Anagram: Friday Musings/ Surfing Dismay

       Fun with Socialism:  A video to start things off.

         

    I do not believe that government is evil. The belief that the democrats, trying to use spending to fix the problems created by years of inefficiency within the system, and damage done by the system to America is somehow socialist is to me a bit silly.  I have in past given a simple proof of the incorrectness of this viewpoint.  I will do it again.  Textbook definition of socialism, followed by the actual plan of the president, to show simply and definitively that the two concepts simply do not mesh.  He may be many things, but socialist is not one of them.  The Definition courtesy of dictionary.com
  

Socialism: a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

     Now, let’s take a look at what the president is doing.  He is spending money. More than any president before him.  That is not socialism, that is spending money to try to get the economy revived. There is no attempt in any way to vest control or ownership of anything whatsoever in the community as a whole by doing this.

     Let’s look to see if we can see any attempt here at creating or using socialism or socialist tendencies.  To do that we need to have the document at our disposal.  To read the entirety of the American Recovery and Reinvestment  Act of 2009, click here.

       If you go through the document with an eye for detail you will notice a few things.  Any money, ANY MONEY AT ALL, given to any government entity, regardless of what that entity is, is answerable to the people, meaning that reports must be submitted and given publicly, where anyone can peruse them and find out what has been done with it, and must follow the laws of this nation.  Is there an element of control there? Absolutely, as it should be. The government is after all giving funds away for very specific reasons, and we want to make sure it is spent in such a way as we can see exactly what it being spent where.  But it is not used to control or vest anything within the government, it is used to help America  and Americans outside the government.   Egalitarian? Yes. Socialist? Not so much. 

     Example:  There are reports given every 45 days in the case of the secretary of the army using funds for the army corp of engineers (pgs 20-23).  Those reports must be made public and are given in such a way as we can make sure we know exactly where our money is going, in this particular case, flood control and building levies and the like.  No vesting ownership and control in the community as a whole in any way shape or form. The government controls the flow of money to aid citizens for their direct benefit, but there is no attempt to control the distribution of land here. Capital? Yes, but that capital is being used not to vest ownership and control, but to assist those who do have ownership and control of the land, I.E., the people who live there.

     This is just a small example of the type of spending within the bill and the way funds within it are allocated.  Another example follows.

      The Department of Education. “Education for the disadvantaged.”  (pg.67-70)You may dislike in general spending money, and specifically dislike this money going to this specific place,but there is nothing socialist here.  No attempt to control anything by the government here, it gives money to help poor people get a decent education.  No attempt to control social organization through use of funding.  It does not say any specific course must be taught.  That is up to the education system that gets the money itself, the local municipality, not the feds. 

      Even if there is federal statute involved.

    You may dislike this bill.  You may hate this President.  You may think liberals are evil.  You may think it irresponsible to spend like this.  You may think this president is going to destroy America.  You may dislike the fact there are people in this nation that think this type of spending is necessary, but there is one thing you cannot say.  That there are any socialist tendencies here.  There just aren’t, either in this bill or in this administration.  The reason i used this bill as an example is because this bill, I think, exemplifies the type of administration this President brings to America, and as such is representative of his ideas and ideals. 

     And if this isn’t Socialist, and it isn’t, you simply cannot call him a socialist and have the charge stick.  Egalitarian? Yes.  Socialist? Not so much.  A Video with Milton Friedman, talking to Phil Donahue in 1982, about capitalism.  He makes a point which I think our president would entirely agree, that capitalism is good.

     

    That’s it for me.  Catch ya later.

Today’s nuggets, via wikiquote:  As for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot go together. You can’t have it both ways… socialism is a new form of slavery.  Alexis De Tocqueville

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow citizens.   Adam Smith

Anagram: I’d Much Rather/ Humid Charter

      I’d Much Rather be wrong while guided by my principles than right using someone else’s. 

