Burried Under a Mound of Rhetoric

The economic recovery is hereby canceled. Also the Rapture is canceled. You know the one I was saying would occur sometime late next week. Well, it ain't gona happen. Instead we all have to live through the nightmare rhetoric that is the political right. When President Obama affirms "Yes we can", these people retaliate "No you can't". Our side wants to build up America and dig our way out of this recession. The political right think it's a contest of tearing American down, and seeing which one of them can screw up the economy the quickest. These people make the most dire of predictions, and when they get in office, try to make them come to pass. But there is no giant hand going to swoop down and take them off to la la land just when things are at their worst. They say you are entitled to your own oppinion but not your own facts. The Right speaks of taxes being "raised" next year, as though the liberals just did it, and it wasn't part and parcel of the bill George Bush signed in 2001. Even he knew you could sustain the stimulus for only a short while before you'd have to pay for it. Republicans don't want the recovery to occur and practicly say this. If you ask them "Well, how long do you think it will take for the recovery to happen if we cut taxes on the rich?" and they will say that basically it's too late already because there is no way we'll get out from under the mountain of debt. Of course Mc Cain blamed "Washington" for the economic problems of 2008. By the way, the recession was already under way in the summer of 2007 according to my own writings of the period. But "Washington" is dog whistle speak for "democrats". They methodically re-arrange facts as they speak, like a Christian historian. Dr. Levy says in simplistic fashion "Well you know it seems every time there is a Republican in the white house we have economic prosperity but every time we have a democrat, the size of government grows and commerce is strangled under a sea of regulations. Of course he forgets that Ronald Reagan's recession didn't BEGIN till several months AFTER he took office. And also by this time in Reagan's first term we had not yet reached the Bottom of the recession, let along talk of any recovery. But somehow the media wasn't all obsessive about Reagan ruining the country. And as far as today's deficets are concernet- - of course they're higher now because Bush did a lot of off the book accounting. The whole Iraq and Afghan wars wern't even put on the books till Obama arrived. The tea party people wern't calling the prescription drug subsedies as "socialized medicine". All we hear from people like Dr. Levy and the right is "The Obama administration has taken over the whole health care system" and others say "The President has rammed through his socialist health care agenda through a reluctant congress. If you tried to correct all their misstatements you'd be all day. My solution is just what congress is doing. They are ignoring the whole tax cut issue. That's fine with me. They can't get their precious tax cut for the richest among us unless the democrats help. It's funny how - for instance one individual who says "My business is only one third of what it used to be- - and it's all Obama's fault", basically. Yet she continues to identify with the top two percent of income earners as though an assault on them is an assault on her. One thing people forget is that most rich people don't pay 39% they pay fifteen percent because their income comes from dividends. The Secretary of the rich person pays more in taxes. Of course they quote the Bible saying that "redistribution of wealth is just wrong- - and immoral, because it says not to covet your neighbor's property." With all due respect if I speak out against my neighbor's slave plantation doesn't neccarily mean I want to be a slave owner myself. With the rich, they'll soon own everything and everybody, including all the land and the entire legal system, and all of the politicians. It doesn't take magic glasses to see the immorality in this. These people are avidly tree traders and anti economic patriot, and pro NAFTA. They may reference people taking their business to other countries. But if you suggest there be some sort of a tax law regulating this they will scream that Freedom of the rich would be violated if you took this important option away from them. According to Thom Hartman, this is one plank Americans wish were in that "Pledge to America" the Republicans put out last week. They aren't going to support keeping industries in America. Nobody is willing to do that. You point out the problem and the politicians stalwartly refuse to fix it. Of course whoever is governor will be blamed eventually for the job loss in California due to our "high taxes" and we don't have a friendly economic environment like Texas. Dr. Levy regards Governor Swartzenegger as a liberal traitor to the Republican cause and maintains his wife, Marie Shriver, turned him into a liberal. Who is to say Dr. Levy, like others already have, begin attacking Meg Whitman as a phony conservative and not really "one of us" once she has to face the same problems the current governor has to.

The Governor's race debate was held last night between Brown and Whitman. Whitman got the better of Jerry Brown in that debate because Brown was nervous and jumpy. Whitman was as cool as a cucumber on qualudes. She very methodically went through her check list agenda, often ignoring the question that was asked. A lot of good questions were asked but for instance Jerry Brown seemed to get sand bagged with charges and then have no time to refute them. Now we have Whitman's housekeeper hiring Gloria Alred as her attorney and putting on a tearful display saying she was fired in 2009. Of course she was fired. Meg Whitman found out she was an illegal. She didn't know she wasn't legal before because the housekeeper had sound documentation. Gloria Alred now says she'll have new evidence tomorrow.

