a German Author and as I mentioned in my original blog on the subject, the answer seems to be in the translation.

Conservatives are blaming Rev. Frederico Lombardi for misquoting the pope and twisting his words.

The issue seems to be concerning the “morality of using condoms for disease prevention…” and to me, where in the hell does the subject of morality enter into the use of condoms.

I used them early on to prevent pregnancy which is banned by the Church but why should I give a shit why the Church wants me to produce a child every time I have sex with my wife when they don’t have to support that child; they are just looking at a larger parish congregation with more money in the collection box and more kids going to Catholic school…that didn’t work out so well, did it?

But the morality of using condoms to prevent disease has me stumped. Yes, the Church considers all sex outside the marriage as a sin and I can see that but knowing prostitution is the reality on earth, wouldn’t it be for the common good to prevent disease instead of telling people that they should not have sex outside of marriage which you know is plain foolhardy and unrealistic?

Everyone could see the reason male prostitutes should use condoms but when the pope supposedly widened that statement to include female prostitutes and transsexuals, people started grumbling. I ask you, do you want female prostitutes to have children resulting from their activities? If that is not an issue and disease prevention is something positive, than what is the problem?

Many Catholics and especially Catholic organizations are confused. Catholic Relief Services who do not promote the use of condoms will continue to do that…until further word.

I do not know what is happening; the pope may be declared senile and all his statements declared null and void OR just maybe, the pope or his advisors are getting some sense of reality knowing that the world is making fun of them as lacking any real time wisdom or even common sense for that matter, and trying to put themselves in a different light as actually “getting it” for the first time?

This will be a very interesting and exiting saga to follow…I hope.

Related articles

• Conservative Roman Catholics reject Vatican's explanation of pope's comments on condom use (nj.com)
• Pope, conservatives at odds over condoms (capitolhillblue.com)
• U.S. conservatives at odds with Vatican over condoms (msnbc.msn.com)
• Conservative US Catholics question pope's shift on condom use (guardian.co.uk)
• Vatican Confirms, Clarifies Pope Remarks on Condom Use for HIV: 'Whether it's a man or woman or a transsexual' (towleroad.com)

VATICAN: What the hell happened here...

I have howled for a very long time about the position of the Vatican on the use of condoms especially the use of condoms as an HIV preventative tool.

The Vatican has steadfastly refused to change their condom use policy in the face of an HIV epidemic (in Africa and elsewhere) maintaining that condom use was against Church teaching.

The Vatican’s rationale (as I see it) was that all birth control measures (except the natural rhythm method that does not work) are forbidden because conception should not be prevented by artificial means; which I totally disagree with and so do a majority of Catholics.

The rationale made so sense in the real world and my arguments tended to point that out making the Vatican and its members totally ignorant of the real world because, according to me, they are not part of the real world and don’t know shit about the real world and make up nonsense as they go along their merry way.

All of a sudden, I hear the media talk about a possible papal turn-around on the use of condoms. This came about because of a book published by an author who interviewed the pope at length about issues of the day. On condoms, the book stated that the pope mentioned that condom use for male prostitutes makes sense because they can spread the HIV virus among sexual partners. OK that is true and the fact that gays cannot procreate allows the Vatican to agree to condom use in situations that do not prevent conception.

That statement did not blow me away but I was surprised that the pope even said that much about condom use.

But the story persisted in the media and I finally figured out that there must be more to this and in fact, there was.

It seems that the book was written in German and when translated, the pope’s views on condom use changed with each translation. In the Italian version the prostitute was a female. When the pope was asked about the discrepancy, he said that gender did not matter…and that made all the difference in the world.

Acknowledging that condoms can and should prevent disease especially AIDS/HIV is a huge turnaround for the Vatican. In my mind the fact that statistics show that condom use are a huge factor in lowering disease rates in the world should also have penetrated those closed minds in the Vatican.

