It's Our Congress, Finally At Work

       Ho, Ho, Ho, and a very Merry Christmas to Wall Street. Yep, if you think you're getting a big kiss and a whopper of a Christmas present, you ain't seem nothing yet. See, Wall Street big whigs sat down and assisted Congress in writing and inserting a provision in it's huge trillion dollar plus spending bill that allows them to put, we the taxpayers, back on the hook for any risky financial bets they decide to try. If the bet works, they make bundles of dollars. If not, if they loose, we pay for their losses.
       Ya can't go wrong with a deal like that. Of course there were some in Congress who didn't like that idea. So they also inserted a clause allowing Wall Street and anyone else to increase their giving  up to a million and a half to each political party. That softened the hearts of Congress.
       But they didn't stop there. Now coal mining interests can go back to exploding mountaintops off and pushing the rubble back down into the streams. The old Mountaintop Removal Mining deal that pollutes the water that so many depend on for drinking. Then there's the long haul truck drivers who now can go back to 11 hours without stopping and 82 hour weeks. You remember, the problems we had with drivers overly tired and causing accidents? Well, it's back on the books.
       And there's a lot more, after all the bill was 1600 pages long. And it covers a whole lot of junk that had and has nothing to do with government spending. The National Memo pointed out these and many other interesting things, like the fact that all these add-ons came in the dark of night and not even most of Congress was aware of. The odd part is that it all comes from folks who have been demanding we shrink government.
       And all this happened while we had folks like Rep. Michael Grimm, who represents Staten Island, N.Y. You remember him, he's the Congressman who threatened a reporter and said to him, if you don't stay from me, I'll throw you over the railing. Remember? Well he's now pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion. All he did was cook the books or rather had two sets of books. He lied under oath and had 20 charges of tax fraud against him. but he fully intends to remain in Congress. I suppose there are more crooked deals for him to make before he leaves office. Congrats to all you Staten Islanders. you made a wise choice.

The Statue of Liberty.

       Good news from Washington and New York this morning. It appears that vandals have defaced the Statue of Liberty over night. All freedom loving citizens are up in arms. A collection has begun to refurbish and restate the damaged portion of the statue. Millions have already been collected and a contest to restate the inscription has begun.
        The portion of the monument that was defaced and eliminated was the inscription that read " Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free etc". Of course it no longer held meaningful sentiments for a society that has changed in it's beliefs without changing it's beliefs. This country wants any huddled masses and the poor to be strongly encouraged to stay home lest they be classified as illegal aliens.
       The new inscription was reported by a commenter on the Daily Kos website's article about Sen. Marco Rubio and some Florida Congresswoman who vehemently oppose normalization of relations with Cuba because, they believe, it only provides money to a cruel, repressive and murderous Communist regime. Speaking of  cruel, repressive and murderous, Communist regimes, both Sen. Rubio and the lady Congressman were pleased to take all expenses paid, by China, trips to travel to China. And their heads of staffs also got to go for free. Apparently China is far less repressive, and cruel than Cuba.
       At any rate, the new inscription on the Statue of Liberty will read "give me your English-speaking, Christian believing, heterosexual masses" to which I would add "already educated and yearning to start new companies". Because after all, that's what this country has always stood for. It's what our founding fathers wanted. Well, that and slaves.

Do You Believe That?

       With all the horrific news around the country and around the world, here are two unrelated, humorous stories. First we have a $350 million testing tower built by NASA that on the day after it's completion, NASA closed it down. They neither want nor need it. $350 million. I suppose you could call it a jobs creation exercise. the problem with such a jobs plan is that they could just have handed out the paychecks to all those people and still saved about half the money.
       Why do you suppose they no longer need that tower, and when did they find out they didn't want it? I'll bet they never did want it. Who are the Senators and congressman in that state and district? You can be sure they had some small influence over the project.
       The other odd deal is the Keystone XL pipeline. Yes, it's still very much in the loop. Republicans are still pushing very hard for it, along with the energy industry and Democrats are still pushing hard against it, along with environmentalists. But what's odd is that, with the lower prices for oil, it's not likely to get built even if it gets approved. See, the extraction of tar sands oil is a very costly process and it would be too expensive to bring to market. But not to worry, the fight is still on and the Republicans are convinced they can vote it through after they take over Congressional control.
       So you see, politics can create jobs after all. It's just that most often the jobs they create are jobs that should never have been created in the first place. It's all sort of 'make work' spending. Do they actually create jobs? Well yes, but more importantly, they make money for politicians and their supporters.
       Sometimes it's almost preferable to get bad news rather than to get political news. No, I guess that's not true, but getting political news, as we all know, means it's gonna cost us dearly. Wouldn't it be nice if just once in a while a politician, any politician, thought about his or her constituents and not his or her backers?

