A generation lost

Some people have said that the current generation is one that will revive the country, the one that will set it straight. However, I do not see that. We are apathetic, we buy into the most illogical rhetoric thrown out by the media, and candidates. It doesn't seem like it is going to change. For some idiotic reason our generation is buying into a man that has said he wouldn't have voted for Civil Rights, and has had bits of racism slip through.his news letters.

Than man is Ron Paul.

Lets start a few years back shall we? The movie "Loose Change" is released. For those that do not know, it is a documentary that has list of facts that prove 9/11 was "an inside job." Here's the thing about the movie, it was originally made as a joke, and even had a script. It went viral, and people bought in. Many Paul supporters are followers are called "9/11 Truthers." This group of people bought into the movies premise and Paul has spoken on a truthers show, Alex Jones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqN2EKuXX2g.) Not only that, Paul accepts donations from Jones, (http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjkwYzQ3N2U0YWU0Njc0NTkyOWYwN2E1ODk1MmFjYWQ%3D.) There were 3,000+/- people killed on that fateful morning, and someone has the gall to say that it was set up by the government, and question the heroics and the loss of loved ones on that morning. You have got to be kidding me.

Then there is the whole racist thing. In the early 1990s, Paul let some newsletters find their way out with racist terms. For any professional to allow something like this to go out without knowledge is sad. Before anything goes out, would you not take a look over it? Then there is the oddity that says he would have voted down the Civil Rights Act, and his son, Rand, is no better. The classic rebuttal you hear is, "he didn't know about it." I call shenanigans. Paul has accepted known donations from racist donors, and then refused to return the donations, (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22331091/.) As the late Billy Mays said, "but wait, there's more." This man had said no to the Civil War to free slaves, (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22331091/.) Not a racist. Really?

What about sexist? Paul is a pro-lifer, he would throw it off to the states

Deregulation. A word that you hear thrown around a lot these days. Paul wants to deregulate EVERYTHING. That is right, get government out of our lives. That means, no FDA, NTSD, CDC, FAA, FDIC, ect... All of those would be gone. Paul wants to privatize everything. Guess what the means. Someone would be making a profit off of your life, and it is not you. That also includes privitizing the schools, and making each school a private school. That means a family that is making it paycheck to paycheck would not be able to afford their child's education. His theory would expand the middle class, but what it would do is distance the 1% even further away from the middle class. It would create a true plutocracy where the richest Americans make decisions.

As I mentioned about Paul's race stand, what about sexist? Paul is a pro-lifer, he would throw it off to the states to decide. That means that states would vote to ban abortion. Wouldn't that be against the whole idea of deregulation, and having a small government? I believe so. Then with his idea on the Civil War, allow the states to decide on Jim Crow laws. Guess what, the South would be segregated again. So much for small government.

In our current political environment economics are a hot button issue. Here is Paul's idea. No taxes, no spending. What? That's right. Good-bye Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. You decide to cut government that radically, you have cut a whole lot of jobs. The US government is the largest employer in the country. Not Wal-Mart, not McDonalds, no, but the federal government is. All the taxes would run via states. Wait, what? That sounds familiar.

That is because it is. We would all be on the same monetary system, but basically separate little countries. That is exactly what the European Union is. One state goes down, a domino effect will state. Look at Greece. The whole EU is about to fall apart because of their system. Paul's idea is the exact same. What he would essentially do is dissolve the United States of American, and make it just "States of America." We are not individual states, but we are a country just broken down into smaller chunks that are easier to manage. Alone like this would not work. States like Arizona and California, have horrible budgets. Like Greece, they fall apart, what ever we are will fall with them. However, with a government like we have it now, it provides a safety net.

We are a generation lost. Why do I say that is because we are. We will buy into his "legalize pot," ad populist idea, and follow him for that. Sadly most of these kids that follow this do not have a solid state of mind, but a rather, "I want to smoke weed legally." That is not the case. Paul followers, like pot heads, are paranoid about EVERYTHING. It goes from fearing food, government help, and 9/11. It is saddening that we are becoming like this. Not only that, we are becoming more and more apathetic. There is a belief that government won't effect me personally, so why care. That is a confusing stance.

Our biggest disaster may be ourselves....

