Republicans! If You're In It to Win It - GTFO of the Bedroom!

I love Rudy Giuliani.

To me Rudy will always be da Man. In my humble opinion he is the reason NYC is what it is today and not the cesspool haven of crime I remember from my youth. Yeah, he was tough; he pissed a lot of people off, but when is the last time you heard someone say they were “afraid” to go to NYC? Now, it is a shining beacon for the world to enjoy and indeed they do. Of course, Mikey Bloomberg has made the place completely unavailable for normal people to live there – but – that’s another entire blog post.

Back to Rudy.

When I saw the headline last week about Rudy advising the Republican Party to drop the Gay Marriage issue I was completely psyched, and not just because it’s something that drives me nuts personally, but because people tend to listen to Rudy. I thought: “Awesome. Maybe now at least one of the tired old philosophies that 90% of R’s don’t agree with anyway, will be taken off the table.” Then I read the freakin’ article.

Rudy disappoints with his stance on Gay Marriage. It’s not enough to just say it should be taken off the table for discussion and that the topic should be left up to the individual states. R’s have to drop it all together. The Democratic Platform is SO ludicrous on its own; they don’t need this kind of ammunition to bandy about and bash the R’s into oblivion election after election. Imagine the votes that could be picked up if only this one plank was left off the platform. Drop the antiquated stance on abortion and the R’s could rock both the White House and Congress with ease.

It’s not like it would be hard to do either. I honestly don’t know a Republican in my circle of political friends who subscribes to the points of views the Demo-rats accuse us of. So why hang on to this age-old horseshit? I realize the answer lies in campaign funding from far right organizations, but think about how dropping the argument would bring in other revenue streams. Hell, that’s part and parcel of being a Republican right there – forward momentum towards success. Change it up – make money from other sources.

The Democrats use this issue to muddy the waters. They have to. Their philosophy is so desperately flawed they must demonize us on attributes other than our basic philosophy. Who can argue with personal freedom, individual’s rights, justice and the belief that nobody should be taxed differently than anyone else? When did prosperity take a back seat to “just getting along and letting the Government (taxpayers) pick up the slack”?

The opposition to Gay Marriage goes against our strong belief in individual’s rights. It’s counterintuitive to our main belief system. As Republicans we want Government to stay the hell out of our life as much as possible. How do we justify that with statements and campaign promises about keeping marriage only between a man and a woman…and legislating it? Moral superiority? We certainly already hold the monopoly on that over Democrats just with our love of this Nation and enforcing the ideals the founding fathers set forth for it. So, why are we mucking around in it? It baffles the mind to be honest.

If you’re a Republican and you come out supporting gay marriage there is no need to worry about the Liberal label. No one is going to accuse you of being a socialist, supporter of entitlements, a progressive taxation fan, or a champion of minimum wage. In fact, when boiled down to the basics, amongst people who use more than a 1/10^th of a percent of their brain power, you would actually be seen as more genuine in your support of the Republican Party. Our party is about empowering the people – all the people. We can’t nurture that ideal if we keep trying to tell people who they should invite into their bedrooms or who they can spend their lives with.

I guess beginning with dropping the issue as a political strategy move is a start – but it’s a weak one. Weak is one thing Republicans are not. We leave that to the other party.

Winning in 2012 is essential to keeping our country from tumbling over the precipice to ruin Lord Falderal has led us to. No mistakes can be made. Republicans need only look to the basic platform in order to win. This administration is going to take itself out with their sophomoric missteps and blind leading the blind initiatives. But, let’s not take any chances. Drop the gay marriage issue and believe in it; don’t do it because Rudy said to.

Trifecta 11/2/2010

Wow. What a week.

Republicans prevail as expected, Nancy Pelosi flips all over the place and that scumbag Olberman gets the boot. Not bad. But, there are serious caveats to watch for and lessons to be taken from Tuesday’s historic victory.

First, let’s think about the Republican win and what it means for the next two years. There were certainly hopes that Lord Falderal would get the message and finally work with the R’s to try and get something productive through the legislature. Productive meaning, passing bills and laws that don’t bankrupt the Nation, or upset our Capitalist model.

Well, after Falderal’s speech and the Republican reaction to it, it’s clear that just ain’t going to happen. Why? For one thing, as should have been expected, Falderal did not feel one ounce of chastening for the lambasting his party received. Unlike Clinton when faced with the same dilemma in ’94, Falderal did not show any grace or leadership, and just flat out admit the message was received and he would play ball. He did say he is ultimately responsible. Big friggin’ deal. What does he think we are Kindergarteners? He gets zero points for making that assertion. Of course, Falderal is correct, he will indeed be judged in 2012.

So where does that leave things?

The only sad possibility now is that Congress basically does nothing for the next two years and the R’s focus on taking back the White House and aiming for a super-majority in the House and the Senate. The reality is, that will be the only way to break gridlock. I know it sucks and I would rather see people play well together in the sandbox and actually accomplish something. But, the poisoning in the well goes too deep and the whole thing needs to be dug out and replaced.

My prediction is Boehner will put up the Healthcare Bill for repeal as fast as possible. Falderal will veto and then the Republican Party will have the ammunition needed to take the White House and turn more blue seats red. The argument will be that the only way for repeal to go through and any action taken on future bills will be to take even more D positions. If things stay the same with the economy or only look slightly better that will be an easy sell.

Also, Nancy Pelosi has been cackling away about running for Minority Leadership. Could the R’s be given a bigger gift? In my opinion, she is one of the main reasons Tuesday went so well for the R’s. If she stays on…well…2012 is in the bag.

Probably the most important thing to come out of the election for the R’s is the addition of some great candidates for 2012. There is really good talent out there now and the R’s no longer have to worry about Palin, who really is an albatross that will have to be dealt with at some point. Even better is that the lineup going into 2016 is looking pretty great as well. Pawlenty, Rubio, and a slew of other possibilities will give voters some serious talent to ponder. The tired old guard will of course put their names into the ring, but now there will actually be some very serious young, diverse and brilliant contenders to take out Falderal.

