Rant with a side of rant

From "Politics with Jared and Dave" on the Facebook: "The following was posted on a conservative's page. The page admin posts here from time to time under a couple different names, so she (yes, she) will no doubt see your responses. Here it is:I am curious to know why so many liberals are so jacked up on the so-called "war on woman" just because they might lose their right to abort an innocent baby, when the laws are actually help them open up their minds to how developed this unborn human is. Also complaining about their precious BC and insisting on someone else pay for their choice to use it? These complaints go on while we have the NDAA signed and other freedoms taken away. Our Gas prices going higher than they ever have been etc. So womans right to kill and take BC is the most important issue to them?"

****Takes in deep breath*****

Gas prices are high and will continue to go higher with inflation and a OPEC cartel-induced shortage of supply. This combined with members of your Randian-Objectivist Corporatist Death Cult on Wall Street hav...e using free license gained through deregulation to mess with the market using commodity short sells to jack the price up based on subjective assumptions about world socio-political climate. Not to mention we have reached peak oil and the oil we can get to now is so hard to get to that they have to raise the cost of the product because the cost of production has increased. So, gas prices, not much we can do about that.

Second, the NDAA doesn't directly effect peoples everyday lives but having babies they can't afford to care for will effect them, you and me directly and indirectly, personally and as a society. So, we have this great preventive medication that PREVENTS people from 1) having kids they can't afford so they have to go on welfare and 2) PREVENTS fucking abortions you jackanape. And you aren't paying for anybody's contraception, even the little bit of federal tax that does go to birth control. So, what? Taxes go to pay for shit that people don't want to pay for everyday. I don't like my tax dollars to go to religious institutions but yay varily they find a way to get that money by running deficient day cares and prostelyzation centers disguised as soup kitchens. And how has the NDAA limited your freedom's practically?

Besides the fact that it allows woment to not be boodmares BC is also important because it is about a personal freedom and a personal choice besides the fiscal and social ramifications. And more of a threat to personal freedom than the NDAA, don't you think? You're worried about the government using NDAA to know what bestiality, bondage and rent-boy sites your husband searches while you're protesting Planned Parenthood clinics but have no problem with the government stepping directly between a patient, their doctor and their personal choice of what medication to take. And then if they do get pregnant because you didn't want them to take a pill once a day because your book of magic fucking cock sucking fairy tales says they shouldn't you want to step between them, their doctor and a personal and emotionally painful choice to have an abortion. So, fuck off with your bullshit about the NDAA and limiting freedom blah, blah, blah. You only care because it's not limiting people's freedoms based on your book of Aesop's fables.

*****And breathe*****

Snitches get stitches

“Can't blame the dude for having a breakdown, it's been a rough few weeks over there. Can't say I don't condone the method either if w'ere going to stay there. But let this be a lesson on the toll we could exert if we wanted. One dude can walk off the base and kill 16, we could kill every motherfucker in that country if we had the inclination.”

There has been some outcry about my commentary concerning the soldier who ran off base and killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan. Well, first don’t say you’re for free speech and then complain to someone in the Army because you don’t like what I said. Second, this is my personal page which implies my personal opinions based on my experience not the my official Army page. If you want the official Army opinion go to their official page. My page represents my personal views not the views of the DOD, the Army or my unit.

Third let’s dissect the comment above for those that need more explaining.

“Can't blame the dude for having a breakdown, it's been a rough few weeks over there.”
It has been a rough few weeks over there. I have been in the middle of a country and war with increasing hostility. To put it into context the time I was in Iraq we were averaging 100 troop deaths per month. So, I know the mental and emotional toll that being in the middle of that situation can create. Oh yeah, and I’ve done that for 30 months and I am about to add 12 more. So, I don’t need some weekend warrior lecturing me on how I should be more restrained.