Do your research, don't listen to one source. Open your mind. This man is a disaster waiting to happen. Thankfully this man will be nothing more than a forgotten memory after 2012. Maybe then we will wake up and see the real politics and it see how things should logically work!

Janet-mandering the Arizona districts

Started in 1790, the US Census is a tool used by the United States government to find out its population. After finding out what the population is, the government can then allocate funds to where it  deems necessary based on the population. It also helps states divide congressional districts. After the 2010 Census, Arizona was given a new seat in Congress. This meant re-drawing the congressional districts, normally an easy task.

Not the case in Arizona.

In 2000, a bill was passed by the people of Arizona saying that the state government will not draw the lines, but rather an independent group of five people: two Democrats, two Republicans and an independent. The now nine districts were re-drawn, of course not without some name calling and about were about to be finished. However, in her infinite wisdom, Jan Brewer blew a hissy-fit.

Northern Arizona, a normally liberal district, is facing a huge problem. What is the district going to include? There were certain areas in Arizona that were meant to be a strictly Republican, or strictly Democrat to appease both sides. However, some districts are being contested, like District 1. The design is meant to have the district split almost 50-50. Brewer did not like that.

There is something odd about this all. Brewer is in New York touring for her new book. She is not in Arizona, where she should be when a problem like this arises. She is the one that caused this problem, and is on the opposite side of the country.

What many people do not know about Arizona is it is not as blood-red as the media has made it out to be. It is known as a “purple state,” meaning it is almost evenly split. Numbers have shown the state to be a third Independent, a third Democrat, and a third Republican, although that third Republican has a little more of the cookie than the other two.

Why does Arizona have such conservative laws?

Simple reason. Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is where government district lines are drawn to favor a particular political party, or discriminate against a certain group of people. Arizona has districts set up to favor Republicans. Look no further than the current shape of District two. Basically a circle around areas with high Native American population, then a thin squiggly line to all of Mohave County, which is mostly Republican. That make the Natives votes almost irreverent. The state is not as far right as it is made out to be. Only reason why is because the districts are drawn to favor Republicans.

This is what Brewer wants to do with these districts. She impeached the independent chairwomen, and then called for the two democrats to be replaced too. Meanwhile, leave the two Republicans on the board, one of whom received tons of complaints from the other chair people, and find a new group to draw the districts.This shows a blatant attempt to gerrymander the state to favor Republicans. Even after the people of Arizona voted to keep state government out of redistricting, Brewer is going against the people.

It isn’t only here that events like this are taking place. Similar stories are popping up in Texas and Nevada. It just goes to show Republicans trying to go after personal agendas, rather than listen to the people. Republicans should listen to their independent boards and accept what they are given. Compromise is not giving one side what it wants, while the other side gets the shaft. It is time listen to what the people voted for. Now is not the time to create a dystopian world for your liking, while leaving the people of your state in the dust.

GOP's Three Stooges

The 2012 GOP primary season is right around the corner. Although it is only November the GOP hopefuls are punching and swinging at each other. Although these men are presidential candidates, they look more like rejects from Three Stooges shorts. Okay, so it’s not just three, but the point is made.

Long time presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was the early leader, but fell off the wagon after Michelle Bachmann won Iowa and Rick Perry threw his name into the hat. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has just about no chance of winning, even if he was picked. It is a very simple reason; he laid down the frame work for Republican enemy number one, “Obamacare.” He passed a universal healthcare bill that almost mirrors President Obama’s. Not to mention Romney is a chronic flip-flopper.  Look no further than Ohio’s SB 5, which is a union stripping bill. Romney supported it, then he didn’t, and now he supports again.

Romney may seem like the sanest of the bunch, but he isn’t the current leader though.

Herman Cain is currently leading in most polls across the country.  Cain has already dug himself a hole with his SimCity-like “9-9-9” plan. That plan would create a flat tax, lowering taxes on the rich, while raising those on the poorest Americans. Not to mention he recently said that “knowing all foreign policies isn’t that important”. Even better, Cain said he would sign a constitutional amendment banning abortion. What this Tea Party backed candidate doesn’t realize is that the president would be a non-factor in adding a new amendment. The Tea Party are the ones that want a more constitutionally-based government, right? They are behind a man who doesn’t get it. Amazing!