The Tea Party Movement had an amazing showing on Tuesday although the lesson there is to pick some better candidates next time because the loss of Delaware, Utah and Alaska was completely avoidable. The GOP, Democrats and the country as a whole better start taking the Tea Party seriously. I am not a tea partier but I have spent the year defending them and I am gleeful they showed those smug fuck Democrats what they could do. I lost what respect I had for the D’s this year as I watched them demonize their fellow countrymen as incoherent racists. It was a truly disgusting display and showed the true colors of the party of hypocrisy. The downtrodden and hurting are apparently only legitimate if they belong to the D’s. Foul, just plain foul.

Finally, watching the fall of Olberman has got to be one of the most fabulous feelings ever. Unfortunately, it only amounts to a pissing match between the d-bag and his boss and lacks real substance, but what the hell; I’ll take what I can get. The truth is I enjoy watching that kind of demise as it showcases another hypocrisy, that of Liberals constantly hounding Fox about being political whilst defending the mainstream media as bastions of legitimacy and fact-finding. Uh huh.

I hope I never feel the need to say this again, but this year the Democrats really disgusted me on so many levels; something which has never happened to this extent before and what I have to say to the Democrats is this:

Fuck y’all. You just got schooled.

Pay Attention East Haven: Vote for Linda Monaco

UPDATE: With the election of a new Governor, Mike Lawlor has been appointed to something or other and there is a special election being held February 22, 2011

Yes, this is another East Haven, CT post.

It may seem I have been strangely obsessed with East Haven this year given the amount of space dedicated to blog posts regarding the shenanigans going on in the small Connecticut town. There is a reason however, and that reason is I believe East Haven to be a great metaphor for the United States as whole, as far as abuse of power by the Government goes. I am not going to re-hash those shenanigans; you can read about them here:

http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/04/good-police-chief-bad-mayor.html

http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/05/and-then-there-were-three-arrested-that.html

East Haven is the perfect example of why voters need to toss out the offal that creeps throughout the halls of our Capitals, both at the Federal and State levels. Like the United States, East Haven is wildly patriotic, proud, and has one of the strongest senses of community you will ever find.

East Haven is a town of real, hard working, family oriented people who have been hit hard by the crumbling of the economy and the tyranny of its local government. Like the rest of the country, the problem stems from the stagnant pool of politicians the town is burdened with. Like the US of A, East Haven needs a change.

For the last 22 years, Representative Michael Lawlor (D) has represented the town at the state level for the 99^th Connecticut General Assembly District. Lawlor is kind of East Haven’s prodigal son. He’s been through the system so to speak; attended the town’s public schools, was awarded a law degree, became a prosecutor, and all the other boring regimental stuff you do when trying to become a career politician. There is nothing wrong with that, and I honestly don’t have a lot of bad things to say about Mike.

The problem with Mike is he’s played out like a bad banjo string. He has been indoctrinated to go along with whatever whim the Connecticut legislative Democrats conger up. Lawlor has become a de facto part of the problem by not formulating original and productive ideas predicated on the wants and needs of his constituents. Instead he votes along with a body of career politicians, so fat, happy and stupid, it’s embarrassing.

The Connecticut legislature hasn’t had a significant turnover in so many decades it is astounding to think about. The reasons could be varied and I personally have no idea which ones are valid, but my theory is voter apathy, the result of which has been ridiculously high taxes, an ever-increasing amount of brain drain, and the exodus of much needed jobs. The state has been blessed with a great Governor whom could have been even greater if she had a reasonably intelligent group of legislators to deal with.

This year, East Haven has a fabulous candidate challenging Lawlor, a candidate who has a very good chance of winning and would be a major boon to East Haven.

Linda Monaco is the real deal.

Born from good hardworking Pittsburgh stock, Linda’s route to politics was not a straight line like Lawlor’s. Linda didn’t wake up one day during her formative years and say; hey, I think I want to be a politician, so I’ll map out my life path to make sure I get there. No, Linda’s route was more circuitous, and along the way she picked up the kind of experience, education, and values that make the now elusive American Dream seem possible again.

Linda has run the gamut of a true American life. She’s worked hard, been a single Mom, realized the achievement of higher education later in life could only benefit her family, and has an attitude and personality not often seen in modern politics. In other words, she’s likable and not in a “she’s better than the alternative kind of way”. You can’t help but be taken by her verve and energy. There is no syrupy, sickeningly sweet political lubricant with Linda. The intrinsic feeling you get is that she is for real and can be trusted. That is what Government needs today. Real people who have been through the trials and tribulations of real life.

She is not a party hack either, and that is one of the things I like most about Linda. (As should be abundantly clear, I have been majorly disappointed with the choices the CT GOP has made this year.See: http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/05/connecticut-gop-needs-enema.html) It doesn’t matter what political party you are registered as, if you believe in capitalism, small government and liberty, you can feel good about a vote for Linda.

What we have in this country and the State of Connecticut and the Town of East Haven, is a crew of political Methusalahs who need to be taken out because as we all know, they won’t just bow out gracefully. Linda Monaco would be a good start towards achieving that goal.

What the United States and East Haven needs now is jobs, jobs and more jobs. Linda Monaco understands that and more importantly…she gets it. As a small business owner who has had to tighten her own reigns while at the same time making life easier for her clients by creating a sliding scale payment system, she not only knows how to create income, she knows how to help other people create it as well. This is the kind of simplicity that will save this country, the understanding of supply and demand and not living beyond our means while also helping out our own by buying their goods and services and keeping it within our own community families.

Linda is whom we need in Government. What we don’t need is a bunch of Mike Lawlors whose idea of job creation is to go along with his myopic brethren creating Government growth. It will be a long, long time before you see me write this line again about anyone seeking public office:

It would be an honor for East Haven to be represented by someone like Linda Monaco and not the other way around.