       I have thought this particular thought a thousand times while conversing with a variety of people over the years for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes because I was struck with how wrong they were, how blind to what others have seen and gone through, sometimes because I’ve gotten the feeling that the person I was speaking to just seemed out of touch, or just plain stupid.  There is a reason I put this in here. Let’s watch together and listen to Tom DeLay, being…well…Tom DeLay.

   

     Tom is silly.  He seems to think that the Government doing it’s job is taking responsibility for your actions. Maybe it’s me, but it sounds to me like Tom really meant “Government wants to make my billionaire banker buddies more responsible for their actions and I don’t like that”.  He called the president a hypocrite for finding  two trillion dollars to cut out of the budget, when he signed a bill that spends 787 billion dollars.  Yeah, because jump starting the economy when the entire crux of the move is to JUMP START THE ECONOMY is somehow hypocritical.  Yes i know he was going in a different direction then that, but It does not matter, The move was designed to help the economy, not Tom DeLay and his texas billionaire buddies.  He still seems to think that cutting taxes to the point of starving the government so his friends can make money by the shovel full regardless of the effect on the economy is a good thing. 

     Ya Know, looking back at that first sentence, it looks like Tom thinks the same thing.  The only issue is the man doesn’t actually have principles, he has partisan wants that he thinks are American, when they in actuality are the personification of greed, both on a personal and political level.

       I’d much rather vote while guided by my principles that pick a winner just because he looks like one. 

    Ken Mitchell looked for all the world like the person who would win the City Council seat here on Staten Island’s north shore.  But i decided to read what each of the candidates had in mind.  After reading the thoughts and ideas of several people running in a special election yesterday, I picked the apparently almost entirely unheard of Donald Pagano.  Of the slightly more than 10,000 people who voted yesterday, I was one of 383 people who voted for this man.  3% of the people voted for him.  Ken Mitchell, who garnered 40% of the vote, looks to have won the race by 241 votes, but the second place finisher Debi Rose who got 38%, (whom i almost voted for) refuses to concede.

    Most everyone in this race talked of transportation, health care, and education. The thing that pushed me to vote for Mister Pagano is that he is the only one who spoke of getting a state funded hospital for Staten Island, the only borough in the city of New York without one.  The other major candidates did not speak to this issue. As a matter of fact, it was Debi Rose’s lack of any coherent plan on this front that pushed me away from voting for her. 

    I could have voted for either of these two, but went with who I thought was the best candidate.  He lsot and that sucks, but I’m glad i gave him my vote.  I’d frankly like to see whoever is declared the winner take up the fight for a state funded hospital here on Staten Island.

    I’d much rather not watch the Financial markets fall apart. I don’t think I’m alone here. 

     I was looking at the plan for the stress tests for the Banks today.  For those who don’t know, part of the test is as follows.  Put the banks books through the following test.  The test will see how the banks will respond if the Nation’s GDP losses 2% this year and recovers that 2% next year.  

     Wow.  That seems very optimistic. If this is the stress test, it would, to my mind be a mess to use this, due to extreme and undue optimism of viewpoint not borne out by current trends.  Most people’s projections up to this point have been badly off.  No one, at the beginning of last year, thought we would be where we are now.   No one thought the market would be near 7,000.  Most projections I saw from that point saw a  DJIA nearer to 11 or 12 thousand for end of 2008.  No one thought unemployment would be over 7%.  No one thought we would see a run on money market accounts to the tune of ½ trillion dollars in one day last September. 

      Now, to be truthful, I simply do not have enough information to know whether the banks stress test numbers are realistic projections, or if it is hopelessly optimistic, or what.  Luckily, there is a second test which takes a more negative tack, with a loss of 3.3% of GDP this year and little to no recovery of that next year.   The tests should be as negative as possible, to make sure we aren’t setting them up for failure due to an unrealistic optimism for our future.  Negative viewpoints here can help to point out who is weaker than they think.  If you asked each of these banks, they would tell you they are fine….right until they implode.  Why do you think so many banks have had to be taken over this year, because they are doing well?  They were weaker than they let on, and we the people, through the auspices of the Treasury department, need to make sure that the Bigger banks won’t do the same. 