After the former GoodFellas Pizza CEO, we have Bush 2.0, correction, Rick Perry. Perry made news recently after meeting with birther Donald Trump. The Texas governor proceeded to then beat the dead horse that is Obama was not born in America; even after his birth certificate was released. He is another supporter of a flat tax, which would be another attack on the poor. Along with that, he has his religious views that he is injecting his campaign with. To take a step back for a minute, this is the same guy that led a prayer session in Houston just before he jumped into the GOP debate.

There are other issues that all these men stand behind, like banning abortion. So not only do they want to continue their class warfare, they will also add gender warfare too. The strangest thing about these candidates is this thing; they are not focusing on Obama and his so-called failed economic plan. They are focusing more on ethical and personal agendas first.

New Hampshire is right around the corner. With that we can probably say good-bye to candidates like Bachmann and Ron Paul. Until then we will be stuck hearing the same old argument from the GOP’s three stooges.

Weird government idea, based off of #OWS

I know that #OWS has been very resistant to forming groups, or leadership, but I had an idea. It may or may not make sense. It might work though. It's a weird form of government.

Since they have been using general assemblies I figured that would be a great start. Have a general assembly of who ever shows up vote on things they want brought, up or concerned. Of course there would need to be a super majority for these concerns, or ideas unless otherwise noted. Then once the GA adjourns, it goes to a committee of 21 people to be voted upon (all of 21 are voted in in smaller local districts within the congressional, no political campaign allowed, just what they want to do and how in booklets mailed out to all voters. No smear campaigns, or attack ads.) now the issues or ideas would just need a 11-10 majority to advance. Upon winning approval of the committee those ideas, or issues would now become enacted. This would also work on a national level, although use the congressional districts and elect a "president" for ties.

Some of the ideas, laws, or issues that would require national attention would be brought to congress. The congress would use the current congressional districts, but both one man, and one woman are elected (same fashion as local, no campaigns, just booklets about who they are, and what they want to do.) to serve. The two present the ideas to this congress for approval, or dismissal. Since there would be an even number, the president would be there for a ties. The president is picked from the previous congressional section, both a man, and a woman go up for election. (following guidelines set by the other elections.) The national election is decided by majority only. If tied, 21 random congresspeople make the final vote. Elections are held every four years for the president, and 33% of congress every six years. Congress people have a max term limit of four terms, consecutive or not, only four. President can only have two terms, max 10 years.

No agendas, just the people truly running the government.

The Cain Agenda

Is Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain the litmus test for the Republican party for this upcoming election? It sure looks like he is.

                

Cain is offering his 9-9-9 plan, which is basically a nice SimCity way of saying a “flat tax rate.” What that would mean is this, the rich taxes get lowered, and the poor get taxed more.  He recently adapted his stance on it and said that he would call it the 9-0-9 plan. Of course, that still will present a burden on the poorest Americans.

                

It is not only Cain that is parading a “flat tax rate” around. Mitt Romney, and Texas governor Rick Perry said they would support the same thing. This kind of tax plan would drive a country starved of revenue even further into the deep hole it is already in.

                

The simple economic concept is being over looked. In order to make spend money, revenue must be generated. The way that is done in a country is through taxes, in this case it would be federal tax. One of the most extreme, and flawed ideas on this is Ron Paul’s. Eliminating all federal income tax create a huge deficit. No income, but still spending on things like roads, and.. Wait. That’s right, he wants to deregulate everything too. More Republican brilliance at its best.

                

To say that it is just the tax ideology that this group of Republican have is concerning is just the tip of the iceberg.

               

Again, Cain opened up his mouth on abortion. He said that if presented with a constitutional amendment making abortion illegal, he would sign it. (What the Tea Party supported candidate didn’t realize is that presidents do not have a role in creating constitutional amendments.) In other words, he would be willing to keep fighting a class war with the poor in America and a battle with gender too. It isn’t only Cain; the other candidates have said similar things.

                

New Hampshire is right around the corner. It is shaping up to be a who can go further right primary season in 2012. The question is for these Republicans, will they be able to flip-flop and come back left to persuade voters in November 2012? Right now, it does not look as if the trip further right is stopping any time soon.  

Oh, ABORTION! This argument again, seriously?

It’s always a hot button topic. It has been for decades now. Abortion took the stage on NAU’s Union Pedway Monday and Tuesday. There was not a single thing wrong with this group using their First Amendment right to voice their stance on “pro-life,” but how they did it was quite repulsive.