The cavalry is coming in November and if you live in East Haven, CT, be a part of change for the good. Vote for Linda Monaco.

Check out Linda’s website:

http://www.lindamonacopeoplefirst.com/

Anger, Ego & Healthcare Reform

I have waited to comment on the atrocity that is Healthcare Reform as I found myself so angry as to risk an unintelligible tirade, the literary version of firing a bullet at some idiot Congressman’s field office. I have found putting a little distance between myself, and Lord Falderal’s signing off on the largest publicly funded ego trip since Roosevelt and the New Deal, to be very therapeutic.

What has ensued in the last week since this abortion of legislation was vacuumed out of the womb of Congress is both deeply troubling as well as encouraging.  By encouraging I mean the outrage shown by the overwhelmingly large majority of voters against Healthcare Reform lends well to potentially “throwing the bums out” in the midterms this November.

The troubling part is two fold. First, the thing is law. Law, which will never be administrated correctly because the numbers just do not work. Basically, we have yet another useless and hopelessly flawed piece of legislation that will make welfare look like Microsoft in comparison.

The second more troubling issue is the insidious reversion to violence that has occurred in some factions of the Tea Party. This kind of behavior is not a good thing for Conservatives as a whole. This is the kind of crap that makes the less educated Liberals dive onto the “right wing nut job” bandwagon, screwing it up for those of us who stick to and abide by the more basic facets of the Conservative Republican platform.

Republicans now have a very tenuous line to walk heading up to the mid terms and need to flesh out any extremism in order to attract back into the fold, the Independents that were (hopefully) temporarily dazzled by Lord Falderal’s incredible pile of hyperbole and empty rhetoric. That particular brand of voter is not going to take well to the threats and violent actions of a few angry people who just can’t take it anymore.

That said. What the hell did Lord Falderal and his pack of zombies expect when they passed this piece of crap? Of course people were going to go crazy. No one wanted the flippin’ thing to begin with. The whole “mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it anymore” response is alive and well here in the good ol’ US of A. All the signs were there. Rallies, protests, the fact that only 17% of the whole country wanted Healthcare Reform in first place, should have given someone a clue. And, honestly I have to say if faced with some of these people (Congress) in person, I am not so sure I could keep from popping them in the nose!

Anger is a valid human emotion. The extremism we have seen in the last two weeks is inexcusable for sure. However, the origin of it is pretty easy to understand. For people who love this country and pay attention to what is going on, getting angry is their only resort to being heard. This legislation has cancelled our Representative Republic status and that in turn has pissed of a whole bunch of folk. The jackasses we elected into office are not doing their jobs and the common man has no real way to express himself or herself, except to vote or resort to more extreme tactics.

The recent activity with militias should come as no surprise. It is the oldest form of rebellion in our Nation’s history.  Forming militias is basically built into the DNA of the US. That doesn’t make arming ourselves against our own government a good solution to the country’s problems. The thing about human beings is we still resort to the primordial slime when our backs are up against the wall. We still have war; we still kill and maim each other like some kind of highly functioning Serengeti predator.

What needs to happen is for Conservatives to tone down the violent rebellion rhetoric and have an honest to goodness uprising by coming together and voting this Congress and eventually this President into oblivion. That is the right kind of rebellion. Let’s face it, as Conservatives we have the ammunition needed to do it we just have to stay focused.

Lord Falderal has indeed broached Socialism with the Healthcare Reform Bill.

One of my favorite sayings that I use all the time is “sometimes things just are what they are”. And, this is what it is. I am so fucking tired of listening to Liberals defending Falderal’s actions by saying that Fire, Police, Education and Infrastructure Services are Socialist by their very nature. That is just blatantly wrong.

Fire, Police, Education, Infrastructure creation and maintenance are NOT Socialist programs. There is no redistribution of wealth, they do not create goods, not everyone uses them in their lifetime and we have all agreed as a Republic to pay for them. Some would say that we shouldn’t be forced to pay for things we don’t use. That may be true but we made the decision as one to do it. Yeah, taxes suck, but for these types of services it just makes sense. Unlike Healthcare Reform, we were somewhat well represented when the decision to turn those services over to the Government were made. This is wickedly different than what the Healthcare Reform Bill shoves down our throats.

With Healthcare there IS a redistribution of wealth in that person A’s insurance premiums will be used to offset person B’s health insurance. We are forced under penalty of fine, to pay for everyone else’s healthcare situation. The key here is that EVERYONE is mandated to have health insurance. The means of production, exchange, and distribution of goods and services are all owned by the community with Healthcare Reform. That is Socialism.

And so here we are stuck with a useless law that will never gain any traction, beset on us by an equally useless President whose enormous ego prevented him from working on the issues the public cared about most just so he could experiment with a Socialist agenda and make some kind of show for those who stayed loyal to him. Now more than ever, this President’s power needs to be usurped not by violence, but by a carefully crafted and orchestrated rebellion at the voting booths.

Biden in the Middle East? Where's That 3 Year Vacation When You Need it, Joe?

If you are a formerly popular President who has become somewhat unpopular and need to deal with one of the World’s largest issues, but risk looking even worse than you already do, what is the answer? Well, obviously to send the worst qualified and least ambitious of all politicians to deal with it in your stead.

Lord Falderal has dispatched Gaffemeister Biden to the Middle East to “try to boost Middle East Prospects”. What? Are you kidding me? Guess you should have kept your mouth shut Joe when you said the Vice President doesn’t do anything. You’re screwed now buddy!

Stupid is as stupid does and Falderal has outdone himself this time.

Can anyone honestly imagine Gaffemeister Biden matching wits with someone like Netanyahu who is supremely pissed at the US for ignoring the madman currently in charge of Iran. The fact Ahmadinejad has been screaming on high that 9/11 was a “big fabrication” should give some clue to just how dangerous this dude is and having Gaffemeister Biden involved with anything even remotely close to dealing with such a man is a fool’s errand indeed.

