Who's Cryin Now?

Well, It looks like SCOTUS isn't completely demented after all. Did Scalia decide to quit acting like he was a politician? No! Who cares, pass the tissues cause Scumdog Millionaire is going to be flooding us with a bunch of nonsense about what he would do IF he was president, it ain't gonna happen. Besides isn't the ACA essentially modeled after Romneycare? Does he have Altzheimers? No problem for him cause he's insured and rich. He never has to worry about these issues anyway.
It's a good day for the President. I wish more had been done, like a public option or medicaid for all. But like my Nana said, if wishes were horses....

50 Shades Of Wrong

Karen Klein, dumbass bus monitor, actually put up with this nonsense. Poor Grandma, she didn't do anything to deserve this treatment. Except sit there and take it. Making vague threats to send the little monsters torturing her, thank you notes.
I was a substitute teacher for ten years. I did a lot of long term gigs too. I went into the roughest class rooms in the county. Some of them downright dangerous. There is no way, I would have taken that abuse. She did, and you better believe that a lot of other people do too. Did Klein not want to make too many waves because she's "double -dipping"? She was a school bus driver for twenty years, now she's a bus monitor. I want to point out, in no way is this case exceptional. Except it's exceptionally stupid.
When I was teaching, I saw a teacher who was bi-polar hide in her supply closet, repeatedly, while the class ran wild. She had no business teaching, but didn't want to retire because she couldn't afford to. Everyone covered for her. I also witnessed plenty of teachers using the same old tired lesson plans for twenty years. I also was in the company of  many teacher aides. I primarily taught special ed., and they can make or break a class. The ignorance and cruelty of those aides never ceased to astonish me. You would have thought the class was being Autistic on purpose, Really. Mostly, they didn't want to do one- on-one work with the kids in the class because they were too tired or lazy, they badmouthed the kids in the class and tried to use their power to punish the kids for both real and imagined offenses. Many of these teachers and teachers aides were sons and daughters, husbands and wives of people related to school board officials, more qualified candidates were never even considered. This is the dumbing down of America. It is rampant. There isn't one school system I went into that this isn't going on.
That bus monitors job is to keep order on that bus and she is an epic fail. How is it that she can't do her job, but she still has one? The kids that did it are even worse, because they posted their charming video on Youtube and didn't think they would get caught. They are so dumb, so dumb, for real. I can't tell you how many buses I had to climb on and create order out of chaos. All I had to do was say "Listen Up!" It's not rocket science folks!
It is a culture of toleration in all the wrong ways.The Jerry Sandusky trial is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Teachers who are abusing kids or just plain stupid and can't teach, are rarely brought to any administrators attention. The staff all know what's going on, Everyone is so scared of making "waves", they don't do the right thing. They just turn a blind eye, and teachers get away with this crap. Kids see this and they notice whats going on. The dropout rate in this country is astronomical. If you can't look up to a teacher, who else is going to be your real life role model? It doesn't amaze me that the Sandusky trial and the school bus incident came out this week, at practically the same time. The sad part is the lessons from these two examples won't be learned. Schools out forever.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E12R9fMMtos&feature=player_detailpage

Good Luck Mr. President.

This is the kind of thing that really makes me mad. Seriously? Are they for real? Dear Patricia, Can you believe that, only four years after Wall Street and the Big Banks brought our economy to its knees, many of those same bank CEOs are helping to shape policy at the Federal Reserve? Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. These executives are serving as directors of the very same Federal Reserve that bailed them out in 2008 -- and is supposed to regulate them today. It's unbelievable, and we've got to do everything we can to end these outrageous conflicts of interest. Please join us, and our friends at Democracy for America, to become a citizen co-sponsor of the Federal Reserve Independence Act -- and help us end these huge conflicts of interest at the Fed! The General Accounting Office has detailed instance after instance of top executives of financial institutions and corporations who could have used their influence as Federal Reserve directors to financially benefit their firms -- including board members who were affiliated with banks and companies that received near-zero-interest emergency loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis. The American people deserve a Federal Reserve that is truly independent from the financial institutions it supervises and oversees. That’s why our Federal Reserve Independence Act would: • Prohibit banking executives or employees of companies regulated by the Fed from serving on the Federal Reserve’s board of directors; • Prohibit the banking industry from choosing any members of the Federal Reserve’s board of directors; and • Prohibit Fed employees or board members from owning stock or investing in companies that the Fed regulates, supervises or oversees with absolutely no exceptions. Americans deserve a Federal Reserve that works for them, not just the top one percent. Congress needs to pass the Federal Reserve Independence Act -- and you can help us do it.Please stand with us to end these outrageous conflicts of interest and reform the Federal Reserve by becoming a citizen co-sponsor of the Federal Reserve Independence Act today! It is time for change at the Fed -- real change. Thank you for joining us and helping to make that change happen. Sincerely, Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer U.S. Senators