     OK. Id’ much rather go hang out with my wife.  Just a quick Viddy a few quotes and I’m done, and I can go hang. 

     Bill Isaac, President of the Financial consulting company Secura Group and former FDIC Chairman, talking about Stress Tests on Bloomberg tv this morning.

    

     That’s it for me. Later!

Today’s Nuggets, by Robert A. Heinlein, Via Wikiquote:   Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort. 

Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

Anagram: Happy Morons Day!!/ Many Happy Odors!!

       Not the greatest anagram, used the word happy on both ends, but it gets the point across.  There were a great many idiotic things I heard this day, and frankly they all stank to high heaven, so now you know where the title comes from.  A few of the stupid things that I look at here today:  The Senator from Honda (Shelby) talking crap about the Presidents Birth Certificate, Cheering Death by Cancer with Sen. Bunning, Idiocy from Darren Issa….again, And going Non Political, The New York Rangers fired the best coach the team has had since 94…because the guys on the ice sucked.  Great. Just F****** great. 

      Politics First.  A Video from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Darrell Issa, The Representative from Idiotville, as usual, sticking his foot in his mouth. 

   

       I don’t know that I have to write much here about the above,  he was, his usual stupid self.  He said it was nice to see the president joining the Republican party in looking for waste and fraud.  Please, Darrell, we Dems have been there just as long, if not a great deal longer than you Republicans.  But, the serious stupid really starts at around the 3:45 mark of the video.  Issa here blames Nancy Pelosi for calling for a conference decision before a conference.  Stupid on it’s face, maybe he meant she knew she was going to get what she wanted because she had a majority going in.  He also says the President didn’t reach out from the beginning just before making that statement.  Patently false.   And just an aside here, he does that annoying thing that Republicans do when referring to the DemocratIC party, being subtly demeaning by not using the name of the party properly, namely calling us the Democrat party.  Yer missing the last 2 letters there, buddy.  Two can play that game, Darr. 

       The republic party rep. dropped a real stupid on the world. Reiterating the lie that there is a Light rail “To sin City”in the Stimulus package, trying to get stupid people to buy into this fake republic party propaganda that there is some train from Disney Land to Vegas in it. It did my heart good to see Dave Shuster shove his lie right back down his lying republic party throat. Issa Fights for it to the end tho. 

   The Mag-Lev the republic party rep. talks about is a train that has been in the works and has been talked about for years, from as early as the 1980′s, and is not only not in the Stimulus, it is far from being done in non stimulus legislation.  There still needs to be an environmental impact statement on such, though one was talked about for such a project… 2 ½ years ago. 

    The problem with the Rep. here is that he doesn’t think we have access to this Information.  We do.  Moron.

    NEXT.

     I don’t even want to talk about that asshole Shelby. But I will, in general terms, and I will lump in Sen. Jim Bunning here as well.  These two republic party players are really pushing their luck here.  Shelby has again brought questions that have been answered about the presidents Citizenship to the fore, by mentioning them, despite the fact that the authenticity of said document has already been..um… documented.   Sen. Bunning is perhaps the most heartless bastard in the senate for the crap he spouted about Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  He said there will be a new Conservative justice in real soon because Justice Ginsberg  has “Cancer. Bad Cancer… the kind you don’t get better from.” 

    One Brainless, the Other Heartless.  THAT is the true face of the republic party.  Morons.

     NEXT.