To Right Doesn't Constitute Need.

       It's interesting that two years after Sandy Hook, America has no interest in making our children safer. Neither the NRA, the gun manufacturers nor the American government has any interest in doing anything to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people or making sure that gun owners know how to safely use and store them. When the NRA and the gun manufacturers speak, the government quivers in fear and cowers in the corner.
       The people are so brainwashed that they believe any attempt to make it safe for children or adults is a blatant attack against their right to own a gun. It's so silly, but the NRA, with financial help from the gun manufacturers, has cleverly convinced Americans that their safety depends on all their neighbors having guns designed for the military. If the M1A1 tank manufacturers association joins the NRA family of financiers, God help us. As for me, I'm holding out for an Apache attack helicopter. I have no idea how to fly one, but I know people who have no idea how to properly handle a gun, so...
       Yet nobody in government, except perhaps for a very few wackos, are suggesting that no guns be allowed to be in the possession of any person. Nobody's suggesting that. Gun ownership is NOT  under siege. There is NO suggestion to change the constitution to eliminate the right to own and bare a gun. NONE, ZERO, ZIP. So get over it. Use your brain, think for yourself for a change. Think of your children for a change. Your children won't be safer with every adult in school and at home and everywhere in between are all packing heat. They'll be safer when we begin to stop people who should not be allowed access to firearms from getting their hands on them.
       But understand this, it won't happen all at once. You won't go to bed tonight and wake up tomorrow morning and all the bad people will no longer have guns. It will take some time. But we need to start. Sometime. Why not now? Or I'm placing my order for the operators manual for my chopper.

If You Think Things Will Get Better.

       Ours is a very strange economy. Some few are prospering greatly while many more are struggling enormously. Some jobs that had left and then returned, as a result of high transportation costs, have returned at far lower wages. Now that we're enjoying low gas prices, even that flow of jobs is slowing. This too will pass. Anyone out there think gas prices won't go up again?
       When the price for oil returns to the stratosphere, jobs will once again begin to slowly return. But as sure as the sun rises in the east, wages will be lower and lower. Why can't we get better paying jobs? Well, if you listen to the experts, they'll tell you the better paying jobs are strictly in hi-tech fields. That certainly is partially true, but it's not the whole answer, and eventually those high wages will shrink into low paying jobs.
       Part of the problem, part of the reason for low paying jobs that were once high paying is because, with the complicity of our government, industry was able to rid itself of strong unions. Now I'll admit that many unions were riddled with corruption and shortsightedness, but it was unions that built a safe working environment for workers and made for high wages in the first place. By weakening unions over time, corporations were able to reduce wages by several means. The simple act of shipping jobs overseas allowed them to reintroduce those same jobs back home at greatly reduced wages. And unions are far weaker in negotiations because of greatly reduced numbers.
       And lets not forget government. Either by outright force such as in Wisconsin or by legislation that strengthened corporations while weakening union options, governments have willingly sold good jobs for corporate campaign support. And make no mistake, both political parties are fully immersed in this policy. Republicans outright admit their favoritism claiming their support for corporations will create jobs. Meanwhile Democrats find fault with corporate power and influence but at the same time they accept that 'influence for dollars' tradeoff. Both know their statements are untrue.
       If you've ever met a politician who does not speak with a forked tongue, you know he or she did not get elected. Even the best become tainted by the stench of Washington. We need strong unions and weak legislators. We need term limits for both union leaders and legislators.
      

In Washington, Serving You.