I will have more on this but all I have to say is that if you keep on speaking out about issues that are important to the world at large and you know you are right, even the Vatican may finally listen but, of course, they will never admit that they were dead wrong in the first place; so much for their “higher” wisdom…

Related articles

• Pope Benedict Uses the C-Word: Prostitutes May Wear Condoms to Prevent Spread of HIV (blisstree.com)
• Vatican Confirms, Clarifies Pope Remarks on Condom Use for HIV: 'Whether it's a man or woman or a transsexual' (towleroad.com)
• Pope Says Condoms Okay For Women Too [Holy Shit] (jezebel.com)
• Condom use to stop AIDS morally justifiable: Vatican (calgaryherald.com)
• 'Condom lesser of 2 evils' - Inquirer.net (news.google.com)
• Condom use by sex workers and transsexuals to stop AIDS morally justifiable: Vatican (calgaryherald.com)
• Condoms a lesser evil than transmitting HIV: Vatican (ctv.ca)
• Conservatives at odds with Vatican over condoms - Washington Post (news.google.com)

SOCIETY: Our MEDIA is out of control inventing the news...

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Day but my joy is stymied by the news media and their rabid reporting of a non-existing story; they are actually creating news instead of reporting it.

I am talking about the insane emphasis on airport security and the new intense pat-downs and/or super scans. The media is trying to tell us, the American public, that we are outraged at the new security measures even if we are NOT.

Number one, the media is misleading people into thinking that ALL TRAVELERS will be subjected to either the super scan or the super sexually invasive pat-down and that is simply NOT TRUE. Only a tiny minority of travelers, those setting off alarms or looking extra suspicious, will undergo the new security measures.

Why is the media doing this? There is actually other news that could occupy them like the Koreas lobbing artillery shells at each other that could draw us into another war, but no, they have to create news where none exist.

All news outlets are doing this so I cannot blame just one like CNN but I did write to CNN telling them that they were so busy inventing news about the airport security measures that they missed the Korea story all together – shit heads!

I think what really irks me is when reporters interview people traveling and they keep asking them if they are outraged at the new security measures and the majority respond by saying NO THEY ARE NOT OUTRAGED AND THEY WELCOME THE EXTRA SECURITY…IT MAKES THEM FEEL  SAFER.

There is even one asshole on TV telling travelers to opt for the pat-down instead of the scan to purposely SWAMP the security area, back it up and make everybody late for their flights; all this to make the government  change its ways; that’s what travelers want on Thanksgiving…to miss their flights.

I am glad to see that the government is holding to their plans and not succumbing to the idiot media or the Congressmen that see this as an opportunity to attack the government; some of them have called for firing the TSA (Transportation Security Agency)…

I think the media needs to get their asses kicked by the watching public; enough is enough…

Related articles

• Security protest could bring nationwide delays at airports - CNN International (news.google.com)
• "More Outrages from Airport Security" and related posts (illinoisreview.typepad.com)
• Airport Pat-Downs: TSA Says it Can Fine You for Backing Out - ABC News (news.google.com)
• Airport security backlash expected in U.S. (cbc.ca)
• Travelers, lawmakers up in arms over airport security measures - Christian Science Monitor (news.google.com)

CATHOLICISM: Letters to the editor...

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The Sunday Free Press (11-21-2010) did contain a number of letters to the editor about the big series of articles titled: “What becomes of priests that prey”.

The letters appeared under the title: “Don’t let a few problem priests overshadow all the good” and the featured letter talked about all the unpublicized priests that have done so much good for the Detroit metro community throughout the years.

This is absolutely true and in fact one of the sections in the Free Press article “Scandal changes view of priests, the ministry…Many refrain from hugs, time alone with children” talked about the impact of the scandal on good priests. The stain on the priesthood is, for all intents and purposes, permanent and it is unfortunate that the good guys get lumped in with the bad guys but that is what the Vatican created when they swept the whole matter under the rug, failing to protect innocent children just to maintain their aura of holiness.

