Ugly Ugly Occupy

Two grass-roots movements have marked this year in politics. One is the Tea Party, which objects to taxes and the fiasco we refer to as the IRS. The other is the Occupy Movement, which is pretty much mad about taxes, and corporations, and …well it’s complicated. Mostly, they’re just mad. The Daily Iowan (among others) mentioned a “lack of continuity” in the movement, and it’s true. A few interviews reveal this fairly clearly. They’re mad. They agree on that. What they’re mad about depends on who you ask.

But it's no Tea Party. Like them or not, the Tea Party protests were quiet, non-violent, and well behaved. Like them or not, the Occupy Protests have a nasty, ugly side that doesn’t make it to the TV as often as maybe it should. How ugly is it? Here’s a list of the ugly. In the words of Bruce Willis,

“Just the facts ma’am, just the facts” (sic).

- Arrests as of 10/27: 2,750. ¹ This does NOT include the crackdowns of Weeks 2 and 3 of November.

- The protestors eat, “organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad” but won’t share with the homeless…who are poorer than they are. ²

- ACORN has been monetarily supporting OWS. ³ Is that grassroots??

- Several cases of anti-Semitism have been documented at OWS gatherings. ⁴

- OWS said in mid October that their biggest problem is…internal theft. ⁵

- The media coverage from “the Big Three” has been more positive on the OWS movement than negative. Media hate? Don’t think so! ⁶

- Crime is up in NYC due to OWS. 154% to be exact. ⁷

- Occupy Boston illegally occupied the Israeli Consulate, chanting anti-Israeli slogans. ⁸

- Occupy Minnesota has so far cost taxpayers half a million dollars. ⁹

- Occupy NY has cost taxpayers $6 million dollars.¹⁶

- Who supports the Occupy Movement? Iran, the American Communist Party, the American Nazi Party, North Korea, Hugo Chavez, Communist Party of China, Hezbollah and more.¹⁰ You know, all those humanitarian countries…

- As of early October, OWS in NYC had cost taxpayers $2 million. ¹¹

- You can’t be the 99% if 44% don’t like you, and 15% or more don’t know what you want. ¹³

- The OWS movement has raised over $500K to date. Interesting…at the end of the article, the author says they’ll need to keep making money to stay in business…¹⁴

- Hey OWS! Did you ever wonder where BHO got his money to get elected? ¹⁵

- Total OWS cost (minimum) is $13 million.¹⁷ That’s a cost to the tax payers. What are they getting for their money?

- Total death toll: 7. Some have died of drug overdoses or drug related issues¹⁸

- Rapes and sexual assaults are more common than you might think. ¹⁹

- As of Nov 16, arrests were over 4,000. (More facts in link). ²⁰

- Disease becoming a problem in Occupy SF. ²¹

- Total rap sheet so far. ²²

- American Politicians who support OWS. ²²

As much as Occupy supporters hate to admit it, the movement has very little good about it, very little congruity outside of pure socialism, and for all the hubbub, violence, disease, sexual misconduct, and cost to tax payers, nothing has changed. No laws, no collapsed corporations, no increase in socialism. Just more crime, racism, public indecency, and ugly clashes with law enforcement—many of whom have lost vacation time to deal with malcontents (who should be at work).

Many Americans tell pollsters that they don’t know enough about the movement to have an opinion. For a movement that claims to be the “99%”, the majority of Americans either don’t like them, or have no idea what they want.
When looked at through global eyes, the movement is a group of a few thousand angry people in a country of 300 million on a planet of 7 billion. Given that America’s poorest are still some of the most well-to-do in the world, it seems ironic that this group is actually among the richest 25% on the planet. In fact, depending on the person, they may actually be in the top 20%, and even the Occupiers living in tents have it better than most of the nation of India.²³

This raises the question: “Out of 7 billion people, you have it better than 5 billion of them. What on earth are you complaining for?” If someone is doing better than 70% of others and yet they still want more, doesn’t that make them…you know…
greedy?

CITATIONS

1. http://www.toberight.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-arrest-tally/

with many sub links to specific city websites.

2. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/zuccotti_hell_kitchen_i5biNyYYhpa8MSYIL9xSDL

3. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/acorn_taking_root_again_amid_protests_S7oqpPcxPTpqp3uH2cEjQI

4. http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/hate-crimes-at-queens-libraries-and-jewish-temple-20111104-lgf

5. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/criminal_occupation_oh3CnKANUqYHrGPCaZaLRK

6. http://www.owsexposed.com/2011/11/07/biased-reporting-in-the-mainstream-media/

7. http://patdollard.com/2011/10/nyc-shootings-up-28-as-police-are-diverted-to-occupy-wall-street/

8. http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/11/occupy-boston-occupies-israeli-consulate

9. http://www.owsexposed.com/2011/11/01/occupy-minnesota-costing-minneapolis-taxpayers-100000-a-week/

10. http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2011/10/31/the-99-official-list-of-ows/

11. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/new-york/occupy-wall-street-costing-taxpayers-2-million-police-125205009.html

12. http://www.owsexposed.com/2011/11/03/shock-poll-after-rapes-drugs-violence-and-death-voters-view-occupy-movement-negatively/

13. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/november_2011/36_say_wall_street_protesters_represent_views_of_mainstream_america_44_disagree

14. http://globalgrind.com/news/more-money-more-problems-occupy-wall-street-rakes-500k-stacks-details

15. http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638

16. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-17/wall-street-protesters-blocked-in-attempt-to-disrupt-nyse.html

17. http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-protests-cost-nations-cities-least-13m-073242555.html

18. http://www.owsexposed.com/tag/death/

19. http://www.owsexposed.com/tag/sexual-assault/

20. http://www.punditpress.com/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-rapsheet-so-far-with.html

21. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/11/17/san-francisco-officials-fear-disease-will-spread-at-occupy-encampment/

22. http://biggovernment.com/jjmnolte/2011/10/28/occupywallstreet-the-rap-sheet-so-far/

23. http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/01/world-income-inequality.html

If you move your finger like this

That note will sustain forever

And that’s good

Because

All music comes from the Great Spirit

And goes back to the Great Spirit

He says with his Chicago

Accent

And white frizzy hair under a newsboy

tweed cap, ponytail and shades

made for the blues man

He was the

Blues

Feckless

Feckless

It’s the cars I tell you
he rants driving down the freeway

Twenty miles from the gas station to the rear
Fifteen to the town ahead and

The sun, the sun blares like a klaxon

And the cars carry the ills of the world
he screams slamming the wheel against the heel

Of his palm, oh yes the cars—curse them all—

Have brought us suffering and all evil

They carry to our doors

Every hate of man (oh the death and suffering)
trains planes pay no mind

It’s the automobile that has ruined the world

He rages in the passing lane foam flecked lips

Ten over till finally

In his fury he stops and slams the door

Grabs the shotgun from the back

And with a bestial roar he dispatches the tires

And the rest go into the motor

Until his murder spent

He begins the long walk into town alone
his self-righteousness intact

In tow behind him

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

I rarely, if ever, side with the media. Generally, I consider them to be more interested in ratings, and sensationalism than in the truth. Or sometimes, I strongly suspect them of not even being interested in the truth: case in point, Anderson Cooper and his 36 degree view of the recent Egyptian political overhaul.
However, the case of Casey Anthony does have me siding with most of the reporters and anchors on the telly. Everyone is a little shocked, and horrified at the inaction of the jury. What should have been evaluation of reasonable doubt instead became mockery of justice and the willing suspension of disbelief. Instead of trying the facts of the case, (which could only lead to at least Casey being liable in some form for her daughter’s death), they tried the prosecution, and their presentation of the case. In a world where CSI, Criminal Minds, and Law & Order have the cases sewed shut in 57 minutes minus commercials, the jury wanted the television-case, the one beyond all doubt—not just reasonable doubt.
From all appearances, the jury was convinced early on of doubts, rather than waiting to hear the whole story. Jose Baez flung as much nonsense as he could against the wall, and prayed to whatever god he believes in that some would stick. It seems to have worked.
“But the prosecution didn’t give the jury a coffin-nailed-shut-case!” Arguably, they shouldn’t have to. The prosecution’s job is not to prove the case past all doubt—just beyond reasonable doubt.

For instance, the time stamps on Cindy Anthony’s work PC, and the searches for chloroform on Casey’s computer should have been solid enough for premeditation to be proven. “But, it’s possible…” Yes. It is possible. It’s within the realm of physically being able to happen that someone other than Casey was on the computer. By in the realm of possible, I mean no aliens, or paranormal activity.