“Can't say I don't condone the method either if w'ere going to stay there. But let this be a lesson on the toll we could exert if we wanted. One dude can walk off the base and kill 16, we could kill every motherfucker in that country if we had the inclination.”
I said that to make a point. Either we are there to win or we are not. The only way to win with these people, who are one step above cave-dwellers, is to kill them all and if we don’t have the guts or the sociopathy (which, I hope we don’t) as a country to do that then we need to leave. Immediately. So, essentially I was making the point that this war is over and we need to wrap it up because we are not there to win by military means. The second part was meant to demonstrate the lethality of a single American soldier. That statement is two points, we are a lethal force if you don’t want us to kill people then don’t send us to foreign countries in a war, and to demonstrate even with that amount of lethality in a single soldier we have been fairly restrained and disciplined in the engagement of these two alleged wars.

And whether you like to believe it or not this guy will be a hero to some soldiers because he did what they all think about and talk about doing, “just going out and killing everyone.” Shit, he did what I have fantasized about doing during the darkest times of war but I was able to obviously realize that was wrong. Because when you lose a buddy, a friend, all you can think about is vengeance because war isn’t about justice it’s about winning at all costs because winning means you come back alive. After all it’s what we do, it’s what we’re trained to do and if you have a problem with that then you should look into something other than the Army or Marine Corps. And if you want to deny the reality of what we actually are trained to do then you need to get a good dose of reality. Are we trained to run off base alone and just start randomly killing people? Of course not. But if you think we’re petting puppies and crocheting then you need to have your head examined, not me. I’ve been examined and certified. So, what’s your excuse for denying reality? And if you don’t appreciate my honesty then unfriend me, don’t talk to me, if you have a problem with something I said please let me know not my NCOIC via my official FB page.

Africa? I don't give a fuck! *WARNING EXPLICIT RANT AHEAD* Now with 26% more Hippie bashing…

I'm going to take an unpopular stance here, I don't give a fuck how many people some religious nut job has killed in Africa. It all comes down to natural selection. If they want to naturally select themselves out of the world that's on them. Fuck 'em. Not my problem. I'm not heartless I'm practical. If the Ugandans, Congoans and others can't team up to stop this Kony guy, that's on them. Not me, not America.

And here’s the other thing, you pacifist bleeding-heart hippies. “Liking” a Facebook status isn't going to stop a blood thirsty mad man. Blood begets blood, my friends. Much more killing will have to be done to stop this guy. Are you willing to get bloody? Are you willing to get dirty? Because that is what it’s going to take. Good I’ll see you on the battlefield. If you think sending pretty notes with rainbow pictures and unicorn stickers is going to stop this guy you are delirious and you need to check yourself into an institution.

Let's work on America first then we can start worrying about people that have been killing each other, literally, since the birth of Homo erectus 2 million years ago. So, change 2 million years of that bullshit then we can start talking about how capturing one fucking fuck-twat, doing what they've done since the dawn of time in that area, is going to change anything on that whole goddamned continent.

Free-Market Capitalism: Threat to Freedom

Which do you love more Republicans? Free speech or the free-market because you have created a world with your policies where the latter controls the former.

So which will you defend, free-speech to keep Rush on the air? Or will you defend the free-market capitalism that is silencing him and could possibly force him off the air? I thought corporations could do no wrong. They are people, my friend, as the front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination reminded a person at one of his events.

And to be honest this isn’t about free-speech because Rush still has the right to say whatever he wants, and I agree with Rush having the right to call people names whenever he wants. But you don’t have a right to say whatever you want on the public-owned, corporate-leased airwaves. The corporations are concerned with keeping that license.

Many of you may lay-people not realize that even with the PICAN standard abolished by Reagan and annihilated by Clinton in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 it only takes one substantiated complaint at the right time for a corporation to lose its broadcast license. These corporations rely on the lease they have for the public airwaves to run their stations that run the commercials that give them the money. The shows are simply filler, the shows don’t make money, but the commercials do. That is why it is a big deal when a show starts losing advertisers.