The letter “Bias against Catholic Church” predictably attacks the paper as liberal and biased against the conservative Church and suggests an investigation into sex abuse by teachers in our schools. I think the letter writer was trying to imply that the paper was picking on the Church but absolving teachers?

The letter: “Other professions, too” also complains that the Free Press article made it seem like priests are the only ones that sexually abuse children.

“Keep focus on injustice” praised the paper for keeping a magnifying glass on the attempt by the Church to deny victims of abuse justice by limiting their legal options.

I guess it is expected for Catholics to defend their Church and their religion but on the issue of priestly child molestation, there is no defense possible; what happened, happened and it absolutely should never have happened.

Related articles

• William F. McMurry: Protecting Children from the Church's Abuse Of Power (huffingtonpost.com)
• Catholic leaders gather to discuss sex abuse (salon.com)

CATHOLICISM: Michigan stories of abuse, etc......

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The Detroit Free Press had a huge, two part cover story, starting on the front page titled “What becomes of priests who prey” Sunday (11-14-10) with part II on Monday. The subtitle was “Many Catholics torn by love for leaders, outrage over abuse”. I urge all Catholics to read the entire piece; you can get it on-line at freep.com.

I have seen this phenomenon even in my own small community. My sister belongs to St. Dunsten in Garden City and even though her pastor (Father Ron) was not a child molester, he was removed from his duties for mismanaging church funds; story goes he liked to gamble and visit some questionable establishments of the sexual kind. My sister told me how the parish was split and how things became really nasty for awhile and the parish may never recover.

The Free Press story was divided into many sections. One that caught my eye was titled: “Abuse suspects find help in nonprofit…Defense fund draws criticism”.

The organization called OPUS BONO SACERDOTII or Work for the Good of the Priesthood raised over $3 million to help priests who are accused and/or convicted of sexual abuse. The head of the organization, Joe Maher, defends what he does by saying that Jesus forgives all sins and sinners and that is why he feels compelled to help these priests. He also said that he asks each priest that he helps to give him Christ’s blessing, a gift given priests even though the priest may have abused that gift.

I have a problem with what Maher is doing (and making a living at it) and I have a problem with people that contribute to this organization because I don’t quite understand. How can you possibly care for and help someone that has sexually abused innocent children? Yes, God may forgive them but you are not God and you can’t forgive them because they have committed a grievous crime and they have to pay for that crime; if anything, you should seek to help the victims of their crimes and not them, the perpetrators; how sick is that?

Another article that caught my eye is: “Michigan victims have short suit window” and “Michigan victims in priest abuse scandal face tougher legal battles than in other states”.

In Michigan, you have until your 19^th birthday to file suit. Bills in the Michigan congress to extend the age limit to 38 have been vigorously fought by the Michigan Catholic Conference and I can see why: money.

Well, shouldn’t this issue transcend money? What about doing what is morally right.

The Catholic Church worldwide, including and especially the Vatican, has committed grievous sins against innocent humans in their care and for this they must pay, monetarily and spiritually. The Church has broken the trust of the people and is not fit to represent Christ on earth.

I will be interested what “letter to the editor” have to say about the Free Press series which I think should appear this Sunday.

Related articles

• Vatican Calls for Crackdown on Abuse - Wall Street Journal (news.google.com)
• William F. McMurry: Protecting Children from the Church's Abuse Of Power (huffingtonpost.com)
• Bishops must take more action on abuse: Vatican (reuters.com)
• Vatican to issue abuse guidelines (bbc.co.uk)

POLITICS: Palin has a plan...

My wife loves “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC. I try to busy myself in the office when the show is on but sometimes I will join her in watching. The first time I saw Bristol Palin (Sarah Palin’s daughter) as one of the contestants, I said she will win no matter how she dances.

I said that off the cuff because I knew that Sarah Palin’s plans to run for president in 2012 and keeping her name even through her daughter, in front of the public, means her chances of winning the primary and the election are that much more assured than for someone that is an unknown to the American public.