The Feast of Booths

Tonight is apparently Sukkoth or the Feast of Booths in the Jewish religion. This has nothing to do with the show “Bones” but rather camping out under a full moon in a lean-to booth you construct in the back yard. That raises the question that in ancient cities they didn’t have “yards” and much less lawns. If we believe Johnny Wendell, lawns were virtually unknown 200 years ago except among Royalty. But the Jew is to build a booth in his yard during these eight days and seven nights that ends tomorrow. Later I had Randy Rhodes on and she made reference to the holiday being yesterday and she pronounced it “Sookus” whereas Dr. Levy pronounced it “Sooka - - the first with a long sound and the second with a short sound. Anyhow the holiday commemorates the final in gathering of the people and the end of their sougern in the Wilderness. One might extend this to being the end of our sougern on earth when the rapture comes. I’m not expecting any rapture, at least tomorrow but I think “something” out of the ordinary just might occur tomorrow. I just hope it isn’t a cult of thirteen people committing suicide. We talked of how if something strange happens and evil comes from it- - then you can use words like deranged and crazy, and God was not in it. Dr. Levy said they were building one of these “tabernacle” structures in the church yard and having a potluck there tonight. But he didn’t have the time to construct his own.

Proposition 25 apparently has a dual whammy purpose, and both of them are good. It penalizes politicians in the state legislature for not coming up with a state budget by July first. One was just signed here in California yesterday or something. I think that is about a record. Meg Whitman says the politicians should not be paid, and she should be stripped of their per deum and perks, and should not be allowed to raise any money. I’d like to see her try and enforce that one. Yes, I really would. But also to facilitate the passage of a budget is the long overdue overthrowing of the two thirds requirement of both houses. No wonder we are in a log jam so much. With the carrot in front and the stick behind them, I wouldn’t think we will be having any more problems with late budgets. Of course some say that if we raise taxes that politicians will only use these to feather their own nests and we the taxpayer will be on the hook once more. Certainly they can pass rules against any such abuses that might occur. And I imagine they already have.

Wall Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps is out today. It features the starring return of Gordon Gecko, but Buddy Fox is conspicuously missing. You know that’s the kind of a part I would get if I were in the movies. If they did a sequel they’d forget I exist. Anyhow now Gordon has a grown daughter and I’m sure they get into a lot of adventures and a lot of politically ironic remarks will be made. You know they should make a movie as a sequel to the Bible. Call it The Bible = Temptation Never Sleeps. Of course like the original, it will strangely omit the burning of Rome, and also none of the apostles would be mentioned, even referenced. And Jesus would never be referred to by his first name. I have an idea for a scene with the Apostle Paul having his attorney press Rome to pass a bill of pardon, but his attorney, with a pronounced Ted Kennedy accent, is a really arrogant fellow and he takes an unnecessare all or nothing crap shoot risk- - and Paul ends up being beheaded. Of course all the star players will have ancient names like Clement, Justin, Lynus, and Ignatius. And you could name some characters after diseases like Paratenitus and Syphliticus. But every so often they will go back to the guilded text and read from that in King James English, to introduce the next event. I guess it would kind of be done in the movies, “The History of the World”.

I was lying down listening to the close of Thom Hartman when Dr. Levy announced that class was conveining. The room was pleasantly cool. I took the lone seat in the back row. Dr. Levy remarked favorably about my Lennon resport. He said we would see the film on angels as soon as Vince got here. But he started the check in. Marcia said something about inheriting a million dollars. Then she said something about trillions of dollars. I didn’t have the code to translate her words. Vince came with the monitor interrupting us. I changed seats and grabbed a big chair that someone had vacated. The film started off with this story about a fifteen year old teenage girl named Terra Moore, who on August 18^th 1992 was fatally killed in a car crash where the other two people lived. She had developed an interest in angels in June. Her remarks to loved ones became increasingly pointed making reference to “crossing over to a higher plane once my work here is done”. Then she gave her little sister her favorite book on angels. And then there was an oatmeal cookie in the kitchen the morning after she died and some “angel song lyrics” in her bedroom that weren’t there before. Nobody wants to shake the certitude of those who “believe” the way her family does. Trying to argue “these things didn’t happen because miracles don’t happen” would be rather pointless. There was another story where a teenage girl with a band had been given foreknowledge that the speeding truck approaching would run the red light and she called out “Look out” as the driver started to step on the gas. The truck barreled into the front of the vehicle but the passengers were unharmed. Otherwise they would have been killed. The next story involves a woman walking through the streets of a big city. Then a hand grabs her on the shoulder. She turns around and nobody was there. Then she prepares to walk up the steps of a building where she had an appointment. She feels the hand on her shoulder more strongly, and then she hears a voice saying “It would be unwise to go in there at this time”. She walks to a nearby church to think things over and then hears police sirens and they were outside the building she was to go into. As it turns out a woman was just reported murdered in an elevator. The next story takes place in 1991 where a trooper in the Iraq war is doing a mine sweeping operation with a partner. Then the guy sees an angel without wings who says “Everything is going to work out allright”. He turns to his friend and says “Did you see that?” But the partner saw nothing. A few days later the Iraq war was over and he was safe. The final story that we saw involved a guy who was hooked on cocaine. But one day he had an experience while in the shower of a wherling sensation beginning with his toes and working up his legs and eventually he felt his whole body was healed. He had just prayed to God that if he were allowed to live that he would give up drugs cold turkey. As it turns out he was successful. At this point Dr. Levy stopped the DVD. He seemed like a man who had something to say or else was just pressed for time. As you know we usually meet later in the day on Fridays. He said that he was neither an avid believer or an avid disbeliever but liked to balance the experiancial with the scientific evidence. The class, good Mormons that they are, seemed heavily biased in belief in Angels. Of course some (like me) would like to mix in a little UFO encounter but they don’t seem to count. I couldn’t remember the name “Unsolved Mysteries” or the other one “That’s Incredible” or whatever is it show that had six events in an hour and some were fake and some were real. I chimed in that for instance that last story we saw was from 1989 and that the film was nearly twenty years old, when lots of that psychic stuff was a whole lot more popular, not to mention that I had a whole lot more faith in that sort of thing back then. We never saw the end.