So, if it seems there is cognitive dissonance coming out of the conservatives/Republicans/right-wing (really, nothing new there) it’s because they are trying to defend two ideas that are incompatible with each other. They are trying to defend Rush’s right to slander and libel while cursing free-market capitalist ideology that has kept him on the air this many years. You can’t have both for Rush in this case. He is going to be relegated to the status of the Westboro Baptist Church just yelling “slut” at passing cars on your local highway because that’s the way the corporations and free market want it.

Capitalism, the continuous work of concentrating wealth and power, is the true enemy of democracy and free speech. You can’t have free speech in a country where speech can be bought by the highest bidder because if you have to buy it or access to it then it is not free.

Nothing Good Happens After Midnight

I swear to you nothing good ever happens for me to be awake after 12 a.m. I'm either too drunk that I know tomorrow, or today as it will, will be horrible or I'm responding to something or doing something that is going to make my preceding days more painful than a Scotch hangover.

This morning is case and point. Had to drop Alissa off to deploy. Now, you may think you drive up to an airfield somewhere and soldiers immediately line up and board a high-performance military aircraft. First, stop watching "The Unit." Second, the Army has found a way to draw out this overtly and deeply painful event. We awoke at 12:30 a.m. knowing my wife had to be there at 1:10 a.m.

People put on happy faces it's hard to distinguish between bravery, callousness and numbed indifference of a decade of war as most of these soldiers and their families have been called into service of deployment before.

Refreshments are served for the family members willing to brave the early morning call.

After arriving at 110 on the dot...we wait in cars and open buildings while soldiers draw their weapons and final gear.

Now 3 a.m and sitting at the gym that has been opened up way early for this occasion, and still no sign of the soldiers that were left at their company.

False levity tries to be infused among the solemn and earnest somber occasion with upbeat music. The music does nothing to hide the fear and anguish on the faces of family members.

And so now we wait, the tears and facades held back by the hope afforded by the hour hands slow ticking which cant beat slow enough or fast enough.

The faces are tired. I don't know if it's the tired of the 3 a.m. or the weariness wrought after ten years of this. After all this will be Alissa's third deployment and I'm not far behind.

3:15 a.m. Soldiers arrive.

In a portion of military ceremony that is probably now known by the rest of the world. Soldier’s arrive in a gymnasium with their weapons and carry-on equipment for time with their families before they board the plane.

All of the sudden a familiar face arrives. The civilian movement control guy. I saw him on my last deployment in 2009. How many of these has he seen? Does it even have an affect anymore? This is the man who will take the soldiers from the gym, to the bus and into the plane.

4:45 a.m. We are warned that the time is coming to an end and that the soldier’s are going to form up to prepare to get on a bus to head to the air terminal to board a plane. This is the last moment families will have with their soldiers for nine months. Through tearful goodbyes the soldiers leave their families one by one to line up.

5:30 a.m. I arrive at home tired and exhausted and sleep for a few hours in the clothes I was wearing and notice that the empty space in the bed next to me will be empty temporarily but a long temporary.

Last time I saw her she was sitting on the bleachers with her gear where I left her, waiting to form up, as I walked out choking back tears.

It was 5 a.m. and that’s why nothing good happens after midnight, especially on this night.

Reaffirming "In god we trust," as the national motto

Woke up this morning to see that Congress, finally, is doing the big work. Are they tackling the unemployment problem with a job’s bill? No. Are they going after the banks that robbed the economy of a trillion dollars and a created a mult-trillion dollar false derivatives market. Uhhh, no. They’ve moved onto something much more important, reaffirming that’s right RE-affirming “In God we trust,” as the national motto.

According to Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA), the founder of the Congressional Prayer Caucus…First, why is there even such a thing as a “prayer caucus?” So, you were sent there to collect a staggering $100k per year salary, not to solve the nation’s problems or debate legislation with facts and reason, but to create a group, inside the congress, whose sole purpose is to come together and talk to their imaginary friend. I wonder. Are Pagans invited to this prayer Caucus meeting? What about the only Muslim congressman? Is he allowed into the meetings with his prayer rug and incantations.