The fact that Sarah’s daughter is winning despite her lack of looks and talent, typifies the theme Sarah will use herself; a regular person with no political experience and not really that smart, rising to the top office in the country; lets here it for the little people. Many of those voting for her will identify with her and that is what she is counting on.

Sarah has a new book and she was interviewed by Barbara Walters for her “Ten (10) Most Interesting People of 2010” where she said she felt confident of beating Barack Obama in 2012. Noting the victories the Tea Party had in the past election, we should probably be a little scared but noting that the more absurd Tea Party candidates were booted out, should give us some hope that the country has not gone totally bonkers.

Sarah is supported by big money and smart money and the spin in the country for the next two (2) years will be intense and, for me, fun to watch.

It will be even more interesting if the Democrats spend big money on people that counter the Palin spin.

I think with Palin’s candidacy for president of the United States, we will be entering into a bizarre world of the absurd where we, as a country and as a people, will be viewed as total idiots. It is bad enough that because of our failing economy, we are already viewed as out of control; Palin will just bury our global credibility.

Ps. Is the Tea Party responsible for keeping Bristol Palin in the race for best dancer; I don’t know but would not put it passed them.

Related articles

• You: An uproar over Palin - Bristol, that is (latimes.com)
• Sarah Palin Insider: On Running for President and Bristol Palin in Dancing with The Stars (socyberty.com)
• Mama Grizzly supporters help Bristol Palin survive DWTS (nowpublic.com)
• Palin Believes She Could Beat Obama In Presidential Election (perezhilton.com)

ECONOMY: Who is right about what to do?

Cover of Franklin D. Roosevelt

I am not an economist but since the economy is the major issue confronting this country, Americans need to know something about current economics just to know if the president or the Congress is doing the right things to improve our economy. This is a hard task since even professional economists cannot agree on what the right path should be.

If you follow any economic news, you had to notice that European countries (Germany, UK, etc.) are cutting spending, cutting the deficit in their countries; they are not pouring stimulus money into their economies…we are the only nation doing the opposite.

If you follow discussions on economic history, you will also be aware that FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) who led the nation during the Great Depression, did not get us out of the depression, in fact, because of his actions, he prolonged the Great Depression; FDR basically spent money like a mad man and ran up a huge deficit and did not improve unemployment six (6) years after his predecessor, Herbert Hoover, left office.

Ben Bernanke, our current Fed Chairman, is a Great Depression scholar. He knows what worked and what did not for FDR. Currently he is flooding our country with dollars; he is printing extra money. One thing economists do agree on is that during the Great Depression, money was tight; businesses could not borrow etc. so he may be doing something right even though many are criticizing him because he is diluting the dollar.

BUT a low dollar makes our exports more affordable and imports more expensive. Are we manipulating our currency, something China does and we have warned them not to?

Britain has riots because they are cutting where obviously, the Brits don’t want them to cut BUT when you read about the cuts, they are cutting wasteful spending, something they should have done long ago. People are rioting because they can no longer depend on the government to pay for everything they need; their type of socialism is not sustainable anymore and the government has the balls to make painful but needed changes.

Yes, our number one job is to get the jobless rate down; put Americans back to work. This will only happen if and when, private business starts to hire and they will start to hire when they start selling their product(s) and need to make more.

One thing Obama is doing right is trying to increase our exports. I think our recovery is tied to American exports. I export and I am hiring more labor because I am exporting more and I have been at this 30 years.

We first have to have products or services that are in demand overseas and second, we have to have free trade treaties that are FAIR to both sides without any socialist bullshit attached like fair wages for your workers. Don’t compare what workers make in China with what union workers make here; China is kicking our ass and their workers are happy…comprende?

You see why it is difficult to get a handle on what to do and what not to do?

Related articles

• Reason.tv: Where are the Jobs? The Parallels between Today and the Great Depression (reason.com)
• Did the New Deal End the Depression? (lewrockwell.com)

CATHOLICISM: Militant Catholic Bloggers...