But probable? No. As a former IT worker for several companies, I am convinced that Casey Anthony did those searches. Computers don’t lie, but people do. Cindy lied, and there was not a shred of proof for her “dog-ate-the-plants” story. Additionally, the idea of someone using Cindy’s work PC to cover for her is absurd. She had no motive to suddenly run home, and she had no reason to cover it up as Caylee was still alive and well at the time, and she only had something to lose by having someone cover for her at work. Ask yourself, is it reasonable to conclude that a good worker in the health industry suddenly got up in the middle of her work day, had someone else work for her (with her login, which would have been bad had she been caught), run home, make some very dicey internet searches, run back and continue working? Is it possible? Possible, yes. But not reasonable. Not even close to reasonable. In fact, it’s asinine.

Ultimately, for the jury’s acquittal to stick, they had to go beyond reasonable. They had to make the unreasonable as normal. They had to make everyone in the case act against what we all hold as reasonable behavior. It’s the only way “not guilty” could work in their minds.
Their actions now make it reasonable for a mother who’s just lost her child to go party. They made it reasonable to hide the loss of a child, and cover it up. They made it reasonable to groundlessly hurl sexual molestation charges like a drive-by shooter: indiscriminate and unjustified. Yet they justified Casey’s endless lies as normal, reasonable behavior for someone who supposedly just wanted her daughter back. They justified groundless accusations and idiotic theories from a second-rate lawyer as “reasonable” and logical.
They disregarded duct tape over the mouth of a child as reasonable for someone who had been in a tragic accident.
They justified strong evidence of a body in the trunk as nothing more than the presence of trash, and in so doing made Caylee Anthony just that: a piece of trash, a piece of litter, left in a swamp because her mommy thought it was reasonable to be free of responsibility.
I will stand with Marcia Clark, the prosecutor for the infamous O.J. Simpson trial. As with most of the nation, she is shocked and outraged at the jury's ineptness.
I like her closing thought from her article on The Daily Beast: “…because I did follow this case, and I have to be honest: If I’d been in that jury room, the vote would’ve been 11 to 1. Forever.”
She speaks for the rest of us, who would have stayed until thrown out with a hung jury. I could easily live with hanging a jury—because I don’t reasonably believe there’s another jury out there that would let her go free.

More Bad Ideas for Israel

Once again, Mr. Obama has shown himself to be inept and uneducated in international affairs, history, and basic geography. This should not be shocking, yet the media and many other allies of Mr. Obama are scrambling to do “damage control” after his loathsomely ignorant speech on the Middle East. Apparently, his words were shocking enough to incite anger both at home and abroad, and unlike the typical lazy American, the people abroad do not soon forget, or forgive.
The truth of the matter is that Mr. Obama believes whatever he wants to believe, and the facts be damned. His speech was filled with nice ideas. Nice ideas are nice—just ask any five year old about Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and elves. Nice ideas indeed, and just as fanciful, ignorant, and narrow-minded as Mr. Obama’s speech.
This is 2011, and mankind has never had more sophisticated ways of killing itself. Even so, the relatively crude katyusha rockets (developed in 1939) have come a long way, with a range of 13-19 miles and a payload of 70+ pounds. The katyusha was and is used by Hezbollah and Hamas against Israel, and between 2001 and January 2009 over 8600 rockets had been indiscriminately shot at Israel, many of them the feared katyushas. That’s nearly a thousand rockets per year for nearly a decade. Worse still, the rocket batteries mount on the back of a pickup truck, making them hellishly difficult to track and destroy because of their ability to move, fire, and run in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, that’s what 70 year old technology can do. Think of modern weaponry in relation to this discussion as we go along.
The kicker is Mr. Obama’s blind insistence on the 1967 boarders of the Israeli-Arab conflicts. Those boarders leave a veritable beachhead for terrorist activities—activities that continue despite the incoherent ramblings from Washington and condemnation from the equally impotent United Nations. Additionally, the 1967 borders leave Israel only ten miles wide at places along a strip nearly 20 miles long. Overall, this strip would be entirely within range of the katyusha rockets, and other rockets that have been favored by Hamas and the enemies of Israel. Can it get worse? Definitely. The 1967 borders also place most of Tel Aviv itself within range of a katyusha battery. It might be added that the katyushas can drop around five-plus tons of high explosives (or chemical weapons) in a 10-acre area with little or no warning. To illustrate, the power of one battery has more explosive power than the fertilizer-filled truck at the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. Additionally, the 19-mile range of these rockets would (and does) allow them to be fired from well inside Hamas territory, and out of range of IAF interdiction (assuming the IAF does not fly into Hamas airspace). In short, they can lay siege to Israeli civilians without fear of retaliation or intervention by the Israeli Airforce. (To see this partially illustrated, click here for a map of katyusha ranges in relation to Israel’s boarders) http://www.iris.org.il/images/katmap4.gif Keep in mind, the range of a katyusha can be up to 19 miles—further than the 12 miles this map suggests.)