How about we start a motherfucking JOBS Caucus, or Infrastructure Caucus. Can’t be an atheist Caucus and there is only one in the House of Representatives, Pete Stark (D-CA)

Well, anyway, according to this guy Forbes who wants to waste money and time by talking to an imaginary friend and then waste more money and time by dragging his fellow zombie death cult with him, “As our nation faces challenging times, it is appropriate for Members of Congress and our nation—like our predecessors—to firmly declare our trust in God, believing that it will sustain us for generations to come.”

Just fuck it all. Not only are they damned-near pissing on the Constitution, which is probably more important than the motto established in 1956 as well at the same time they put “Under God” in the pledge, but it appears members of Congress have just thrown their hands up on issues facing our country and have just screamed “Jesus take the wheel!” Apparently, their imaginary friend and the zombie son are going to solve all of our problems. If faith alone will solve the problems then you don’t need to be an elected official to do it.

If you’re really concerned about the under God motto dumbfuck shit, you shouldn’t be re-elected. You can then spend more of your time talking to the wall instead of addressing real issues. I think concentrating on doing something as a ceremonial gesture that has already been done displays a problem with Republicans, they’re not problem solvers. They’ve run out of ideas for solving real problems and really, mostly, creating more problems, and when all else fails turn to the imaginary. The social issues are always a big hit with their retarded base (and that’s not a slur, their mental growth is obviously challenged in a few areas if they still believe in goblins and tooth fairies and the like.) They’re out of touch with the American electorate who could give two shits about the National motto and is more concerned about the economy and the fucking bridge they drive on everyday going to their minimum wage job falling down. Prayer won’t hold up a bridge dumbfuck, but luckily for you it will hold you up through the next election.

One Soldier's Opinion of the End of DADT

        I guess I should be proud. The military and the Army have finally decided to live up to values they preach and the freedom they defend. I’m a little proud I guess. I’m more happy for all of my brothers and sisters in arms who are LGB who can finally put their ass on the line between good and evil defending freedom as themselves. Those jingoistic words seem relative when you are considered a second-class citizen, and your partner will not receive benefits like other military spouses. I guess small steps are required to appease small minds.

        This is my promise to you, my LGB Soldiers present and future, if you are in my unit I will train you with the same vigor and provide you the same opportunities I do any other soldier. I will give you just as many opportunities to succeed or fail and base all decisions objectively, on your ability to lead troops, take care of soldiers and complete the mission. I promise you no more and no less than your straight counterparts, and really I think that’s all you wanted anyways, while being allowed...permitted...to be yourself. Most honestly, because I don’t have the time or energy to care about who the fuck you’re sleeping with at night.

        I’m sure there will be “queer-panic,” but that, in time, will resolve itself as the bigots who can’t handle living in the 21st century expose themselves to the test of relevancy and sanity only to be found lacking both. This, therefore, makes them no-value added in an organization that prides itself on its values.
The seven values, that you remember we were taught in basic training: Loyalty, Duty, RESPECT, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity and Personal Courage. These values that we, as soldiers, are supposed to live, fight and die by, values that all soldiers were forced to violate daily since the implementation of DADT.

        “But Marcus, this doesn’t effect you? You’re a straight guy like us, just stay in the club.”

        Anytime any American is treated unfairly or unequally especially by a government institution, it effects all of us. It especially effects me when I am the enforcer of these unfair and archaic rules, laws and practices. You would change your mind if you would have seen the mental anguish caused in young men and women who have chosen to volunteer only to be unexpectedly caught between being themselves, living honorably, or living a life that was lie in order to serve their country. Men and woman who were unfortunately being offered the paradox of which honor do you want, the honor of openly being yourself or the honor of serving your country because we, for some odd reason, in the “home of the brave” couldn’t afford them both.


        We have a far many more domestic issues that you can help resolve that are more a threat to national security than who is sleeping with whom. You know how many soldiers I’ve seen leave the Army for homosexuality? None. You know how many good soldiers I’ve seen get kicked out because they had inherited bad lifestyle choices from their parents and society in the ways of food and exercise? Too many to even fucking count, a little fewer than 100 in 12 years in the Army.
        