    I was truly annoyed at the morons in the world of Politics, and turned to the world of sports….and found myself playing spot the moron there as well.  My favorite team, The New York Rangers, who are playing some real crap hockey, thanks to some truly sub-par performances by the entire team,  All Stars, stars, and grinders alike, did what many organizations do, and got rid of the wrong person.  The Coach.  Tom Renney was fired today.  It would have made more sense, with the trade deadline fast approaching, to get rid of some of the dead wood and send it to other teams.  A Good man who did what he could with the players he was given was fired today.  This team has, for years had long stretches where they just didn’t score, either on the power play, or even strength, or both.  This was another such stretch, and this time Henrik Lundqvist also happened to be in a slump.  So Fire the coach. 

     Morons. 

     One last Viddy and I am done.  Avert your eyes if the site of Dennis Potvin in his underwear Annoys or unsettles you, but if you are a Rangers fan, this song goes out to you.   POTVIN SUCKS!

   

    …And to think I didn’t mention once the stock market tanking yet again…until now.  That’s It for me.  Later. 

Today’s Nuggets, Via foundingfathers.info:   As to Taxes, they are evidently inseparable from Government. It is impossible without them to pay the debts of the nation, to protect it from foreign danger, or to secure individuals from lawless violence and rapine.  Alexander Hamilton

A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species.  James Madison

Anagram: Debts and Obligations/ Debating Bloodstains

          At this point in the day I have a million irons in the fire.  This is normally a work day for me, but because I am off due to my nut disagreeing with my plans to do my job, I have been busier than normal with On-line stuff.  Media, Media EVERYWHERE.  Been doing a boatload of stuff on twitter, watching leoville, Doing facebook.  Dropping comments to an assortment of people, mostly on politics, but a few hockey tweets.  Apparently David Gregory and David Shuster are Capitals fans.  Bastards!  But it’s not that bad, the caps did play the pens and beat them down 5-2.  Nice. 

   A Video from This Week with George Stephanopoulos, here speaking to California gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

   

     I watched the entire Interview and came a way pleasantly surprised by Gov. Schwarzenegger in general.  If he hammered one point home, it was this very simple point.  When there is a crisis, Political ideology takes a back seat to the needs of the people.  It was refreshing to hear that from a Republican.  I also liked his response to Govs Jindal and Sanford, both of whom has said they won’t take the stim money.  It’s in the Video,  he says he’ll take it.  I believe I heard Gov. Granholm from Michigan state much the same thing on Meet the Press. 

   A happy video follows.  This is Gov. Jindal of Louisiana talking about the Stimulus. I do not know about the $100,000,000 unemployment provision he speaks of here, but he is just spouting crap when he hits that Bullshit talking point about the  train from Disneyland to Las Vegas at about the 5 minute mark.  It’s not real, there was not before, and is not now, any plan to run a train from LA to Vegas.  Stupid. Then he gives a great non answer to a question about growing the economy at the 7 minute mark, talking more about what the republicans wanted in the bill, rather than actually answering the question.  Jindal is a Consummate politician,  a true bullshit artist. Enjoy!

    

    Now I tell you the truth, we are writing checks that, right now, we can’t really cash.  But answer this for me.  What are we supposed to do?  Government has not shrunk at all in my life.  Or yours, or anyone’s.  Talk of cutting taxes only works if you shrink government, that is the basic truth from which all other facts in this argument spring.  Reagan grew government.  Clinton Grew Government.  Bush 41 Grew Government.  Every President in living memory has. 

    Government is over 20,000,000 jobs all over the country.  Tell me, which ones will you fire? How many? Thousands? Tens of Thousands? Millions? How many?  By how much would you increase the Jobless roles just to cut taxes, for an Ideology?  Ideology put before the needs of the people is a real evil.  The Damage done to the America and the world by shrinking government RIGHT NOW is prohibitive.  Maybe someday, but i won’t hold my breath. 