Walking north towards the union many students were greeted with large banners with pictures of aborted fetuses. A delightful sight for those eating their breakfast on a Monday or Tuesday morning one might thing. It wasn’t just the grotesque pictures that were adorning these banners, but likening abortion to the Holocaust, and genocides.

Genocide is defined in the Webster as; “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.” Nowhere in that definition does it say “fetus.” When somebody hears that term “genocide” the Holocaust or the mass genocides in the African continent come to mind, again, not “fetuses.”

The group from AbortionNO.org are currently going out to colleges and universities saying that abortion is on the same level as the heinous acts of Adolf Hitler and African dictators. Playing into an ad populist card, and injecting fear into their very radical stance. This has to offend any ethnic group on campus. Being Jewish, and having family members killed in the Holocaust, of course I am offended.  

There was something very disturbing that caught my eye. Who was standing behind the barriers?

It was mostly men. Yes, males you know the ones who do not carry a child for nine months, and then give birth. Yeah, that gender. At one point the ratio was, as I counted, six males to one female. Why should a group, of mostly males, be deciding what a woman does with their body? Women do have the right to chose. As one sign read from a female pro-choice protester “My body, my choice.”

The fact that NAU allowed AbortionNO.org to come to campus, and put these barely permissible pictures up, is very disappointing. However, it was great to see the outcry from NAU’s students speaking out against them, and use their First Amendment right too.

We witnesses, we are part of history

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."-John F. Kennedy 

It's not the same as say what happened in the Middle East, but it is pretty damn similar. Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Seattle, Occupy Phoenix. This idea is spreading. It has been brewing for the last eight years and is finally coming to a head. The middle class is tired with the status quo, and we are about to, we are taking a stand. There hasn't been a movement in this country like this since the 1970's and the anti-Vietnam protests. This however is much different.

It has been 30 years of the rich get super rich, and the poor get poorer. Our founding fathers would have been sickened by what is going on. In a country that was supposed to be formed around, equality, and freedom. We have gone so far south from that. It is now gotten to the point where our government isn't in control, but rather assholes like the Koch brothers, Goldman Sachs, Bank Of America, large corporations, and gigantic businesses. People are no longer in control. What once was a government for the people, by the people, is no more. We are now a government for the rich, run by the rich. We've had enough of this.

Occupy (insert town here,) is a movement. Real change that we have so long hungered. It is a call to this country to wake up, and see the mess we are in. This isn't a "Ron Paul" thing, no it is not. (One because that man is a political retard, and would argue for big business.) No, this movement is started by the people of this once great country. It was started by people like me and you that have had enough with the corruption in our government. We're not saying we want to overthrow our government, and start a new. No, we want to get the greedy out of our government and deliver it back to the people.

The fact that we have even gotten here is mind boggling. We let all of these politicians take these backroom deals right under our nose. Since when is it more important that a bank CEO should be making more money than a teacher, or firefighter. There is no reason why it should be that way. It has become an incredibly unbalanced country when it comes to earnings. When you consider the fact that the upper four percent have seen their wealth rise by about 80% over the last few years, while the other 96% have watches their savings, and earnings dwindle. Who says that tax cuts are the answer to create jobs.

Tax cuts, why are the so important. Many of the rich have spoken out that they want to be taxed more to help this country. Meanwhile some in Washington are saying that is not the case. They argue that with lower taxes jobs will be created. If so why is unemployment so high, most of these corporation pay taxes that are so small, it's microscopic, and their profit margin is in the tens of billions. The rich, and the corporations are totally struggling.

What is about to happen in this country is an unprecedented social uprising in this country. This Occupy Wall Street is just the start. This country is angry, and if you aren't you just aren't paying attention to what is going on. I'm angry, there is a fire in me, and I am ready to stand up against this true class warfare. I hope that if you are reading this you are angry too, and you want to see a change. We the people need to take back our country. "Lets raise the stakes, on the bet we made, and lets decide to be the architects, the masters of our fate." Here we go, deep breath, lets go!