The people in the Fed, appointed by Bush, kept in office by President Obama. The time for change was January 2009. The President had the power to clean house, but for some mysterious Wall Street reason he didn't. I love Bernie Saunders, but this email won't change anything. At least he didn't ask for money. I also liked this article, Roberto Unger, Obama's Former Harvard Law School Professor, Says The President 'Must Be Defeated'

I'm not sure what motivated his professor to speak out, but I liked this, "the Democratic Party proposes no new direction." "Give the bond markets what they want, bail out the reckless so long as they are also rich, use fiscal and monetary stimulus to make up for the absence of any consequential broadening of economic and educational opportunity, sweeten the pill of disempowerment with a touch of tax fairness, even though the effect of any such tax reform is sure to be modest," he said. "This is less a project than it is an abdication." The professor went on to list his complaints: "His policy is financial confidence and food stamps." "He has spent trillions of dollars to rescue the moneyed interests and left workers and homeowners to their own devices." "He has delivered the politics of democracy to the rule of money." "He has disguised his surrender with an empty appeal to tax justice." "He has reduced justice to charity." "He has subordinated the broadening of economic and educational opportunity to the important but secondary issue of access to health care in the mistaken belief that he would be spared a fight.  "He has evoked a politics of handholding, but no one changes the world without a struggle."  That pretty much sums it up for me. I talk to a lot of people who voted for the President, they are so disillusioned that they are not going to vote at all. I don't blame them.Just to add insult to injury, read this and weep. This PDF shows the President intends to break more promises from 2008. Why didn't he at least say he had no intention of carrying out his platform and save me the waste of time voting for him? http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/tppinvestment.pdf

Why Your Vote Doesn't Matter.

It should be no secret that two entities are running this country. They exist to safeguard wealth and privilege. It is an illusion that we live in a democracy. In order to perpetuate this illusion, the government has elections and citizens feel like  they have some sort of control. If this was true Gore would have won the election "coup" in 2000. The Supreme Court decided who would be president. If people channel their efforts in an election, they will not be finding a more effective way of resistance. Which is exactly the way Wall Street and The Pentagon want it. Continuing to believe in a Democratic Party after Clinton essentially gutted Welfare, by getting DEMOCRATS to go along with it, should prove that once a Democrat gets into power they will do the same thing a Republican will do.
Voting is a ritual that reinforces obedience to state authority. This masks the Elite Rule that really governs this country.  Your vote does not make a difference unless, of course, you don't care that elected officials carry out the same policies that The Pentagon and Wall Street dictate.
Just look at who is in President Obama's cabinet, lots of Bush's cronies there, Why is that? What kind of change is that?
The general public has no ability to influence economic policy. Most people have very little knowledge of what is going on around them. How many people know what percentage of this country's budget is used for military spending? Not many, and that is quite purposeful. The Pentagon is not audited, it is not required to show what it is doing which is pretty much corporate welfare for the wealthy and elite.
 Most citizens care about healthcare, the state of the roads they travel on, good schools for their kids.
We don't care about drones or the war in Afghanistan.The Pentagon needs military force and intimidation (read the war on terror) to continue it's economic role, which is state subsidized welfare for the rich.
Safeguarding wealth and privilege from public interference is the governments job. The interests of it's average citizens has no influence at all.
Elected officials are nothing more than figureheads doing the elites bidding. Elections are nothing more than a scam, it is not an effective means to change government policy.
How can we still call this country a democracy, when we have elected officials who vote for a law that says they can look into your vagina if you want to have an abortion, that by the way, is a legal procedure?
Guess who is making money from that? Do you think the majority of this country really cares who is having abortions? Or who gets birth control?