    I would love to see the Government shrink.  But it won’t happen.  Republicans can’t shrink it.  Democrats can’t shrink it.  The Republicans talk about it, but fail to deliver it at every turn.  Democrats at least don’t lie to the people about it.  The Minarchist dream, one which I had for a long time, of small government, is dead.  Government spending is a beast that never shrinks, and cannot be contained.  The most intelligent thing we can do is to try to control it and use it to our advantage. By targeting the spending where it will do the most good.

     The Education system need help.  Our kids are falling behind the rest of the world as far as quality of education.  That needs to be worked on.  Spend money there.  Our Health System needs help.  Health care costs four times as much as our defense budget.  Think about that.  That needs to be worked on.  There is much more to this argument, but i will leave the rest for another time.

       That’s it for that rant.  A few quotes and I am done.   Have a good one!

Today’s Nuggets, By George Washington, Via Wikiquote:  The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.  

Democratical States must always feel before they can see: it is this that makes their Governments slow, but the people will be right at last.

Anagram: The Alphabet/ Help Beat Hat

      A Video to start things off.   

      

     Because I’m Like that.

    Can’t help it really, now can I?

    Dreary news isn’t all that I’m about.

    Even if that’s all that there seems to be.

    For heaven’s sake, what kind of man brings nothing but bad news?

    Ghastly is a word that comes to mind.

     How about some Fun?  HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY! Ren and Stimpy, played in both fast and slow motion, for those of you who are high out of your minds. 

       

    In case you were wondering, I thought the above video was funny as hell.

    Just because I’m weird like that.

   K is for Kick Ass, that’s good enough for me.

   Let’s try something else here, for just a minute.  A little bit of serious. 

   Markets are down at this point in the day.  DJIA is down 50 points, the NASDAQ is down 15, and the S&P is down 4.

   Not the worst news there could be, but markets were up earlier in the day.

   Obama in the news: The Obama Presidential campaign received over $30,000 from Runaway banker and thief R. Allen Stanford

    Republicans and Democrats alike are railing at Roland Burris,  and asking for him to resign.  But it looks like there isn’t enough support for his ouster from the senate.  Guess he’s going to be a less than one term senator though. The senate may not toss him, but the people probably will.

   Stupid for facebook to try to take away the rights of it’s users.  That is what an irrevocable, worldwide license to use and modify anything posted on facebook is.  Good that they saw the revolt that this move spawned and immediately responded by withdrawing the offending material.  They could have lost tens of millions of users otherwise.

   Ultra Conservative Michelle Bachmann has lost her Mind.  Again.  Read the story here to see just what a nutjob she is. She says we’re running out of rich people.  She says Republicans are nice people who don’t speak up enough.  She says ACORN gets $5,000,000,000 in the Stimulus. They don’t.  She says the stimulus is part of a democratic conspiracy to funnel money away from Republicans.  Jeez.

    Very, VERY freaky little thing she is.  And freaky here is a BAD THING.

    WAR.  North Korea is ready for it.  So says an unnamed military official to  the north’s KCNA news agency prior to Hillary Clinton’s visit to South Korea.  The North has a new missile, and they want to show it off, and with it their military might.  I guess they have to prove their missiles are bigger than everyone else’s.

   Xenophobes, manic xenophobes the lot of them.   But it can’t be helped i guess. It all comes down from their leader.  Just because fearless leader is fearless does not mean he can’t have penis missile envy.

   Yelling about how you can kick everyone’s ass only shows how small you really are in your own mind.  Idiots.

    Zoo news to close things out here.   A zoo in South Carolina debuts their brand new Baby Giraffe today, who doesn’t yet have a name. Maybe we can all come up with a name for him.  How about Shorty! Works For me!

    Aaaaaaaand that’s my run through the Alphabet for today.  Hope you enjoyed.   A final video, a few quotes and I am done.

     This is Some funny stuff.  Larry Wilmore in search of a Black Jesus.  Just watch.

    

  That’s It for me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, Via newspeak:  Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one UN-American act that could most easily defeat us.  Justice William O. Douglas

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.   Thomas Jefferson