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Told you there were many “Catholic” issues in the media this weekend; will take me all week to get to them all.

This next one is quite interesting because the story was titled “Catholic bloggers aim to purge dissenters”.

Now, I blog about Catholic issues quite often and usually criticize the Church for not being liberal enough but this one group (RealCatholicTV.com) is saying the Catholic Church is not Catholic enough; meaning it is not conservative enough.

This group is going after so called pseudo-Catholics or those “traitorous” Catholics that do not toe the orthodox line put out by the Vatican.

They are going after nuns, priests or bishops throughout America that do not live up to their conservative Catholic faith or shall we say, take a liberal approach to their faith; they call them a “cancer” in the Church.

Some are calling this “Taliban Catholicism” since no dissent is allowed. I wonder how they would have behaved under Pope John XXIII and his quest to bring the Church out of the darkness of superstition; would they have called him a cancer.

The facts are simple, there is a division in the American Catholic Church, a deep division and the Church is trying to gain back its authority after suffering a debilitating( if not fatal) hit with the priestly sex scandal among other scandals.

They can only get back to normal by going back to the dark days where their authority was unquestioned because the people were prohibited from questioning anything under penalty of eternal damnation; listen and learn was the commandment I remember from my childhood and that is exactly what the new president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said: We are not just one set of teachers in the Catholic community, but THE teachers – period.

The internet has enabled many Catholic voices to be heard and the authority of the Church, pope, bishops and all, to be questioned. It is as if the Church has finally been exposed to the true light of day and all their dark and dirty secrets out in the open for all to see.

One thing that this orthodox blogging group has asked its supporters to do is to “…be aware and studied and knowledgeable enough about the faith to recognize a heretical nun or a traitorous priest or bishop when they see one”. 

Once people actually know something about their faith other than what they have been told and some history of their Church, other than what they have been told by their bishop, the flood gates will be opened, and the truth shall set them free.

Related articles

• Catholic bloggers aim to purge dissenters (sfgate.com)
• Those Militant Catholic Bloggers (friendlyatheist.com)

CATHOLIC: Demand for Exorcisms growing?

There were many Catholic issues in the media this weekend, some of which I needed to comment on.

One story caught my eye on Sunday “Exorcism conference aims to meet rising demand”, Detroit Free Press. The catch phrases here are “Exorcism Conference” and “Rising Demand”.

I knew that Pope Benedict was taking the Church backwards but I did not know the extent of his actions. The Second Vatican Council downplayed the Rite of Exorcism in its move to modernize the Church but Benedict believes that the “supernatural” aspects of the Church may have been lost in the changes implemented by the Second Vatican Council and he wants to bring them back.

In other words, he wants to bring back the “mystical” aura that is now lacking since the Church went modern and transparent.

I loved the book and movie “The Exorcist” and both scared the hell out of me. I love scary movies especially when the devil is involved and I love all the scary music that goes along with Satanic themes BUT it is fiction and the idea of the devil is fiction and for the Vatican to bring back the devil as a reality may be the height of absurdity…for the rationalist that is, but what about the non-rationalists out there that need something supernatural to make sense of their world and their life?

Maybe Benedict is playing to an audience that I cannot see or don’t want to see. I remember the religion and church of my childhood where a strange language was used to recite incantations by candlelight while holy smoke (incense) spewed around and holy water was flung at people and objects …. Many people still prefer all that ritual in that aerie dark atmosphere…they felt they were in the presence of a spirit or something…and they liked it…Benedict may take them back to those good old days they long for so much.

The conference in Baltimore has 50 bishops and 60 priests in attendance…because there obviously is a desperate need for priests trained in the rites of exorcism because of the growing demand?

I can’t help but smile at the thought of all those supposedly educated men in their varied costumes, some with pointed hats I presume, learning the incantations of the exorcism ritual. Makes me thing of a Harry Potter movie but alas, it is all true and in all seriousness even thought the Church cautioned that “all must be done to avoid the perception that exorcism is magic or superstition” – good luck in that!