A country ten miles wide with a pre-arranged terrorist foothold is a country that cannot be defended. Do not for a moment believe that Hamas or any other terrorist organization will keep a truce. Mr. Obama sees himself as the great unifier, the negotiator, the bringer of peace and the arbiter between nations. Yet Hamas sees Obama as neither potent, nor credible. Mr. Obama believes his truce will last, because of his view of himself and his overestimation of his abilities. The truth is that a truce will never last because terrorists don’t really care about Mr. Obama’s wishes and hollow threats, and because they don’t play by the rules. (Short list of Hezbollah terrorist attacks on Israel from Oct 2000, to Aug 2006: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/hizattacks1.html )

Israel has long been on the receiving end of terrorism, racism, hate, and genocidal maniacs living within minutes of its civilians. Mr. Obama felt very free to suggest all the great things Israel could do to bring about peace—all at an enormous financial cost and security risk to Israel. Spending other people’s money is easy, and none of Obama’s misguided plans cost him anything, or endanger him at all. D.C. is under an impressive missile net, with deep bunkers, fighter jets at the ready, and an army of highly trained agents to protect the White House. Of course Mr. Obama feels it’s all a grand idea…he’s fully protected and has nothing to lose. But he’s not the one to say, and not the one to ask about such things. Ask the Israeli girl, who recently found her family of five slaughtered down to the last child by terrorists from the Arab-occupied territory. See if she thinks ceding more land to a terrorist organization is a good idea. Her opinion is far more relevant and important than that of a lame-duck president.
Israel has always traded land for peace. Nearly every U.S. president has demanded it at some point, and yet somehow Israel has always given land, and never gotten peace.
It has become the “incredible shrinking country” and yet the terror attacks have gotten more indiscriminate, and more heinous with each passing decade. (Click here for Israel’s shrinking boundaries since the British Palestinian Mandate: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PgtFNpY_3mc/S70FDV1y0rI/AAAAAAAAJ08/pqILqgegy2A/s1600/shrinking_israel2.jpg)

What Israel holds in comparison to its violent Muslim neighbors is laughable to say the least. Israel holds less than .5% of the land in the Middle East. Half a percent. One half, or less, of 1%. Muslims, many of them radical jihadists, hold greater than 99.5% of all the land in the Middle East, and an even greater portion of that region of the world. For a working definition of what this looks like, click here: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PgtFNpY_3mc/S7uA9J6e9OI/AAAAAAAAJ0U/1w1MpBo9syI/s1600/israel_surrounded2.jpg

What more can Israel give up? And why should she? Do the “Palestinian” people deserve a homeland? Arguably, there is no such thing as an ethnic “Palestinian”, any more than there is anything such as an ethnic Texan or Arizonian. Bloodlines establish ethnicity, not geography. Even so, should these displaced peoples desire a homeland, let those who hold 99.5% of the land share with those who have none. To demand the vast minority to give up her share is asinine, bullyish, and absurd.

Rand Paul recently demanded that the U.S. cut funding to Israel, much in the same way that Mr. Obama wishes to pull support from the Jewish state. As previously argued (See here: http://yitzachmeyer.blogspot.com/2011/05/previously-published-in-yavapai-college.html) Israel is one of our few remaining allies in the world, and the country is an enormously stabilizing factor in the Middle East. The region has drastically and radically destabilized with each passing month, included Egypt’s enormous shift towards radical Islam and Sharia law. Libya, Syria, and other nations are not friendly towards the U.S., democracy, and the world in general. Israel is the last bastion of sanity and reason in region that holds as many as 100 million radical jihadists who love to put America and a good many other countries into Submission by the edge of the sword and the use of an AK-47. Mr. Obama’s ignorant remarks are the spittle of a self-righteous imbecile, flung in the face of a Jewish nation that lives in the shadow of a force that wants every Jew dead and Israel gone forever.

A Bad Idea for a Dangerous Time

Previously published in the Yavapai College RoughWriter, March 2011.