We STILL have an economic crisis that is not being addressed. Millions of people are suffering, the government has done nothing to stop this. Why? Because it doesn't serve the interests of the Pentagon or Wall Street. Notice NO ONE has been prosecuted for the financial mess we are in. Instead they got bailouts.
Look at what a politician says and actually does in office. Politicians routinely break their promises. This is why there is so much disappointment and frustration surrounding President Obama. He is only carrying out the Pentagon and Wall Streets directions. That is why he acts more like a Republican than a Democrat. He is not a socialist, he is a puppet, just like Bush. So I think I'm going to sit this one out. I don't have the time to waste voting for liars and whores who have no intention of serving the public. It's more productive for me to go back to my studio and paint, than to vote in a souless, hollow election.

"A dying people tolerates the present, rejects the future, and finds satisfaction in past greatness and half remembered glory."

This is what a Nobel Prize winner looks like.

John Steinbeck wrote these words in 1966, before the counter-culture supposedly took over. This week I watched what money can do in Wisconsin. A landslide victory for Scott Walker.
 I read a really interesting article in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/09/did-republicans-deliberately-crash-us-economy
And after reading this and witnessing what has been going on since President Obama was elected I am amazed that people still vote for Republicans. People still seem to be enamored with the past,  bringing up the ghost of Ronnie Raygun, blaming poor people for being poor, blaming the President for the economy that Bush tanked and rejecting any idea that costs any money to get out of this depression. Because the United States economy is just like a household trying to balance it's checkbook. Except for one glaring fact. Most American households can't print money. Also most American households don't spend their money maintaining a war that no one wants, except corporations and defense contractors. Most American households are struggling just to get by. The Republicans want to take us back to those halcyon days of Cadillac welfare queens, mostly by blaming single mothers for having children outside of the "sanctity" of  heterosexual marriage. So lets rape whatever social safety net is left to continue paying for war and subsidizing oil companies.
And guess who is probably next on their list? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/business/forced-to-retire-early-jobless-pay-a-steep-price.html?_r=1&hp
I read a lot about older Americans trying to get jobs, because there is not only a war on women, but a war on older workers. Something that is not addressed. Many of these people who have been displaced by the economy have no choice but to collect social security early. Just wait until that option is no longer available, because that's what the Republicans are coming for next.
When that happens are we supposed to get in our jalopy like the Joads and go where exactly? Because we know that didn't work out so well.
 Mittenhead is running on a platform of being a businessman and  a job creator, only he didn't create any jobs and destroyed a lot of businesses. But he does believe in God, so In God We Trust, and pull the lever for another liar.
Wherever there is poverty and starvation he'll be there, to grind you into the dust.
"A red is any son-of-a-bitch who wants thirty cents an hour when we're paying twenty-five!" Say goodbye to Unions and any protection for American workers, but that's been gone for decades anyway.
Are Americans going to keep tolerating their present dire circumstances?  Can people stop drinking the Kool-Aid, Maybe upgrade to a new vintage called "The Grapes Of Wrath"?

The Darwin Award

If only a pastor around here would handle some snakes for Sunday services, I might actually go back to church for that kind of free entertainment! "Serpent Pastor" Mack Wolford died, May 31, from handling his "pet" snake. http://www.newser.com/story/147017/serpent-pastor-dies-of-snake-bite.html
Here's irony for you, his pastor father died of the same thing. Proving once and for all that religious fanatics are batshit crazy. If this kind of excitement went on in the Catholic church, I would be there this morning. Fortunately for me, Catholic priests are only interested in mainly helpless male children, which kind of makes me think Pastor Mack was probably a better person than a lot of priests. He only abused snakes. I would like to nominate Pastor Mack for the Darwin Award. The best part about the award is, since you refuse to evolve, evolution will bite you in the, well, thigh. There's more irony here, since you damn well know the "Serpent Pastor" did not believe in evolution. "Praise the Lord and past the rattlesnakes" was one of his last posts on Facebook. I sure hope during this devotional service he conducted in a state park, he collected a lot of donations. He performed a valuable service to us all. First and foremost, rattlesnakes are not "pets". Most rational people would know this, but Pastor Mack referred to his snake as a "pet". I think more religious fanatics should employ the use of poisonous vipers in their repertoire, I also like the idea of scorpions, but dammit, they are just not poisonous enough. Through the judicious use of poisonous snakes we could effectively wipe out the Evangelicals. Think of it! No more crying about free birth control or what goes on at a Planned Parenthood clinic. Republicans might have to act like rational, logical legislators, and think about actual legislation and a real separation between church and state. Talk about finding a new religion! I wish more religious fanatics would embrace the use of snakes. I think Charles Darwin would approve.