The fact that there is a growing demand for exorcism is a bit interesting. The Church does allow examination by professionals in the mental health field before they do their thing, which is a good thing

The signs of demonic possession (according to the Church) are straight out of the movies: violent reaction to holy water, speaking in a strange tongue and abnormal strength. The exorcist invokes the Holy Spirit, blows in the face of the possessed, traces the sign of the cross on the forehead of the possessed and then commands the devil to leave (be gone)!

I love this stuff but I am a little concerned the Church and Catholics are taking this all too seriously. The devil is a religious invention in response to the quagmire caused by making their God an all powerful, all caring, all loving God who would never allow bad things to happen to good people…but they do…all the time…and so a devil is needed to counter this dilemma…and how does it do that? Well, that is another topic…

At this Baltimore conference of Catholic Bishops, in a surprise move, the bishops elected Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York as president, passing over Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Az., who was next in line for the post? You see, Dolan is a staunch conservative, and the other guy was a liberal, social justice type guy who advocated dialogue between Catholic liberals and traditionalists and we cannot have any of that shit in the Church.

Dolan also does not countenance any deviation from the bishop’s position on all issues as some nuns, priests and monks dared do in the recent past…we will burn them all…gather wood!

This does not bode well for the future of the Catholic Church in America…let the revolution begin…

Related articles

• "US Catholic Church: More Exorcists Needed" and related posts (patdollard.com)
• Roman Catholic Church Holds Conference On Exorcism! (purestrange.wordpress.com)
• Catholic Bishops: We Need More Exorcists (themoderatevoice.com)
• Catholics Can't Meet Demand for Exorcisms (drudge.com)
• "Albert Mohler: On Exorcism and Exorcists: An Evangelical View" and related posts (transfigurations.blogspot.com)

POLITICS: Earmarks are out?

Well, I was definitely surprised that Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican Majority leader, reversed himself abruptly and now supports a ban on EARMARKS which I addressed in my previous post.

It appears that the newly elected members of the Senate are standing by their pledge to the American people to cut wasteful spending and earmarks are all about pork and waste and have no business in Congress.

I pointed out the basic hypocrisy of the Republicans who talk about cutting spending but don’t actually mean it; now it appears that the new members of Congress will carry some weight and not be just freshman succumbing to the senior leadership – they are here to make a difference.

That is my idealistic view of what is happening and my only fear is that wise old timers will find another way to spend taxpayer money for their own political benefit.

One commentator asked how can Congressmen buy votes and favors if there is nothing to buy those votes and favors with…and that is what worries me.

Related articles

• Mitch McConnell Changes Course, Moves to Ban Earmarks (politicsdaily.com)
• Tea Party claims first Washington victory with 'earmark' ban (telegraph.co.uk)
• The Earmark Game (talkingpointsmemo.com)
• Mitch McConnell flip-flops on earmarks, making the GOP happy (shortformblog.com)

ECONOMY: Can Congress do what it must to cut spending?

Voters in 2010 were all about controlling runaway spending which they blamed on Democrats whereas the Bush administration with the help of Congressional Republicans did most of the spending, but since voters are stupid and can’t remember, the Republicans now claim they have always been against unnecessary spending of tax payer money; they are all about reducing the deficit.

To show you how full of shit politicians are (both parties), pay attention to what happens to suggestions of a White House BIPARTISAN commission that was formed to address the ever growing federal deficit by cutting the federal budget.

We all know what we must do to stay healthy economically; cut our spending or make more money. The same applies to the federal government; cut spending or raise taxes or both.

So far, everyone that has read the draft proposal has attacked it and that means from all sides so I urge tax payers to at least become somewhat familiar with the proposal because it could change our lives IF it were ever enacted and that, because of politics, will never happen and that is our problem.

The proposals step on a lot of toes or shall I say areas that were “sacrosanct”; never to be touched like a tax deduction for home mortgage interest. I have enjoyed that deduction all my life since I have always (until now) had a mortgage but I would be willing to see the deduction be applied only to mortgages of $500,000 or less.