Iran has not been immune to the growing International sentiment that the US has been weakened by the election of Falderal. If anyone thinks that for one minute Iran isn’t developing all kinds of nasty weapons to wreak havoc in the Middle East, they’re crazy. Sanctions and diplomacy are not going to mean spit to development of Tehran’s nuclear program and guys like Netanyahu know it. And, trust me Iran’s nuclear program isn’t going to have anything to do with clean energy!

Israel is well aware of the dangers of Iran and with the United States pussyfooting around whether we would support or allow a strike by Israel, we are not gaining the allies we need to have. Israel was already worried about Falderal’s coddling of the Muslims a long time ago and sending Biden to do his work for him is not going to have a good effect.

Falderal’s policies here at home are bad enough, but his disasters on the International scene are about to become even worse.

I think this gives good insight to the character and substance of Falderal. His administration is sucking bilge water right now and he can’t afford any more heat brought down on him. So, he chooses one of the most poignant and charged International issues to muck up in order to try and save some face. It shows just how out of his league he truly is.

It has been said that Biden’s main job in this visit is to tell Israel not to bomb Iran and to instill in the Israeli people a feeling of confidence that Falderal will ensure their security, but that the US will continue it’s rally for peace. Really? How? How will sending an idiot instill confidence? And, how are the Israeli people supposed to feel secure when the US will not support Israel protecting itself.

The real message Falderal is sending Israel is that he sees Israel as a second-class citizen in the International theatre. He is in essence insulting Israel by sending Biden as his message carrier.

Israel already has a tenuous relationship with Falderal as evidenced by the aforementioned Muslim problem. You may remember that Falderal has made well-publicized visits to Egypt, Saudi Arabia (where he bowed to the King!), and in late March will visit Indonesia. I guess Israel only rates a Biden visit. Falderal also has called for a complete Jewish settlement freeze, which really hurt US-Israeli relations. He has backed off on it a bit, but the damage has been done.

I am not saying Israel should bomb Iran, it would greatly destabilize what is already an unstable situation, but we need to show Israel real support and act more as an partner than some kind of overbearing parent. The United States needs to slow its downward roll towards being a second rate power, but that will never happen if the President keeps lobbing insults at our allies.

The worst part is; Israel isn’t even asking for complete backing of military action yet. What they want now is hard sanctions against Iran. Falderal won’t even give them that. Falderal is worried about sanctions destabilizing the Iranian economy. So? Isn’t that the point? Hit them where it hurts and get them to turn their thinking around. It’s better than a military action.

Sending Gaffemeister Biden is an insult plain and clear, he will not be taken seriously by real leaders. This is a guy who once said in reference to his Vice Presidential qualifications; “I am the most experienced since anybody”. I don’t remember Vice President Anybody, but alrighty then… Biden also gave this quote to a New York Times reporter, “I know as much, or more than Cheney.” Say what you will about Cheney, but I am pretty sure he’s just a tad smarter than Biden!

I do have to admit I would love to be a fly on the wall for this little caper. I imagine the comedy to be endless if not really, really sad.

A member of Falderal’s cabinet once said they wished Falderal could send Biden on a three-year vacation; I bet Joe wishes he would too.


UPDATE: 


Well, Gaffemeister Biden's trip was as predicted a colossal joke. With Israeli headlines such as: "Embarassment", and a cavalcade of snubs and Biden'isms, we once again proved ourselves as a great nation in rapid decline. Nice work Lorad Falderal. How about sending Biden on that vacation now and sparing us further embarrassment.

The Obama Religion

Man, I am pissed off about our so-called President, and I know it shows. I’ve lost at least one Facebook friend that I know of because of it and there may be others. And, a good portion of my regular retinue of friends and family feel I am unduly obsessed with hating on Lord Falderal.

Yes, I am obsessed and I need to tell everyone why.

The last year has been a real struggle trying to figure out what it is about this guy that has gotten to my core. There have been politicians at all levels that I have recoiled from and cursed to the bowels of Hell many, many times in my life, but this feeling is epic. I can’t get it out of my mind. At first, I thought maybe I have finally snapped and having too much time on my hands to reflect on his continued syllabus of foibles am internalizing more than in the past.

Then I found a way to help me understand it.

Religion and faith.

I am not a religious guy by any stretch of the imagination. I am a Congregationalist, just for show. I got married once and had to join the Church I wanted the ceremony to take place in. It wasn’t hard as it was my hometown Church I had been involved with all my life, I just had never joined.

I do have a spiritual leader but only by happenstance. I didn’t seek him out he just came into my life. His life experience has been hard and time tested, which is why I call him my spiritual leader. I trust in him not really as a man of the cloth, but as a man in full. This person and I speak rarely; usually when someone in the family is being married or buried, but that doesn’t matter, the advice and knowledge I have gotten from him over the years is more than helpful. My point is that I get religion on its face. I completely understand why people are so ardent about it.

It wasn’t always that way though. Basically, I grew up thinking the Catholic Church was the real root of all evil and shunned learning about any of its tenants and teachings. My only exposure was the occasional wedding or funeral where I would count on someone to tell me when to kneel, sit, say the Lord’s Prayer, tip the Usher, or whatever.

Then I got the case of a lifetime.

I am the former owner of a Private Detective agency. In my career, I was fortunate to get some truly outrageous cases that I was nowhere near qualified to handle, but I took them, did my best and the results were usually good.

One day I was called upon by a New England Archdiocese (name & cases withheld for what should be obvious reasons) to help investigate a few wayward Priests. I was shocked they wanted my firm, and to this day have no idea who referred us.