       The TV news show Meet The Press has come up with the main reason why you don't think your Congressman quite understands how things are for you. Times are tough for almost everyone. Even if you're working full time and even if your spouse is working too. Ya see, the problem is that over half of them are millionaires. And all of them are making about three times as much as the average family. And while your investments have been averaging 4% per year growth, theirs have been growing at about 15% per year. In the 55 to 65 years old category, which includes most of them, their average wealth, not including real estate owned is just over a million dollars, but the average American family that age and including real estate is about $165,000.
       Now I don't mean to suggest that millionaires can't relate to the average person. No, what I'm suggesting is that millionaires don't generally care one way or the other about people who can't afford to join the same country club as them. Of course, unlike regular millionaires, our Congressmen and Senators have to appear to be sympathetic to the plight of the commoners they must represent. At least when it begins to come near to election time.
       Have you ever noticed how before the campaign season opens in earnest our legislators begin to visit the commoners they represent much like a fact finding mission. You think it's to determine what your needs are, but it's really all about learning the sound bites that will interest you the most. You know, sound bites like Benghazi or immigration or abortion rights or Obamacare or income inequality or even jobs. They know they've got to be able to bring these hot button issues into any statement they make. But in ways that will show they understand what you want to hear.
       In the meantime, they have to speak regularly with their investment councilors and schedule speaking engagements that put big bucks in their pockets. For some there are the ghost writers to consult with. And don't forget the fundraising, that's critical. Otherwise how would they be able to continue to make money, oops, I mean serve their constituents?

A true Life Changing Experience.

       It happened last Tuesday, four days ago. It was a harrowing experience. It took nearly fifty years for me to screw up the courage to do it, but last Tuesday, I did it. Last Tuesday, I went on a diet, but not just any diet. I went on, are you ready for this? I went on a hair diet. And not just a lowering of the ears. I,,, gasp. No, this was a real and true hair diet. I got my first crew cut in nearly fifty years.
       Now you may consider this to be no big thing, but let me tell ya buster, this was traumatic. Now  the top of my head is rated  'R' for mild nudity. I may have to look into some hair follicle transplants. I think my neighbor can do it in his workshop down cellar. To think, just a few short days ago it wasn't a consideration.
       This morning I looked in the mirror for the first time since the dastardly deed and somebody else was looking back at me. It was more than disconcerting, I'll tell ya. But let me assure you that I did not run into a chainsaw or grinder nor did I have a kitchen blender accident. It was done intentionally while I was in a self induced stupor. The young woman who conducted the operation was not even a licensed tree surgeon and I told her before she started that if I didn't like it, I would report her to the hair removal police. They'll skin her alive and snake her baldheaded.
       Nowadays I'm forced to wear a hat against the brutal cold of even mild winters and in summer, I'll have to wear a hat to protect me from the blazing sun even on cloudy days. Hats! I didn't even think of hats. This'll require an entire new segment of my wardrobe. From now on I'll be forced to consider the proper style and colour of hat to match my coats. And in summer think of each shirt. Now I'll have to have matching hats for each shirt. Remember, fashion is everything. I'm already forced to match up with my wife's extensive wardrobe. Now this added consideration.
       Such decisions as hair diets are not to be entered into lightly, but rather thoughtfully with considerable research and soul searching aforehand. Remember, a tall tree casts a longer shadow than a small tree and a long strand of hair covers more scalp than a short hair.
      

Being Successful Doesn't Stop The Nitpicking.

       Think back to the last truly successful president we've had here in America. Think about these statistics. Under this president the Dow Jones Industrials increased by 10,000 points, unemployment dropped by two full percentage points, the GDP increased by 8.1 percentage points and the deficit decreased by 7%. And as if that weren't convincing enough, consumer confidence increased by 51%, from 37.7 percent to 88.7%.
       What recent president can claim these kinds of numbers? The answer is NOBODY. Well, actually, nobody except Barak Obama. Yep. Those are his numbers for six years. And when you stop to think about it, he did it in the face of tremendous obstructionism. Now I realize it's fun to badmouth the current resident of the White House, every one of them for at least the last half century. It's sort of like a national pastime, you know, like baseball, football, well okay, maybe not as bad as the NFL, but it's something that's expected of the "loyal opposition", and the more vile, the more fun.
       In fact congressional staffers of the "loyal opposition" are expected to research opportunities to find fault with the president and, God forbid, even his wife sometimes. Only the children of presidents have been left out of this [limelight?]. That's why one congressional staffer got her tongue caught in the
 ringer for badmouthing Obama's daughters. Do you think that's fair? I mean, shouldn't you be allowed to throw rotten eggs at them too? This poor woman was just doing her job energetically and POW, right in the kisser.
       I think there's a lesson here. You should never pick on the president's kids. Or maybe the lesson is some folks need to start banging away at this last bastion of protection until the general public accepts this kind of dirty fighting and begins to look forward to nasty shout-downs aimed at small and large children alike, of that despicable opponent, which means every opponent.