We live in a dangerous world. The Islamic terrorist networks are stronger, more sophisticated (in a deadly simple sort of way) and the idea of another 9/11 looms large in all of our minds. Add the newly found concept of a terrorist state and things don’t look good for us in general.
In spite of this, Rand Paul, a U.S. Senator from Kentucky (and son of Ron Paul, from Texas), made some rather irrational, loose and down right dangerous remarks.
In late January of this year, Paul suggested that the U.S. stop funding Israel monetarily and militarily during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
While he has declared his sympathy and support for Israel as a sovereign nation that should defend herself, he also is in favor of severing the $2 billion package that the United States sends to Israel annually.
To his credit, he doesn’t like the idea of borrowing that much money from China, (who does?) and his reasoning is that the ChiCom debt is consuming the U.S. economy.
While these are valid reasons for concern Paul’s method, (cutting aid to Israel), is not just a terrible idea, it’s a dangerous one.
The Middle East is a veritable boiling pot of trouble looking for an excuse to explode in widespread violence and the bright spots are few.
Iran has suffered a devastating setback to its nuclear program thanks to the ambiguously funded and brilliantly designed Stuxnet worm, but the good news ends there. Iran has recently had demonstrations in it’s own parliament demanding the execution of dissenters in the country.
Additionally the racist and hateful rhetoric pouring out of the Islamic Republic it’s clear that Iran’s nuclear intentions are anything but amiable and positive.
Iraq is a country beset with founding its own identity and existence and is not even yet strong enough to defend herself yet.
Syria is another story, as the country has no interest in a long-term peaceful agreement with Israel and has an alliance with the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Syria is a country funded by Iran itself and not surprisingly echoes the violent and hate-ridden sentiments of Iran when it comes to the nation of Israel and the US.
Lebanon has destabilized in the last few months, as the Iranian-funded Hezbollah has increased it’s choke-hold on Lebanese politics and policy.
Gaza is another hotspot, as Hamas has seized power and wants to work things out with AK-47s rather than diplomacy.
Most recently and disturbingly is the nation of Egypt, which has (in the past) generally taken a peaceful stance towards Israel and the West.
However, those days are probably gone as a recent Pew poll in Egypt suggested that a vast majority of Egyptians don’t mind the idea of becoming an extreme Islamic state akin to Iran, or Syria, with 70% supporting the idea that those who leave the religion of Islam should be killed.
Additionally, 82% of Egyptians don’t like the U.S. and more than half of those surveyed felt that the suicide bombers who killed civilians could be justified.
All this to say: The Middle East is a pressure cooker without a release valve on a runaway bonfire.
To quote a famous movie, “…our list of allies grows thin.” The region of the Middle East is not stabilizing with time and the alliances that are forming and the power centers of the realm are not friendly to democracy, the U.S., or the civilized world.
Save for Israel. The nation is one of the few democracies in the region and that doesn’t have “terrorism” as one of its main exports. It is directly in our best interests to keep Israel as strong and stable as possible in a region where stability and strength are becoming rarer with each passing year.
Throwing Israel under the bus is unlikely to inspire other nations of the world to trust us as allies.
At some point the difficult decision must be made to stick with our friends through thick and thin. When the going gets tough, do we hang tough, or do we get going?
If we want to have any chance at stabilizing the Middle East and suppressing terrorism, then Rand Paul’s advice has got to go.
Instead how about we track down the “missing” money from our budget? In 2003 alone the Financial Report of the United States Government reported, “unreconciled expenses” $24 billion dollars. That’s a heck of a lot of money—especially if it’s missing.
I suggest that rather than take money from our international allies, that our senate and congressional leaders exercise a little—no, a lot of discipline, gouge the pork from the budget and find the money that their sloppy book keeping has lost. Someone ought to head that up. Hey, Rand, you busy?

Letter to Mr. Obama

Dear Mr. B. H. Obama,

In light of recent events, I just thought I’d drop you a note and let you know how I feel about your healthcare bill. Given my current situation, I feel as much a right as anyone to comment on this bill. So, please, read on and hear me out. I know it might be slightly tedious, but just pretend it’s a giant teleprompter and everything will be just fine.