How about Social Security? You saw how the French idiots burned cars and attacked buildings just because Sarkozy raised the retirement age from 60 to 62. My full retirement age is 66. The commission is proposing raising the age gradually to 68 in 2050 and 69 by 2075. I don’t see a problem here as we stay healthier and productive longer with each generation.

Medicare spending needs to be controlled and the first place to start is controlling fraud which costs billions a year.

How about the Pentagon and the billions it spends without any real oversight. Defense spending has always been untouchable even though reports of $300 hammers and $1,000 toilet seats have surfaced throughout the years; it needs to be touched big time.

How about Congressional Earmarks? The proposal is to permanently ban them! Don’t know what these are? Well, it is what we send our Congressmen to Washington for; to bring home the bacon or bring back to the state, the taxes that the feds collected from us; this is the “bridge to nowhere” I talked about before.

Congressmen are allowed (the more seniority the better) to earmark federal funds for projects they want done in their state even if it is a bridge costing millions that goes nowhere. This is what we call “pork” and it costs the country billions and in many cases, for projects that are worthless but put money into pockets that help the Congressman or woman get elected and keep getting elected.

The anti-spending Republicans already said NO; we want our earmarks. Tea Party people promised to get rid of earmarks. Will they have enough balls to actually stand their ground? President Obama is for banning earmarks even though his Democrats love them as much as the Republicans do.

To ban earmarks would be to change the political landscape in Washington or change the way Congress has always acted. This will be a huge issue.

There are many other proposals to get the country back into fiscal shape and it will be interesting to see what the NEW Congress does with them if anything.

Note: The members of the Commission making these drastic but necessary proposals are all old and don't give a shit what voters or the public thinks; they are willing to actually tell the truth unlike active politicians.

Update: Some Republicans are saying yes to banning earmarks?

Related articles

• McConnell caves on earmarks (washingtonmonthly.com)
• Obama: End wasteful earmarks (politico.com)
• The GOP's Spending Tests (online.wsj.com)
• Deficit-reduction plan deserves consideration (sfgate.com)

POST 2010 ELECTIONS: What have we done?

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Well the election is over or nearly over, Murkowski still has to win in Alaska but for all intents, it is over; now what?

Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, said: “If you look at the U.S., you look at who we’re electing to Congress, to the Senate – they can’t read. I’ll net you a bunch of these people don’t even have passports. We’re about to start a trade war with China if we’re not careful here, only because nobody knows where China is. Nobody knows what China is.”

Bloomberg was warning Americans to quit blaming the Chinese for their country’s problems.

He is correct. All through the elections, candidates were using buzzwords such as China, spending, deficit, bailouts – all guaranteed to get people mad but with no rationale why they were making people mad – ignorance and spin prevailed.

Bloomberg was also saying that we may have elected a bunch of yahoos to Congress.

Some Republicans are saying that they could have won the Senate if it wasn’t for Tea party candidates like O’Donnell who were so bad that no sane voter would ever vote for them even though they wanted to “throw the bums out”.

The economy and the job market, tanked under Bush and the Republicans. Under Obama, the economy and the job market is slowly improving BUT he is being blamed for the failures and as things improve, watch as the Republicans take credit for bringing us out of the depression; timing is everything.

There is no question that things in Washington had to change but will they? The Tea Party people were screaming at cutting spending, cutting earmarks that spent millions on bridges to nowhere BUT the Republicans have already stated in unequivocal terms; earmarks are staying!

That’s politics for you; say anything, promise anything to win but keep doing the same old shit!

I guess the next two years will be a total stalemate in Washington where nothing of consequence will happen but you bet the positioning for the 2012 presidential elections will start in earnest.

Lets hope the current Congress will not do something stupid before the new guys take over in January.