Education, Learned Good

From the age of five, until the age of about 24 most go to school. Many to chase down dreams of being a doctor, scientist, or something that requires a high level of education. Let me start by saying this, reason why I haven't made any posts lately is because I have been busy with class, and sick. Yes, universities take a toll on you. I am, I guess lucky to be able to go to a university, but not so many are.

Every 26 seconds a kid drops out of high school, and never gets to get that experience of being at a university, or advance their learning. Then people drop out of college because mounting student debt, and never finish getting their degree, although higher educated than a high school grad, or someone with a GED, they won't find jobs much better than those who just squeaked by. We as a country need to educate ourselves, and stay on top of the ball.

If we don't strive to be the best educated, we will fall behind, so why cut funding in educating? If we aren't educated, we may get walked over by those who pushed us down. That is what is going on in this country today. Many who have gained power, are trying to sedate us, and water us down, dumb us up. Meanwhile, we don't do a damn thing about it. With out a education, we will be nothing more than a wage slave at a retail store or a kiosk at a mall. That will be our fate, not be a doctor, scientist, or such.

There are certain groups in Washington that wants to see us fail intellectually. Simply, look at people like Michelle Bachmann, and Rick Perry. Need I say more. The kind of people that use their power and thoughts on religion to keep us as a country from getting smarter, and having that space age future we have seen in the movies. This needs to stop. We need to fund the hell out of education, we need to push kids to their full potential and make sure they get there. I say this as I am in a class of 375 people, and the instructor honestly doesn't care about the individual student.

See the movie "Accepted." Although it is a comedy there is a scene that is all too true. Justin Long's character sits in on a class, and he bumps a student who is falling asleep, and that student babbles an answer to a question that was never asked, then he tries to ask another student in the lecture hall, and he responds to something about how he needs to understand these formulas so he won't fail this class this semester. If you are wondering, yes, that does happen.

Although, most of our attention has gone from paying attention in class, to bringing our laptops to class, and browsing Facebook, Tumblr, and other social network sites. Attention is lost. Our education system is lost. It is for the most part broken, and needs to be addressed. So, fund it, help our generation of "fuck ups" take back what has been made a mess of, and fix it. It will be up to us, and but not educating us will be the downfall of us all.

Class warfare? Really, who's really committing "class warfare"

Weekend is over it is time to throw your nose to the grind stone and start all over. Ah, yes, the start of another 40 hour work week, a fresh five days of rants, facts. So where to begin.

CLASS WARFARE:

A new term that Republicans started throwing around Monday. Here is the correct definition of "class warfare:"

"Refers to a class conflict, or tensions between members of different social classes."


To summarize what the means is say the upper, or lower classed bickering, or actually fighting over who is in control, or one fighting back against oppression. There were numbers that have come out over the past few days that are very interesting, and a Ed Schultz pointed this out. In this chart it showed that the upper 4% of Americans, those making in excess of one million dollars a year, over all wealth increased by a whopping 42%. Meanwhile those in the lower ranks, their wealth actually decreased by 8%. This is a growing disparity in this country, and it doesn't show signs of stopping any time soon.


President Obama finally spoke out though yesterday, saying that they will not make any cuts to Medicare without having some kind of tax raise, and that Social Security is untouchable. It is about time he has said this. Obama also said that we can't keep going on this cutting spree and intend it to work. He also said that this kind of approach is just simple math, and the Republican theory is illogical to fix it. 


Now, let me put this into perspective on how the republicans want to fix things on a very small, personal scale.


You are a working, you make your own hours, which effects how much you make. You also like to spend money frivolously too. For the longest time this has not been a problem, you are able to cover all your costs, as in housing, food, and your kids going to college. Now after a while you have a, what you think is, large surplus of cash. With this surplus, you decide to start cutting your time working (taxes) which decreases your income. However, this does not change your spending habits. Then you open a high limit credit card, and think this now gives you more money, so again, you cut back your time working, and again your over all income take a hit. The credit card reaches its peak, and now you can't pay off your bills, so you immediately start cutting things, and don't pick up your hours at work, you cut off your kids on college, you drop your health care, and all almost essential things that we pay for, but still continue to buy excessive things. 