        I did see one allegedly homosexual soldier get discharged but not because she was a lesbian, even though from all accounts and my own good circumstantial evidence she was and is. This soldier was kicked out because she had a mental and emotional breakdown. She broke down, I’m assuming, because she couldn’t live the lies in both worlds. How often does this happen? How can we force people to live like this? She was forced to hide who she was and could only do it for so long. But those were the rules at the time and we can only operate in the parameters set forth on us by Congress which is set by their constituents, you the American people.

        I think we Americans have finally taken a step in the right direction and have done the right thing. I know we in the Army can make it work because we can finally live by our values and apply them always and equally to all of our Soldiers.

Ayn Rand and her followers are sociopaths

It's not that there would be a shortage of people to run those corporations but there would be a shortage of people with the sociopathic mentality to run the corporation as it would be wished to be run by the stock holders and Boards of Directors.

They need amoral people who have no problem putting money and profit ahead of people. These sociopaths are few and far between. There aren't very many people willing to actually sell out their fellow man for a few more dollars, people who will take the entire burden of the actions, allowing the boards and stock holders to place distance between themselves and the actions of their corporations.

The only thing they produce is the cover for the sociopathic, authoritarian dominator plutocrats and oligarchs to continue to consolidate power and money and through money consolidate more power.

Ayn Rand’s admiration of sociopaths extends beyond the captains of industry as her infatuation with murderer William Hickman is well documented. If this is the type of person she admired, the type of person upon which she wrote “Atlas Shrugged,” then what does that say about the people worshipping at the altar of objectivism? They are no better, at least mentally and morally, than the cultists that followed Manson to the Tate home. Although they may not realize it because the authoritarian followers will not allow this information to penetrate their bubble and if it does it will be dismissed as a lie because it is something that does not confirm their world view.

Sociopaths amongst us and they call themselves dirty names...

Finishing up a book that you can get for free called “The Authoritarians” if you google it and had a few thoughts.

Fascists don't like democracy, it's mob rule after all. They don't like the mobs unless it's the mobs of dupes they have fooled to march for them, to anthropomorphize the corporation that's sucking the country dry. Corporations as people, fascists and Ted Bundy all have something in common, they're sociopaths.

So, for those of you true-believers who think the Koch Brothers, GE, Exxon, Goldman Sachs have the best intentions of the country at heart, best of luck to you as you are fed to the machine of your own making, just like the people of Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida. If you think you can appease your fascist masters to give you your jobs back with tax cuts and lowering wages and working conditions collectively to those of a third world nation I have no sympathy for you. You're a fool, a dupe, a follower and a coward and in the end the lowest level of fools pay the price.

You voted in the surrogate fools of fascism and they are bringing it in wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. You will be left wondering where your country went and you’ll want it back and it will be too late. And it won’t be because of your inherent xenophobia or racism because your country will actually disappear as we become the United Corporatocracy of America with a ruling oligarchy. However, you will succumb to your master so long as he spouts the right language to appease you and gives you a “them” to hate and bomb. So, tell me Teabaggers, Republicans, Corporatists all followers of Randian objectivism who by any other names are fascists, are we at war with Eurasia or Eastasia?

Pat Sajak is a moron

I saw this article from Pat Sajak posted on facebook and I found it laughable. I have not been able to confirm that it was actually written by Sajak since the right-wing likes to make up fake articles from celebrities and send them around the internet in spam style. It also wouldn’t be beyond Fox News to post it without verifying that it was, in fact, written by Pat Sajak. but I’m going to take a stab at responding too it after just waking up and pre-coffee.