Fortunately, there weren’t any child/priest situations (had there been I would have solved each one with my Glock, a dark alley, and no witnesses), they were cases involving Priests who couldn’t keep their quills out of the Congregation’s inkwell. In fact, not only were they sleeping with the wives of the faithful, they were bilking them for all they were worth as well as the Archdiocese itself.

At first I treated the client as I would any other. I approached the cases with the same set of rules as always. The job of a PI is to get the truth, not to tell the client what they want to hear or manufacture situations that never occurred. They were paying me a ton of money, way too obscene to impart here, and I was committed to doing the best I could and expected my staff to do the same. That thinking was a mistake.

I had the cream of the crop on my staff; former military guys, ex-cops, computer experts, extremely tough and smart people. They also all happened to be religious with the majority consisting of practicing Catholics.

Very quickly I learned just how important religion is. I had PI’s I thought could handle anything refuse to work on these cases because they could not deal with the idea of modern day Charlatan priests. They just didn’t want to know. I had one guy crack during surveillance, this gigantic, former Marine broke down after witnessing a Priest follow his paramour into her car port, remove his collar and partake in a little afternoon delight. This was after she bought him a new high def flat screen for his quarters at the rectory. He told me the abuse of power was too much to handle and his faith was being torn out from under him right before his eyes.

I thought he was nuts, until I looked into his eyes and saw the pain.

That is the pain I am feeling right now for our country, and even more so for my friends. I value my friends and family more than anything on this Earth. You can take my money, my possessions, anything but my friends and family. I have more respect for them than I do myself, and most of them are diametrically opposed to my political views. It is the memories created by these people that are the essence of my life.

And, they were duped. They were duped by a modern day Charlatan that doesn’t wear a collar, but flits about the world with a TelePrompTer and an arsenal of unobtainable hopes and dreams to sell. That sell job has shaken the faith of many of my friends who believed the crap Lord Falderal was slinging and is still slinging.

Like a bad Priest, he manipulated, took captive and raped the very intellect and goodness that allowed these people to believe his outrageous claims. The powerful and dangerous rhetoric was so well placed, and so well orchestrated it superseded any semblance of common sense to these folks. It created a religious zeal. I have never blamed the people who voted for Falderal; I get why they did it, I blame him and the people behind his assent.

I can honestly say most of my Obama supporting friends regret their choice. There are the few holding out for what would have to be a miracle to change this guy’s fortunes, but I believe it is out of stubbornness, or just unabashed hatred of Republicans and the former Bush administration.

My religion is the United States of America, where at one time anyone could be anything they wanted. Hope wasn’t just a buzzword; it was a way of life. Where the industry of regular people made up the majesty of the country. Our greatness was once predicated on our own individual efforts to make the country work. Now, it is a shambles because of the arrogance and lies of this person making a mockery of the Office of President.

This is why I am angry. It is not Falderal’s job to dictate, it is his job to serve us. It is not his job to push through legislation the country doesn’t want so he can preserve his legacy in the History books. It is not his job to traipse around the globe apologizing for our past actions; it is his job to represent his country with the pride and love of a true American. It is not Falderal’s job to be experimenting with Socialism and acting as a de facto dictator. It is his job to be bipartisan and play well with others in both parties and give the people what they want, not what he wants.

And, although this may seem petty, I believe it provides a good metaphor for how Falderal envisions himself. Falderal is a guest at the White House and like a guest at any home he should treat it with respect and a modicum of decorum. Seeing press shots of him with his feet up on the desk given to Rutherford Hayes by Queen Victoria makes my blood boil, likewise his habit of not wearing his jacket in the Oval. I know I seem like a tight ass here, but these are the kinds of things that cheapen the Office of President.

This is not about partisanship. I wish so badly that it was. I would have been more than happy to be arguing with my friends and family over age-old differences between R’s and D’s for the next four years rather than trying to make them see we are facing the demise of what was once a great country. We can no longer intellectualize politics and government like we used to. Now we are in real danger and have to do something about it.

If even the most liberal of liberals in the Continental Congress knew what this country was going through, they would be spinning in their graves.

My faith in this Government is completely shaken, but not my faith in the people of this nation.

Rob Simmons vs Linda McMahon Smackdown!

The Real Linda McMahon

Well, I guess if you live long enough you really will see everything.

Political theatre is always entertaining until it becomes disturbing and perverse. I love my home state of Connecticut because it is small enough that I have been fortunate to meet most of our State government officials and political operatives over the years, thus enabling me to make personal determinations of who has the best interests of the state at heart and who is really just gunning for their own piece of posterity. I also get to know who the real hypocrites are.

I was gratified beyond belief the day Chris Dodd announced he was hanging up his Senator suit and sliding into private life. His is a career that would make any corrupt politician blush. If ever there were an argument for term limits, Dodd should be the seminal example. I was further gratified to learn that Rob Simmons a former Congressman, military man, CIA employee and Republican was willing to throw his name in as a candidate for Dodd’s seat.

Rob Simmons

Rob is a guy with the right amount of political polish, life experience and a clear understanding of what voters expect of their elected officials. Despite having lived and worked in Washington, Simmons is not a DC insider, which became obvious when he was voted out of office in favor of a political shill, who only won after being coddled and supported by Dodd and other useless Connecticut Democrats who have darkened the halls of Congress for seemingly eons.

I had two very small dealings with Simmons, which he wouldn’t even remember I am sure, but they struck me. I called his office for help on a business matter and even though I was outside of his congressional district, Simmons instructed his staff to jump on my issue and run with it. I called him because the representative in my district, one of the people who supported Rob’s Congressional opponent, never answered my repeated correspondence. Even though Simmons had no idea who I was and regardless of the fact I lived outside of his voting arena, he helped me out.

My second encounter with Simmons occurred at the State Capitol after he was voted out of office and our Governor Jodi Rell appointed him as the very first Business Advocate for Connecticut, a job he dove into and performed extremely well. I was impressed by his willingness to listen to any and all businesspeople with their varying problems while delivering honest, frank and sometimes brutal answers to their queries.