That is basically how Republicans work things. Continue spending money on excessive things, like two unfunded wars, and disregard the fact that the rich 2% in this country pay almost nothing in taxes. Meanwhile, the Warren Buffet rule is starting to become a hot topic. Buffet's secretary currently pays a larger percent of their income in taxes than Mr. Buffet who is a billionaire. Buffet has spoken out and said that he, and a bunch of other million, and billionaires would pay a more fair share in taxes, they don't need that much money. Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, said the if he had to pay higher taxes, he said it would hurt at first, but then he would feel really good about it because he knows he is helping millions of Americans.


So Republicans really need to re-think their stance and calling raising the taxes on the rich, "class warfare." Why? The rich aren't the ones being oppressed, the lower classes are being held down by these ridiculous tax laws, and loopholes. In a previous blog I talk about the parallels George Orwell's novel "1984." In the book, the reason why the current government was in place was because the lower classes got fed up with the capitalists, and their stranglehold over the lower classes. Obviously it didn't work out that well in the long run, but that is where we are heading. There will be true class warfare in the coming years if we don't fix our current ways.       

Mr. Orwell adding fresh ink to the page

Have we been asleep? Have the last 30 some years all gone to the back of our minds, even if we weren’t alive then. These puzzle pieces do not fit, but we so casually just go along with the story that we are being fed. There is no room for improvement; we are taught that the discontent is the content. Our generation is a generation lost, and no one to stand up for it. I've watched over the last few years how things have gone in Washington DC. Ever since I was 18 I have longed for a true change, what I didn't know. Now I stand here at 21, and I see how dysfunctional things really are. After reading the book 1984 last year, I started seeing way too many connections with modern society, but no one really agreed with me.

 For those who do not know, 1984 is a dystopian novel written in 1948 by George Orwell. The plot in the story revolves around a man named Winston Smith who is dissatisfied with his current living conditions under "Big Brother." This mysterious figure that is "Big Brother" is a totalitarian dictator that controls everything that goes on "Oceania." Smith is a high middle class individual, and is forced to work with the government editing news headlines so they read how the "Party" wants them to read. Throughout the book, Smith tries to find what is called “The Resistance,” which is supposed to be an underground group waiting for the right time to over throw “Big Brother.” "The Resistance" however, is not real, just a manifestation created by the "Party" to find outsiders and "cure" them.

 Within the last 10 years a lot one sided politics has occurred. This country has been dragged further and further right by extreme Republican politics. It's not just political agendas that the right has pulled at, but also personal vendettas. Need I say more of the abortion rights of women, and the no taxes for the rich. We went from being a country of liberties, and a chance for all, to a country of oppression for the middle and lower classes, while the top two percent can prosper and thrive. It was said it a movie released by HBO recently, "Too Big To Fail," Hank Paulson. former US Treasury Sectary said after being asked about why there were no regulations that could have averted the 2008-present recession, (for good measures I'm going to call it the Depression two, or DII because that is what it is. And yes, I know they said the "Recession ended in 2009, 76% of American don't believe that though.) and responded with "we were making too much money." They may have been making money, the money they were making was off of the plight of the middle class because of a theory proposed by the banks, which destroyed America, take out a second mortgage on your house because if you house is valued at $500k, you have $500k to spend. Now that planned totally backfired.

 There's some build up to my points.

 I just spoke of how the top is meant to prosper, now in 1984, those who were on the top had all the opulent things, while the middle and lower groups were to be quenched with sub-standard products and be happy with it. I continue on.

 Let’s talk tax breaks shall we.

 In 2001 President George W. Bush enacted one of the worst policies in the United States history. To shorten the context if of it, taxes were lowered for those making egregious amounts of money. At this point in time the country was sitting on a budget surplus, and small national debt, (all countries are going to have debt, and no debt is bad for countries, weird... I know.) That changed, Bush, and his Republican congress went on a spending spree, started two wars that were unfunded, and not approved by the American people. The entire time this was all going on, there was no revenue coming into the country. We shifted from being an exporter, to almost primarily an importer. Simple logic. if you don't make money, you can't spend money. Now these righties believe that they can keep zero taxes fro rich and companies at next to zero, and just cut everything. Even things that this country relies on so much, like Social Security, and Medicare. Economists have said that cutting will not help the country, but rather hurt it. We have been hemorrhaging for ten plus years, and the best answers that our government can do is put a little dot band-aid on a slit throat. They do it over and over again, and get the same results.(Wait.. Is that the definition of insanity? Why yes, yes it is.)