I am 27 years old. I am underemployed in a state where about one in five of us are under employed, or unemployed. (For the Congressman reading over your shoulder, tell him that’s about 20%. Remind him that 20% is more than 8%). I have three jobs currently, one which I may lose to justifiable state budget cuts, another which depends exclusively on wealthy citizens and their financial well-being, and another which is non-profit, and very part-time.
I lost my job early last year, and within four months my wife lost her job. I managed to remain under-employed, and find work within two weeks. Yes, Mr. Obama, there is a God.
My wife was not so fortunate. After four plus months of unemployment (the real life kind, not the check-collecting-kind), my wife landed work at our local fine Scottish food emporium, also known as McDonald’s. (I understand your wife isn’t a big fan, but then she doesn’t pay my bills either.)
We had done what your budget and congress could not do—we set aside money beforehand. In spite of this, our collective job losses cleaned us out, and we gave up our lease on our little apartment. Yes, we were technically homeless. From October ’10 to February ’11, we lived in someone else’s spare bedroom. It was about the size of Michelle’s walk-in shoe closet, but hey, it was sheltered and warm. Thank goodness our friends didn’t let us fall too far, because we would have had no other help if not for them.
Now, my wife and I haven’t had healthcare for a long time. To give you an example, my last trip to the dentist was in my teen years, at thirteen, or perhaps even twelve. My wife is about the same. No money, no dentist—we’ve never reached median income for the US.
Two years ago my teeth finally gave out. I couldn’t eat without pain, and a lot of it. Since I’m broke, cereal is a major part of my diet. Imagine how hard it is when you can’t even eat cereal. We were in desperate need of dental care. I had a motorcycle…a nice one. Maybe not by your Harvard/Yale standards, but I thought it was pretty nice. I sold it to pay for my dental care. It was my baby, you know. When you only own a few nice things, you tend to appreciate them more, you know?
After selling the bike, we still owed $1200. So we paid $400 a month and paid the debt off. Shocking? Yes. God knows we didn’t get the idea from your senators or congressmen. Guess what? My fillings have all, each and every one of them chipped, cracked, or flaked off. $3400 buys me this? I guess.

My wife’s teeth are a mess. Cavities and a desperate need for braces are at the top of her list. Her bill will be at least as big as mine, but I own a junker bike now, and money’s tighter than it was.

I have intestinal trouble too. I feel sick to my stomach most days. Sometimes I eat something and I get violent diarrhea. Other times I just feel gross. We don’t know if it’s food allergies or parasites. The $1200 doc bill really isn’t in the budget, savvy? So I’m riding it out. It’s a doozy…I don’t know what will aggravate it. It’s like playing Russian-roulette with my bowels.
My wife has had the same pair of glasses/lenses, and tennis-shoes for the last five years. Thank goodness the tax-man didn’t pick our pockets too badly, and some of our return is buying her a pair glasses. And shoes. Just one pair though. We don’t do extras, or frivolous things like $500 sneakers…oh, too close to home? Sorry. (But seriously, dude, $500 sneakers to a homeless shelter? Cultural insensitivity fail.)

Our car is paid for (I know, I know, the congressmen fainted), but it will need a timing belt in the next year. Maybe tires too. Struts are also a possibility.
I haven’t been to any M.D. in almost five years.

I go to school, and my wife works like a dog. Then I go to work and she gives me a ride. Then we go home and do it all over again.

Now you’ve heard my story. Now hear me, Mr. Obama. I don’t want your healthcare. I don’t care if it’s free. I don’t care if you were to pay me to take it. I don’t want it, and I don’t want my millionaire friends from my second job getting taxed for it. I don’t want my wealthy families members paying for it via your hand in their pockets. (Hey, the money has to come from somewhere. You weren’t going to pay for it, right?) Leave my rich friends out of this.

If I want healthcare, I’ll go buy it myself. Once I graduate, I’m going to make some good money (provided you don’t take 70% of it like they do in Europe), and I’m going to go buy myself the healthcare of my choosing. I don’t need yours, I don’t want it, and I don’t want to be forced to take it. You dig?