At a dinner party in Washington the other night, I was asked a question I’m often asked. No, not, “Can I buy a vowel?” but, rather, “Why is Hollywood so uniformly made up of liberal Democrats?” 
There are a lot of theories on the subject, and I have a few of my own. First, I would strongly argue with the premise. My industry is certainly made up predominantly of liberal Democrats, but there is a surprising number found on the other side of the political spectrum. Lots of writers, producers, directors and performers are quite conservative in their views, but you don’t hear from them as much or as noisily as you do from the left. Part of it, sadly, is the fear that they’ll suffer professionally if they’re “outed”, and a number of them have stories to tell about being confronted on the issue.

[So money is more important than the country. We get it you’re conservatives, of course it is.]

But another factor is they’re far less comfortable lecturing their fellow citizens on how to live their lives.

[We all know conservatives don’t like telling people how to live their lives. You know I’ve never been told by a conservative that I need to accept Jesus as my lord and savior or I’m going to hell. Isn’t it conservatives that want to legislate abortion out of existence so they can tell women what to do with their bodies. And it’s a favorite past time of conservatives to tell gays they’re living their lives all wrong.]

You’re much more likely to see a liberal singer interrupt his performance with a global warming diatribe than you are to see a conservative singer praising the free enterprise system between songs.

[Because over the last 4 years we have learned 1) there is no such thing as a free enterprise system which 2) allows white collar criminals to collapse the economy and get away scott-free. It’s not something that’s easy to defend in modernity without sounding like a sociopathic brainwashed Randian ideologue.]

Another fact that might surprise you is that most of Hollywood—like most of America—isn’t really all that interested in politics except near election time. 
Most of the men and women who make their living in the entertainment field are much more focused on finding jobs and reading scripts and getting awards and going to events than they are on the intricacies of American politics. If you ask them about their views, they’re likely to spout a few liberal talking points because they’ve heard them so often, and it’s the safer position to take.

[It’s a safer position to take because unlike conservative positions you don’t sound like a sociopathic, Darwinist asshole. So being polite, people will take the position of caring about the plight of the less fortunate and the working class, a liberal position, over whether or not oil corporations get to make a few billion dollars more per year in profit.]

And that point leads me to my primary theory on why one side dominates the other. Putting aside the true believers and usual suspects (you know who they are on both sides), the liberal position provides the path of least resistance, especially for high-profile members of the Hollywood community. It’s hard to describe the bubble in which these folks live, but I’ll try. 
They are financially successful in ways most people can scarcely imagine

[as a conservative I can’t believe that you are begrudging them for making money in a capitalist, “free-enterprise system.];

their whims are treated as commands; outrageous or boorish behavior is condoned

[You mean outrageous or boorish behavior like: leaving your wife on her cancer bed for your third wife you’re having an affair with, or picking up men in an airport bathroom, or paying for hookers while on the House floor, or sending sexual explicit texts to teenage boys, or ordering a same sex hooker and meth, or escaping to Venezuela to see your mistress, or having a mistress and then paying her husband hush money, or is that not boorish just par for the course for conservatives as they lecture us on how to live.];

they travel in limos and fly (often privately) between their multiple homes

[much like McCain and his seven homes, or Sarah Palin and her private jet];

they hobnob with politicians who come to them for advice and input (and money); the glamour of their business rubs off on them and gives them access and a sense of importance and wisdom

[Isn’t that the same reason you’re writing this article? Seems a bit ironic.]. 

So how should one speak from such a lofty perch? Well, many have concluded that the smartest way to handle it is to claim to be “one of the people.” So, no matter how rarified the air, liberalism is a smart career move. 
Is it hypocritical to ask people to drive electric cars while you’re flying in a Gulfstream? Or to tell them to conserve energy while the cumulative square-footage of your homes is measured in the tens of thousands of square feet? Or to ask them to pay more taxes while your high-priced accounting firms are protecting your money

[Much like the corpoations, Wall Street Execs, and tycoons that the conservatives flock to for advice. Except they don’t care about people, they are sociopaths]?

Of course it is, but hypocrisy cannot penetrate the bubble

[Oh we know it can’t Pat, you’ve just proven it in your previous paragraphs about conservatives and yourself.]. 