 Where we come in. The Resistance.

 There is none.

 Yes, that is right. There is no resistance to stand up to these oppressive forces. In 1984, everything was monitored closely by surveillance, and resistance was futile. That is what we face today. The generation that has a chance to stand up, and take back what is ours is either too timid to actually stand up, or have been brainwashed that it is useless. I would like to believe that we can make a difference, but so many have been sedated and don't even know it. We are told to accept authority that we are given, and bow to them. We are tackled because we are thrown into perpetual debt because of school. We are told that the discontent is the content that we will have to contend with for the rest of our life and there is little, to nothing that we can do about it. We are bound by what have been told. The television has destroyed us too. If you have read the book, what runs their life? The Tele-Screen. If you include cellphones, laptops, and computers in the television status, they are our Tele-Screens. Don't believe me, think about it. It is a perfect medium for an authoritarian society, like the one in 1984, and our current living arrangements.

 Next time you go to think that everything is okay. Realize that you are discontent with the world around you, but too clueless to realize how your mind has been programmed that way. We always talk about being the generation to stand up, and take back what is ours that is not the case. We will be the ones to sit down, and turn a blind eye to it. Why? It is just how we have been taught, how we have developed as individuals. Can we change it, and take an actual stand, I have no clue. The Resistance that we thought we could be is not true. There is no resistance. We just are somehow going to have to accept the fact that it is over, and wait for the proverbial bullet to enter our skull.

There is power in a union

The union. A term that many Republicans fear. Why? They are groups of people that they don't particularly like forming groups that force fat cat corporations to give them what they want, and have to spend extra money. Before I go on, there are downsides to unions. Biggest is is a union goes on strike, sometimes members don't have control over it, and they may lose their job. Then of course, there is the fact that a worker may have to pay X amount of dollars from their pay check to the union. It is a small price to pay when the union will step in if you are fired without a legitimate reason, or treated unfairly. There has been corruption in unions before, but not so much these days.

Without a union there is no 40 hour five day work week, minimum wage, or even a weekend. There is one candidate that is running on abolishing minimum wage, Ron Paul. What Paul is reading is flawed economics. He believes if there is no minimum wage, employers will pay more. However, that is not the case. They would pay an employee nothing because they can. Paul is not really much of a factor in this talk. There are two battle grounds right now, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Let me side track for a moment.

Arizona is a "right to work state." According to legal-explanations.com a right to work state is:

"State labor law that permits someone to determine for himself/herself whether or not to join a labor union. The law avoids employers from making union membership a condition of employment" 

Basically what that states is that you don't have to join a union in order to be employed. What that seemingly brilliant law forgets to mention is that a employer can terminate a worker without reason, or cause. They could fire a worker because they don't like them as a person, racial, or thousands of other reasons. It is a law created to water down unions, and make these protective unions all but go away.

As we know, the state of Wisconsin had no real choice in what happened. Tea Party governor Scott Walker forced his union busting agenda down the peoples throat, and said unions are bad, and are hurting the state budget. Now Ohio is facing something very similar. Watching the Ed Schultz Show earlier, Ed seemed like he wanted to strangle governor Kasic of Ohio for his lack of courage to come and talk to him.

They want to do away with higher pay, and benefits for public workers. The have this strange notion that by creating these union busting laws, that it will somehow help their states dire budget situations, There are other ways to fix those problems. All these Republicans say they have a better job plan than Barack Obama, but meanwhile they keep on coming up with legislation that will destroy jobs, not create them.

Now just if you take one thing from this know this. Unions have downsides, but their upsides out weigh the bad 10-1. They protect your job, they help you get the pay you deserve, and they support you if treated badly. We lose unions, we will lose so many things that we have become to accustomed to. Don't let them keep the middle class down, lets not lose out minimum wage just so some billionaire can count his money in his high rise glass tomb. We're better than this!

Vacation's all I ever wanted

What? Obama has taken only 70 days for vacation in three years? Not that bad, when you consider the facts above that George W. Bush took 225 days off. If you do that math that is about one fifth of his time in office at that point. Now remember this, with Bush's term it was 2003, we were at war with both Iraq and Afghanistan at that point in his first term. A president, while in the middle of two wars decides to go on vacation. Meanwhile, president Obama has only taken 70 days off while facing a true crisis. Who has their priorities straight.