You psychics try and guess what the main content of the material omitted was where I indicate in brackets. I might or might tell you in the next posting. This paragraph should be in red if things are functioning properly. Well that's a hoot. This is in black and the rest came out in green from the original file. Now I'm going to try it again. OK now I'm going to try and deliberately turn the last paragraph blue by going back to the other file and altering that.

Rahm Emanuel and Larry Summers to Exit

Well I guess I was ahead of my time. In a posting on the previous blog I suggested it would be a good idea for President Obama to shake up his economic team a little. Rahm Emanuel will be running for mayor of Chicago and Larry Summers, another Clintonista, will be leaving. I don't know if this is pressure from the voters or what, but I think change of almost any kind has to be a good thing at this point to let the public know you are actually doing something. In the past few days key provisions of the Health Care plan have gone into effect. Among these are a maximum cap on medical payments and also the provision about having a pre existing condition. Many cases involve children with horrible conditions and the parents are so troubled because they can't get insurance for these children. My one fear is that putting a "safety net" in the system this way will jack up the insurance rates for everybody else. This is what the conservatives say will happen. Still others believe that is the President gets out front with a message of bold change, then perhaps it will sell to the voters and perhaps he can shake a few votes loose that would otherwise go to republican candidates. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Well, "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" is still the law of the land. People have suggested that since there was a decision of a judge that "Don't Ask; Don't 'Tell" was wrong that perhaps all the President needed to do now was to issue an executive decision. John Mc Cain I thought used to be for reform in the gay rights area, but now now or any time since he has re-made his image. This issue is such a hot potato now for the democrats and the republicans are trying to get as much mileage from it as they can. So they defeated a major defense appropiations bill and blamed the democrats. Actually the specific vote "failed" by a vote of 53 for and 46 against or whatever, which means the gay rights measure got a majority vote, but we know that doesn't count for anything in today's political reality. Personally I don't think they should abolish "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" until they have done an internal study that showed such a move would not cause disruption in military efficiency and unity. My understand was that the military was willing to go along with such a measure. Today's reality is that gays are perfectly capable for performing their duty just like any other officer. They are able to keep wrap on their sexual impulses. I know that Bill Press turned against Ross Perot because in late spring of 1992 Ross Perot came out against gays in the Defense Department. I felt this move on Bill Press' part was really odd because who would consider a gay free military a "deal breaker". But about June first of 1992 it seems "everybody" turned against Ross Perot at once, almost as if someone had cast an evil spell. But that was then and this is now, when gay people as a whole have become a whole more lot accepted in society.

Jimmy Carter was on Sixty Minutes last Sunday. You know, I did not vote for Jimmy Carter - either time he ran. I may have voted for him in the June 1980 primary when I was still a democrat. But my admiration for Jimmy Carter has grown over the years. Truely this is one of the most moral, principled men we have ever had as President. He didn't want to make any sneaky deals with Congress to pass a certain bill. Ted Kennedy was the guy who wasn't being a team player by openly opposing Carter. He would rather that Jimmy Carter accomplish nothing if he couldn't put all of his pet health care programs through. You'll have to remember that none of those hostages in Iran died but all 52 were safely returned. Thom Hartman goes further to say that the anniversary being election day was no coincidence. I don't know to what extent that Ronald Reagan rigged the whole release timing. I know there have been a lot of roomers, but according to Hartman the only one who knows for sure is William Casey, and he'd dead now.

We are going to do a color test right now, one two three four. Except for last Wednesday, the color on blogger hasn't worked this entire week or the other six days of last week. If it works today I will try and go back and colorize stuff in the previous blog. I have a cold this morning. So I kind of hand to cancel plans for a teeth cleaning. Judy says it's because I haven't been taking my silver. I've been hacking out my brains out. Coughing has been uncontrolable. I still haven't worked any more on that paper on John Lennon I was going to do for Dr. Levy. I would like to welcome new readers. The numbers look more favorible now. Maybe Google's counter just got "un-stuck" because we know that occurrs. We will be posting in this blog for the next couple of weeks or so and then we'll move on to "Marcus in Exile". By the time I get to a dark blog, I am very much hoping that the colorization control will be fixed.