Now, if you’re smart, you’ll ask yourself why. Well, it’s pretty simple.
Social Security is broke. There ain’t any money in there—it went to your multi-trillion dollar budget. Medicare, and Medicaid are broke too. When we tried to get food stamps, they “lost” all our information…and promptly dropped us. Unemployment is a joke too; we never did get that. Every time I go to the DMV or post office it’s an understaffed nightmare, with waiting times that approach the ridiculous, and fees that make me sick. You’ve not delivered on too many (maybe even any?) of your campaign promises. If your healthcare looks like any of these or rinky-dink outfits, then we are unequivocally screwed. I have no reason to think that your program for healthcare would be any different than your other programs. And no, I don’t want to give you the chance to “try” it (see previous paragraph on funding).
So that’s my story. I’m broke, I’m not super healthy, and the last thing I want is you and your pompous wife ramming healthcare down my throat. I’ll stay sick rather than take “charity” from the government. I’m uninsured, and proud of it.
I’m an American, and if I need healthcare then I’ll just go get it for myself with cash, not on borrowed Communist Chinese debt, and not on the siphoned dollars from the wealthy. Until then, I’ll be happy to stay lucky or sick, on principle alone—and you can use that healthcare bill for toilet paper for all I care.
If you do ram that atrocity of a bill into law somehow, and the conservatives don’t have the good fortune to financially castrate that abomination, I’d like to request that you add a clause that denies care to the aging. They do this in Europe all the time by denying heart surgery to the aging, so this shouldn’t be a problem. I realize it will be difficult to sell, but I’ll do my part and help by delivering S.O.L. messages to that old duffer, Harry Reid and his old-bag-buddy Nancy Pelosi when they need surgery.

Thanks for reading. I snickered as I wrote that, just FYI.

Sincerely,

Me

PS: if you were wondering what you CAN do to help, I’d appreciate it if you cut taxes for my wealthy landlord so he has no reason to raise my rent. Also, if you could do it for the people at my second job at the golf club. That way they’d eat and drink more there, and I could get back to bartending. It’ll work, trust me.

Jared Loughner -- Not who you think

In the wake of the horrific events in Tucson in early January there has been a flurry of media activity. There’s a saying that goes, “Never let it be said that the media let a good tragedy go to waste” and it was proven in the whirlwind of news reports, talking heads and various pundits flocking to the microphones and blogs to say something.
Before the bodies of a church volunteer, a nine-year-old girl, a federal judge, and three others had even fully cooled these same talking heads had already picked those responsible for the heinous acts at the Safeway grocery store. In spite of the lack of verifiable facts and evidence at the time, the immediate rallying cry became, “to hell with the truth; we’ve already got someone to crucify.”
Jared Lee Loughner was immediately reckoned as a talk-radio inspired right-wing wacko shooting a liberal congresswoman. But in recent days the ugly facts have started to creep out.
Ms. Giffords is a democrat, yes, but by no means is she a bona fide liberal. She is a second amendment supporter, and openly opposed Mr. Obama’s boarder strategies because they weren’t tough enough. She is fiscally conservative, and was one of the few democrats who voted against Nancy Pelosi. She could be described as a moderate, and the above description of her political stances denies her membership to the far-left. She simply isn’t liberal enough. This can be further proven by the fact that a conservative district elected her this last year.
Loughner on the other hand is another story. Because of his ideal of a gold-backed U.S. currency, he was immediately branded a right-winger. But that’s not the whole truth.
WND reports that Loughner attended Mountain View High School in southern Arizona. This school is part of an educational network partially founded by William Ayers, and also partially funded in the 90s by one of his known associates: Barack H. Obama. It goes without saying that this is not a right-wing institution.
Loughner’s old classmates from college referred to him as very liberal, and outspoken.
Loughner also subscribes to the 9/11 Truther theories, (that the U.S. Government was behind the attacks on the twin towers), and is an ardent atheist. Among his favorites reads are The Communist Manifesto, by none other than Karl Marx, and Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler.
He also used marijuana recreationally, and possibly burned an American flag as a political statement in a YouTube video.
This portrait of Loughner comes from part of an AP story I read and other news (not blog) sources. This is not the portrait of anyone right-of-center. This is the portrait of a leftist, perhaps someone even so far left that other liberals, or even moderates might feel uncomfortable around him.
These are facts that the Associated Press reported on. Somehow, I think they’ve gotten lost in the frothing-at-the-mouth attempts to run talk radio, and others rather irrelevant figures to the virtual chopping block.
The pundits became bent on seeing its “most hated list” pinned with the murders, and in so doing, the facts and the truth were left by the wayside. The agenda was all that mattered, and many in the media as well as the sheriff in Tucson ran to the microphones to blame Limbaugh, Palin, and others who had no hand in the events at Safeway. The AP reported those who know Loughner as saying that he "hated the news." There is no way, given this fact and his political stances, that Loughner was influenced by Limbaugh, Palin, or anyone on the right. Talk radio thrives on the news, and Palin's beliefs are a far cry from those of Loughner's heroes: Obama, Che, and Chavez.
While Loughner may be a “leftist”, other evidence seems to point to the fact that he was not like the liberals in the general public. His writings are often full of non sequitur and illogical arguments, and this (among other things) strongly allude to the fact that he is not a main-stream liberal--he's an anomaly.
Ironically, Loughner’s previous run-in with Ms. Giffords had nothing to do with partisan politics, but rather it had to do with Loughner’s personal belief that, “…Words create reality.” Lougher’s ideas about words are almost hermetic, or thaumaturgical in a sense, almost a wholesale belief in the idea of “as above, so below” in regards to words and language. When Loughner asked Giffords (years ago), "What is the government if words have no meaning?" Giffords did what any sane person would have done. She politely passed over the question with a few remarks. The question itself is almost philosophical and overly complicated, but not to Loughner, who apparently took deep offense to the Democratic congresswomen's perceived snubbing of his own intellect.
At the end of the day Loughner is a leftist, yes, but not a mainstream one. Moreover, his sanity and sense of logic are deeply questionable, and his ideas stray far from the path
The truth is, I don’t believe Loughner’s leftist political beliefs drove him to do what he did. I believe the unchecked evil of his heart drove him to do what he did. There is a potential killer in all of us, that same anger, that same hate. But Lougher fed his demons, unlike most of the civilized society around him.
All Loughner’s beliefs did was provide a sick, and fallacy-ridden logic that (in his mind), justified his actions. I know plenty of far-left, and far-right leaning people, and none of them would do what Loughner did. But then, Loughner is truly mentally ill, unlike most people in American today.
In other words, politics may be the scapegoat, but the events in Tucson weren’t really about politics. They were about anger, paranoia, mental instability, and the inability to deal with these things properly, which led to violence.
It is doubtful that the federal judge, now in the hereafter, cares much about the beliefs of the shooter. The parents of little Christina Greene probably don’t care if Loughner was conservative, or liberal. The friends, and families of the parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters who died that day probably aren’t very concerned with politics. They’re too busy coping with the fact that their loved one isn’t coming home ever again.
The sheriff, pundits, and talking heads of the media who were and are bent on blaming irrelevant parties for the tragedy owe these families an apology. They also owe those they’ve falsely accused an apology for their journalistic malpractice, and for falsely politicizing a terrible tragedy.