Then you have those who wish to place the blame on Obama for creating this mess we are in, but those stats do not lie. Bush was a very complacent president in times of true need and war. During Obama's first three years he has had to avert the greatest finical disaster in the United States, deal with the two war mess left by his predecessor, and still has had time for even 70 days. Yet, Republicans and certain pundits have called for him to limit his vacation time. Where were they from 2001-2003 while Bush wasted one fifth of his time in office on vacation.

More hypocrisy. Have to love it!

The first drop

Instead of boring everyone with an introduction of who I am and what I am here for I will go straight into the meat of the opinions and just all around fun stuff. There has been a lot going in in the past few days, so there is no time here to sit and babble about nothing.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the current unemployment rate in this country is holding 9.1%. Believe it or not, that is not the highest unemployment rate in the past 30 years, and yes, that does include the 10.1% in October 2009. Back in November of 1982, this country had a 10.8% unemployment rate, which was during the modern conservative's "god" Ronald Regan. Going with more stats, at the end of Bill Clinton's term we have as low as a 3.8% unemployment rate as of April 2000. Three years later, under George Bush, and a Republican lead House and Senate, it spiked to a 6.1% in May of 2003.

The unemployment rate came back down, but came down to a 4.6% Oct 2006, but was on the rise from there on out. This is before the Democrats took back the house and senate in 2006. Many people are pointing fingers at the Democrats for the reason for large unemployment numbers, but take this into consideration. Through out the Bush administration many corporations started outsourcing to places like India, and China. This was a problem that was brought up during the 2004 presidential election, and the majority of Americans stood against outsourcing, and even believed it hurt the economy. Of course, the story goes Bush won re-election, and was a "lame duck" according to many from the start of his second term. Forcing some regulation here would keep jobs in America.

Now, here is what we have come to. Unemployment does not appear it wants to budge lower, and the numbers are starting to show steps backwards, hence there being no new jobs created last month. Yes, a goose egg. The mid-term election had a slew of candidates appear to run on the platform of wanting to create jobs, and focus on the American people, hasn't happened yet. Almost a year in their position, and they have not done anything. If anything they have forced anti-job creating policies, see Wisconsin union busting law. Finally, President Barack Obama is pushing hard to create jobs, and showing his cards that appear to follow Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, which focused on infrastructure jobs.

Can someone please tell me what is so bad about updating schools, fixing roads, and our outdated infrastructure? Anybody? According to Republicans Mitch McConnell, and Eric Cantor, Obama is "playing politics." Meanwhile, Obama has said it isn't about him winning re-election, it is about getting people to work now, not in 14 months when the Republicans may take back the White House. Sadly the president did cave to some Republican wants, like more tax cuts for the rich, and such. They are speaking out against this plan. While this bill that is being proposed isn't as popular among the American people as one might think. Why? Tax cuts. The American people have been lead on to believe that tax cuts would create jobs over the last decade, which it has done nothing but make corporations want to keep their money more.

The correct answer to my poll that appears below, is both are playing politics, but one party is playing it in favor of the American people, one is not. Food for thought. During the debt ceiling debate Republicans wanted tax cuts otherwise they would have let the country default, and would have shoveled all the blame on Obama for not acting. Even this chunk of awesome, Eric Cantor was quoted before saying that there would be no aide to those effected by Irene until there were more tax cuts. Yes, he said that, look it up. Now, McConnell said this country is a two party system and Obama needs to know how to compromise...

Huh?

Wait, Mr. McConnell, refresh my memory. This is a two party system, and there needs to be compromise? How many times have you and your Republicans made compromise since Obama became president. You have also said that it is your mission to make Mr. Obama a one term president. You have the nerve to call him out for playing politics. I am flat out disgusted. I didn't even get a chance to mention all the "compromise" the  Democrats have made with Republicans just to get simple legislature passed in the house.

So for now this country will sit in the hands of the most unpopular congress ever, and all that the American people can do is wait for the rest of the country to come to their senses. There is a reason why we are call the United States, and right now this country is so far divided, and it is very sad. Our founding fathers would frown upon the Democrats, and be furious at the Republicans. So again, we sit and wait... Again...

(All quote have been paraphrased from assorted sources like AP, MSNBC, Huffington Post.)