What really impressed me was that at the announcement of his appointment, Simmons had yet to be assigned an office, or even a telephone. Hell, they hadn’t even given him business cards yet. So, what did Simmons do? He handed out his own personal cards with his personal cell phone number written on the back to everyone and anyone who had an issue to discuss. That’s pretty damn cool. Rob’s particular brand of experience coupled with the ability to effectively communicate is rare.

As would be expected just about every yahoo wannabe senator has crawled out of the political muck to try and grab the much coveted seat being left by Dodd this year, especially Republicans. The smell of blood is in the air and anyone with the slightest red tint is ready to pounce.

One of those people ready to pounce is Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Yes, you read that right, the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Now, we shouldn’t pass judgment here just based on the fact the company McMahon runs happens to be a joke to most of us. After all, regardless of their end product, the WWE is wildly successful and we should give the devil his or her due. McMahon is obviously a capable businessperson but that doesn’t make her a good potential public servant.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, as much as I love political theatre and this situation really could be entertaining; there is a twisted and troubling aspect to this affair.

Linda McMahon popped out a series of beautiful glossy mailers, all depicting smiling attractive women in different positive lights as a very obvious and determined attempt to court the female vote. Admirable. Well, under normal circumstances, but not so much in this instance.

McMahon’s company thrives and ultimately exists on violence and in particular violence involving women. Whilst she may be correct in the idea that women fake fighting women and men fake fighting women may be titillating to a certain demographic, this philosophy really doesn’t lend to the idea of empowering female voters. Not to mention the message it sends to women in general, especially young women. How does she qualify this bizarre dichotomy? How does she justify wanting to represent the people of Connecticut in one of the most austere offices of our Federal government, while supporting the ideal that violence against women by men is morally acceptable?

To be fair, yeah, it is all fake and one does have to make a living somehow, but really this is not the platform from which to launch a career in the Senate. This is a person who by her everyday actions supports the degradation of women for profit. Women on WWE programs are routinely referred to as hos, bitches, sluts, what have you and are portrayed in the very worst possible light. Imagine your daughter emanating this piece of garbage?

Voting this person into office would be like voting in a President whose only job experience was working for an organization that pushed using taxpayer money for housing deals for pimps and pros-t-i-t-u-t….whoops…

Anyway, the idea that a guy like Rob Simmons has to suffer a pre-primary, or possible actual primary campaign against someone of this caliber makes my teeth hurt. I hope this obstacle goes away for Rob so I can start commenting on the pathetic lot that awaits him on the Democratic side! They are not quite as colorful as Linda McMahon, but they do make for good fodder!


Check out this video to get an idea of what Linda McMahon and her company profit from.

Shelby; Way to Make the Democrats Cry, Dude!

I am getting a real kick out of the hold Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has placed on Lord Falderal’s nominations for a lot of reasons. While it is true that I love political theatre in any form, I particularly love it when it is entirely misconstrued, misunderstood and mis-communicated by the press.

There is a mechanism in the Senate that allows Senators to put holds on Presidential nominations especially in the case of a perceived intense preference by the President to a particular nominee. The mechanism actually allows a single Senator to put holds on as many nominations as he/she feels necessary. Holds happen all the time, usually one at a time. Senator Shelby has decided to invoke his right to hold up all 70 of Lord Falderal’s pending nominations.

Most of these nominations are, well, nominal to say the least. Very few are actually important and the President does have a remedy to the situation. He can actually temporarily appoint his nominees and have them formally take their jobs at a later date.

Senator Shelby is being cast as the poster child for Republican obstructionism by the Falderal administration for making this bold and unprecedented move. Headlines in the Washington Post like; America Taken Hostage, Day 1, have been the norm for just over a week now. What the Falderal Administration and Senate Democrats are insinuating is that Shelby’s hold is bad for America because it has put a stop to any forward motion for any legislation in the pipeline for the last year, including health care reform.

Shelby’s motivation for placing the holds is he wants earmark spending for his State fast tracked. The Democrats are calling foul as this maneuver represents pork barrel spending in their eyes. Well, they would know, wouldn’t they? They are trying desperately to use their own philosophy on pork as a weapon against Shelby and the Republicans by saying that R’s have been consistently against earmarks since Christ was a Corporal in the Footguard, and therefore should back down on these holds.

True enough.

However, let’s consider a few things here.

First, what are the earmarks Shelby is looking for? The good Senator is looking for dough that would go directly to funding our country’s defense. The FBI is seeking to build a lab for improvised explosive device testing in Alabama, the state Shelby represents. Something Team Falderal has spent the last year trying to kill.

The other pet project of Shelby’s is a little stickier. There is a $40 billion dollar contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers at a Northrup facility in Mobile. The company has threatened to bail out on Alabama unless the Air Force makes some changes to a draft request for proposals. One would assume, a change that would benefit Northrup in the bidding process.

Both of these programs are good for the country and are job intensive, meaning unlike most of Falderal and Senate Democratic programs, there will be job creation, a lot of it.

What Shelby is doing is his job, representing the State he was elected in and the people who elected him by looking out for their best interests. He is taking action, something Senate Democrats certainly know nothing about.

One of the responses taken by Falderal and the D’s is an investigation into Shelby’s campaign contributions. Well, lo and behold, the defense contractors mentioned above were major contributors. Is that somehow surprising? Are we 14 years old here? Of course, his contributions were heavy on the contractor side. Where is the big story?

What the Democrats are really whining about is their power and platform being pulled out from under them. Perhaps they should reconsider their own actions in the past year and apply them to the Shelby situation.

We wouldn’t be in this mess had Falderal kept to his word and fostered an environment of bi-partisanship after taking the train to the White House. Instead what he fostered was an air of power that due to the super majority in the Houses made him and his partners in the axis of evil, Pelosi and Reid, feel as though they could do anything they wanted. The problem with this is they read the public wrong and forced upon their constituents’ legislation they never wanted as evidenced by the whole Scott Brown situation.