If we wanted someone to blame, perhaps it would be best to blame those who saw the warning signs in Loughner’s life and did nothing. Even so, at the end of the day Loughner made his own choices, and he will live with them, and he may even die by them.

Mystery and Beauty

The moon covers the land
in sheets of silver
alabaster dust
the wind will not carry

The moon
one edge in black
beckons
in mystery
of the shadow

luna halo
flowing beauty
luna shadow
entice in enigma
saying
come
come
with me to the dark side
of the moon

In Sonnation of the Gin Martini

Martini, you say, shaken cold
Sapphire’s the best no vermouth three olives
Don’t bruise the gin advice that’s never old
Let the strained herbs and berries soothe, forgive
Where others cannot speak of your ill deeds
Where memories cause downward glance and shake
Like a drink the pictures from your rev’ries
Where time and pain cannot your choice unmake.
So here you stand your glass in hand searching
For resolution here at church of gin,
and tonic pray, beg, hope that they forgive
you. Yet the morn brings no relief from sin
Will you find your way out this time or will
You seek the same old gin tired way still?

Best Friend

everyone's best friend
and favorite person
for the ten seconds the bottle
hovers over their glass

psychologist, thinker, attendant
nevermind the hour
have another
let me help you
have a good time

everyone's best friend
nameless tonight, faceless tomorrow
amidst the fog of chemicals
colors and flavors
shaken over ice
strained
sipped
sliding smooth down into the night

it's a good time tonight
for you
it's a party now
for you
don't let it stop
you say

*****

everyone's best friend
amongst the cold glasses
endless touchdowns on the screen
everyone trying to score
everyone lying thru their drink
to make it happen

tonight let's all be friends
who are you—another drink?
let the music pull you away
pour another and forget
the rest

Choices

He entered the room like a judge,
slowly,
with purpose

With judicial care he
made his selection and
weighed his options as if Justice herself
were holding the scales and
with the deliberation of a jury
he selected the tools for his task

When at last,
like the aged satisfied with long life,
he was content with the direction
of the proceedings and he
sat in his robe behind
the massive desk
poured the milk and
cereal and began to eat.