Related articles

• Bloomberg: We're Electing People Who Can't Read, Don't Have Passports, And Want To Start A Trade War With China (businessinsider.com)
• Bloomberg: Congress 'Can't Read' And Some Members Don't Know What, Or Where China Is (huffingtonpost.com)
• Earmark ban might gain traction in new Congress (politico.com)
• Obama: End wasteful earmarks (politico.com)
• Obama, Republicans agree: Reform culture of earmarks (cnn.com)

2010: Happy Veteran's Day

ELECTION 2010: Results from around the country...

Elections held around the country were very interesting.

Yes, people were pissed and wanted to just “throw the bums out” but it was not as black and white as we may think.

In Alaska, it looks like Lisa Murkowski will win the senate seat there on a “write-in” vote and that is hard to believe. She lost the primary to a Tea Party nominee (Palin’s boy) but he turned out to be an embarrassment to himself and the state as many Tea Party candidates seem to be. Imagine writing- in that Polish name?

Another Tea Party embarrassment was the witch Christine O’Donnell from Delaware. The people of Delaware realized what an idiot she was and voted accordingly.

Sharron Angle of Nevada was beating Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) until voters became aware what a total twit she was and voted for Harry.

I guess some voters actually did some thinking before they cast their votes or were persuaded by those ugly, stupid ads running incessantly on TV…no some of these Tea Partiers were so stupid and incompetent that even the dumbest voter could not be fooled.

Meg Whitman the California billionaire putting in her own $140 million to beat Jerry Brown and she looses? I will have to find out why.

Carly Fiorina, another California rich person losing to Barbara Boxer the incumbent Democratic Senator but I think Fiorina’s cancer scare a week before elections probably did her in.

The GOP has control of the House but not of the Senate; I see a stalemate.

It was interesting to see black candidates running in nearly all - white areas down south without any problems; is our society changing or what?

Will have more later when I have more time to study the results…

ELECTION 2010: Michigan Results...

Finally no more mind-numbing political ads and annoying political robo-calls!

The day after the elections in Michigan, the results are not surprising because they have been predicted a long time ago but there were a few exceptions.

Rick Snyder easily won the governor’s seat and that was the most important to me. The Republicans took the offices of Attorney General and Secretary of State which is OK since those offices are usually stepping stones to higher office and don’t carry much weight.

I was delighted that in my neighborhood an irritating woman running for State Representative (LEVI) lost to the Democratic incumbent (SLAVENS). Levi was a typical Tea Party “opportunist” that spouted off the usual buzz words that I had to challenge in the local paper because I felt I needed to; hope that in a small way, it helped defeat her (letter in the blog).

I was also glad to see PETERS win over the annoying RACZKOWSKI. Ole’ Rocky has tried running before and has been shot down every time. This time the Democrat Peters basically ran as an independent and I think that gave him an edge; Raczkowski just seems a little crazy to me. I think Rocky believed he could ride the Republican tsunami into office but he ran into a smart opponent and maybe voters that actually gave some thought to their vote.

There are some observations about this election that I feel merit mentioning.

Bernero was supported by big money from the unions (UAW) and the brains of Bob King himself (president of the UAW). Bernero was also supported by the black pastors of Detroit (Bernero's running mate was a black female) who usually are courted by candidates as they are supposed to control Detroit votes. Well – all their efforts were for naught.

Snyder even refused to debate Bernero in Detroit which is a snub to the pastors and voters of Detroit but they vote Democratic historically anyway since Democrats give them state money that they then proceed to steal or mismanage.

This is monumental in the history of Michigan politics; you don’t need Detroit and you don’t need union support to win.

Unions in Michigan cannot deliver votes anymore which means that even union members do not follow the advice of their union bosses which I think has been going on for some time now. I hope Obama hears the message loud and clear; you don’t have to kow-tow to the unions anymore because they are impotent!

I am looking forward to see what the Republicans will do in the state of Michigan to improve conditions; it should be quite interesting.

Related articles

• New GOP governor in Michigan (sfgate.com)
• GOP businessman elected next Michigan governor (sfgate.com)