Falderal’s attempt to garner Republican partnership after the State of the Union was too little too late. Had Falderal listened to what the other side had to say throughout the year, perhaps he and us, the American people, wouldn’t be in such trouble.

Shelby isn’t holding the country hostage at all. What he may actually be doing is saving us from this dysfunctional Government that can’t get out of it’s own way. Maybe forcing the shut down of the Senate is a good thing, or at least crippling it until the mid terms so we can get some new blood.

It’s time for the Falderal Administration and the bags of dung they drug along with them into the Houses to wake up and start playing ball. If Falderal was smart, he’d fire everyone on his staff and start over with qualified professionals from both sides of the aisle. But he’s not, as was clearly indicated at the State of the Union. So, we will have to wait until next year when guaranteed come Hell or high water, there will be new faces sitting in those chambers. Let’s just hope they are not as dumb as this batch.

Talk About No Clue, Obama & Small Business

With the painfully obvious need to try and shine up his image, Lord Falderal takes a trip up to Nashua, NH and tells small business how he is going to save them from the disastrous situation he has created by proposing a new and improved disastrous situation. As usual, the proposed solutions have nothing at all to do with what small business is actually concerned with and include a whole new set of flawed equations.

What Falderal told small business owners is that he will lobby Congress to free up $30 billion to loan out to banks sporting assets under $10 billion dollars with the proviso through a slew of incentives, the money be funneled to small business owners in the form of easily obtained low interest commercial notes. Kind of like what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did for homeowners before they tanked.

Yippee.

That would be great except for two things:

1.      Small business does not currently give a rat’s ass about favorable interest rates, or financing in general. According to the National Federation of Independent Business it ranks a lowly second to last in favor of more immediate needs, you know, like staying in business in the first place! Something this faltering economy of Falderal’s is not making easy. Going into further debt at any interest rate is not something responsible business owners, the cornerstone of American business, are interested in. But, of course, Falderal or any other Democrat for that matter, couldn’t possibly relate to that notion.

2.     
 The second and more telling problem (since we know Falderal can’t understand basic business models) is where the $30 billion is to come from. Falderal intends on using money paid back from Wall Street bankers who took TARP funds. Remember, a lot of those guys were forced to take the dough against their wishes. Current estimates say that TARP will have ended up costing taxpayers close to $115 billion when the chips finally fall. I say double that since those are government estimates and they use the “new Falderal math” in their calculations.

Let’s think about this for a minute.

Taxpayers give $700 billion in TARP money to what essentially are the bad guys. The program fails miserably but we regain an estimated $585 million, a loss of $115 million. (Man, even my financial guy did better than that last year!) Then we take $30 billion of that repaid money bringing our immediate loss to $145 million and loan it out to some more scum bag banks in the hope that they will do the right thing. Unlikely. For the most part Falderal is taking a failed program and reinvigorating it although on a smaller scale, with the same tax dollars, your tax dollars. Does this make sense?

Meanwhile, to ensure Wall Street actually does pay us back, Falderal would like to institute a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee (FCRF). Isn’t this fun all these acronyms? Falderal is really good at them. This is a fee, or basically a fine imposed on all the institutions that took TARP, including those who didn’t want to in the first place.

Here’s the $30 billion dollar question.

Just who or whom, does Falderal think is going to pick up the tab on those FCRF fees? Us, that’s who, because in a capitalist society, when costs increase to the merchant they also increase to the consumer, or at least that is what I learned in business school. And, that just ain’t good for anybody!

Make no bones about it, those FCRF fees (the ones we are going to pay for) are not intended to help cover the costs of TARP, they are a slush fund for the Falderal Administration’s gigantic new spending spree.

The Federal Government is about to become the largest in the history of the United States. The White House states there will be 2.15 million workers in the Federal Government by the time Falderal’s budget passes.

We are completely screwed.

Until Lord Falderal takes a basic course in math and civics (to learn what the word Capitalism means), he would do well to stay away from taking meetings with actual business people and consider carting his Teleprompter to garden club outings. Or, maybe just keep touring the country campaigning with that same recycled bullshit he used for the State of the Union and give up attempting to be an actual President. He is a much more convincing campaigner and that might work a lot better for us.

Mayor Nick Valentine, My Kind of Leader!

Let me preface this blog by saying that in no way do I support the idea of trying the accused 9/11 terrorist scumbags in a Civilian Court.

This has to be far and away one of Lord Falderal’s more stupid notions. Justice should be delivered through the military courts as the attack on the twin towers was an Act of War, not civilian mass murder. The argument should end there.

However, it looks like there may be no escape from holding the terror trials in civil court unless Congress can be effective in cutting the funding for such a travesty. The only question is in what city will the trials take place.

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has made it clear the trials are not welcome in Manhattan given the cost of security, hype and potential danger to the citizens of the Big Apple. He estimated the cost of security alone to be upwards of $200 million. Great use of our tax dough, huh? Providing security for terrorists. Lovely.

As one would imagine there aren’t a lot of Mayors jumping up and down to host the trials in their cities. To the average thinking American it would seem a foolhardy enterprise to actively seek such a thing.

Enter Nick Valentine, part-time Mayor of Newburgh, NY.

Newburgh, NY is one of those charming Hudson River Valley towns forgotten by time and society. It is rich with history not forgotten, but neglected as so many historical Hudson River towns are. There is no real industry left in the town and it has suffered the effects for quite a few decades. This is a polite way to say that in essence the place is very poor and run down.

                                                                        

Most people from the Northeast know Newburgh only as a highway sign they see on their way either west to Pennsylvania, or East to New England. The town’s main landmark which isn’t really in the town at all, is the I-84 Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, a formidable span which on a clear day allows you a slight view of Manhattan 60 miles to the South.

One thing Newburgh has is a shiny new state-of-the-art courthouse that is super secure, and being only 60 miles from Manhattan, convenient to any and all players in say, a terror trial! Newburgh also falls into the jurisdictional requirements of a civilian murder trial. Add in a close proximity to West Point and a Federal Prison a mere 27 miles away and you have a great recipe for a terror trial venue!

Hizzoner Valentine knows this better than anyone and has taken his case to bring the trials to Newburgh public; hitting as many news shows and media outlets as he can.  

This is a real leader and visionary.

Now, I have no idea how the Mayor really feels about the core subject; whether or not the trials should take place in Civilian Court or not, but I do know one thing, he is definitely looking out for his town and that is admirable. Valentine did say at first he wasn’t very keen to the idea of the trials being held in Newburgh, but upon reflection changed his mind. To me, the Mayor is taking advantage of a shitty situation in order to give Newburgh an economic jump-start.

Nick Valentine is a businessman in addition to being the part-time Mayor. He owns a tailoring business right across the street from the courthouse and understands the nuances of simple economics. That is something most government officials lack, in addition to morality and ethics. Most politicians get ethical bypasses at birth!

Newburgh would benefit greatly financially from the terror trials through a wide variety of income streams. There is the obvious onslaught of media types who will bunk down for as long as the trials take, pumping their dollars directly into the local economy, there is the Federal money that will go into ramping up security and then there is the International attention that could spike tourism both during and after the trials.

Are there risks? Of course there are, the very same ones that would apply to Manhattan as the trial venue. Terrorist attacks could ensue, violence from protestors and any of the other sundry items that lay the foundation of the argument for not having these trials in civil forums could occur. But, one would hope these are calculated risks and will be mitigated by the security funding.

No doubt the good Mayor has taken these risks into account and as a small businessman realized the reward in the long term is well worth the risk. Anything worth doing always involves some kind of risk.

I haven’t the foggiest clue whether Mayor Valentine is a Republican or Democrat, and I don’t care. I do know that Mayor Nick Valentine is a breath of fresh air in this climate of bad government. He is doing the right thing for the people who voted him in by trying to draw attention to their plight. Even if they don’t get the trials, which they probably won’t given the inability of the Falderal Administration to give in to common sense, at least he hung it out there for everyone to see.

Surely, there are lots of folks who think this Mayor is crazy including some of his constituents, but those are people who fail to take in the big picture and they are part of the problem not the solution.

Good Luck Mayor Valentine, and citizens of Newburgh.

Bipartisanship? Bit Late Falderal, Ain't It?

Hmm.

Lord Falderal takes a meeting with the Republicans and begs for more cooperation and bipartisanship immediately after the worst State of the Union address in recent history, and immediately following an ass whipping of the extreme sort in the bluest state in the Country.

Normally, I would be all for this attempt at solidarity between the Legislative and Executive branch and would keep my big fat mouth shut. However, since it speaks so clearly to what I have been pointing out since Falderal took office, specifically his inexperience, I must opine openly.

Bipartisanship would have been fantastic immediately following inauguration day. But, despite his howling on high about being open to everybody’s opinion on what direction the country should head in, Falderal developed amnesia of the worst sort and any semblance of bipartisanship went the way of the Bush Administration; out to pasture, probably on some ranch in Texas, on January 21, 2009.

That was a shining example of Falderal’s inexperience.

Apparently, at Harvard, during the 48 hours he spent in the Senate, and all his time spent at ACORN, Falderal didn’t learn that despite having a majority in both houses, it does one well to play nicely with others. Because you never know when something like, oh I don’t know, the death of a senior senator may occur right when your popularity goes into the toilet and the country ain’t so hot on your goods any longer.

Learning the kind of lesson Falderal is learning now is valuable stuff to say the least. The thing is most politicians learn it long before running for President. On the job training when you are the President is never good for the country, especially when the lesson is so basic; play well with others in an effort to do your best for the American people. It’s called a team effort Lord Falderal.

Seeking out bipartisanship now borders on the ludicrous. That is; as long as the Republicans aren’t stupid enough to cave into this ill-advised ploy to regain any relevance he possibly can. Had the Republicans been smart, which would have been a serious leap of faith, they would have insisted in yesterdays little get together, that Falderal lop off the dangly bits of Pelosi and Reid (wonder who’s are bigger) and demand that any legislation, health care or otherwise, include more than just one line from the Republican side of the aisle from here on out.

That is what they would have done had they been smart.

Predictably, they weren’t. Yesterday’s meeting was a complete waste of time, which was billed in the press as “a step in the right direction”. If you believe that I have a bridge…blah blah blah.

All Falderal and the R’s did was widen the chasm between them which is great for Republican elections this Fall (not a bad thing). But, it still doesn’t bode well for the American people in the interim.

As fun as it is to treat politics as a game, like yours truly, the consequences of what I and every other yahoo out there loves to comment about are dire in the real world. These two parties of arrogant, entitled and clueless criminals have no intention of helping out anyone on the ground. That’s the real tragedy.

Sure there are all sorts of fun things to point out about yesterdays summit of the sailors of the Ship of Fools: Falderal finally kowtows and what do his brethren think of such contrition, Republicans get a chance to school Falderal, all sorts of contentious questions and answers to be strung out to the n’th degree and so on and so forth.

But herein lie the problem. In a meeting in which both parties accused the other of providing only dangerous rhetoric and no solutions, we are left with just another rhetoric session! We now have rhetoric meetings regarding rhetoric!! I wonder what it cost us to cart all these idiots to that meeting?

So, where are the American people left? In the same downward spiral as before the State of the Union speech. Falderal merely hit rewind and summoned up the ghosts of his 2008 campaign and then faked a moment of contrition.

Falderal actually said that he would rather be a good one term President than a mediocre two term President. I want to know for whom he would like to be a good one term President. I am pretty sure it is not for us, but for him.