They care. Not like the greedy businessmen (from whom they collect their salaries and perks), but like the genuine people they really are.
However, the truth is that most celebrity political talk is just noise. It’s fodder for the entertainment shows and publications. People listen, not because they particularly care about what these folks have to say, or to get advice about how to vote or how to live, but simply because it’s a celebrity speaking

[No I don’t care what a celebrity says about politics because I’m not a Fox News watcher I base my political beliefs on rational logical facts that I believe will lead the country in a better direction. You’re on the wrong network if you care about reasoned political debate sans celebrity sensationalism. Again ironic seeing you are a celebrity.] 

Personally, I try not to mix my political side with my entertainment side

[FAIL!].

And, frankly, I would be appalled if anyone made an important political or lifestyle decision based on the advice of a TV game show host

[WIN! So this was just mental masturbation].

Maybe that’s the best news about the bubble: it not only protects us, but it protects you from us.

[Look if you’re dumb enough to believe something just because a celebrity says it you’re more than likely old or a Fox News watcher or more than likely both because one begets the other. Much the same reason they have Wilford Brimley do the diabetes commericals because old people don’t like to be challenged and like familiarity, the reason they watch Fox News.]

Labor Should Fight

It is time for the new labor movement. Young people don’t remember what it was like before Reagan started busting the unions. Maybe membership is dwindling because the new generation doesn’t understand the power and might of working class people united in ensuring that all workers are given fair compensation for their labor. A generation that grew up with Wal-Mart being the largest employer of underpaid, undercompensated workers wouldn’t understand that they have the right and ability to demand what is fair and they can bring about change through the power of collective bargaining. The young people today are just happy to get any job and are satisfied with the status quo. That was all planned by the corporatists. They shouldn’t be. They should do what our grandfathers did and not settle. If we become satisfied with earning an existence wage then we will soon become a country of forced labor like China. You see right wingers, workers get to vote with their feet. They get to walk out and they can conspire and collude to strike just as you can conspire and collude to create wars to send their children to fight, create fake markets to crash the US economy, and you collude and conspire to force them to give up their rights.

The Koch-Tea Party-front groups are now in the mix in Wisconsin, ensuring the voices of the billionaires are heard. Union reps have agreed to cut pensions and salaries but the Governor is not willing to negotiate. He wants everything and will give on nothing. This should be a total walkout across the country of all union workers. This is the continuation of a generational battle to take away the rights of workers that started with Reagan and will only end when workers are subjugated or workers fight back. IBEW, AFSCME, UAW, AFL-CIO, SEIU the whole lot should strike.

This is all because the collapse of the economy. You want a low down of what happened and why we can’t afford the pensions we promised to pay people. The pensions were invested in Wall Street, you know, like the plan to privatize Social Security would have done. Well, when the last bubble burst, thanks to Alan Greenspan,“The Biggest Asshole in the Universe,” as called by Matt Taibbi in “Griftopia,” this left the pensions depleted. The pensions were laden with the junk AAA-rated investments that at best were D-rated because the revolving door and deregulation left speculators and Wall Street tycoons to do whatever they wanted and get off scott-free with golden parachutes when the rigged bubble burst. This was the only outcome possible. This wasn’t an accident. This was so purposefully planned that these people should be lined up on death row for premeditated murder of the economy. So, now these pensions are coming due, the pensions people paid into over years of work. When unions negotiate they usually give up pay in order to gain benefits like pensions and healthcare. In a real free-market the pension holders would be required to pay what they owe or go to prison but in our kleptocratic oligarchy that will never happen. Wisconsin isn’t the end every state, 401k and nearly every pension program was invested in these junk securitized mortgage packages.

Because the people that owe the money have ensured that they can fix the rules by pumping billions into elections, thanks Citizens United and Supreme Court, that they will never have to pay what they owe or be held accountable. If you create a Ponzi scheme and dupe people out of thousands of dollars you’ll go to jail, but if you dupe people out of billions by creating a false economy that almost collapses an entire country then you get to go work for presidential administration or move to K Street and begin lobbying to ensure that rules are never put into place that would hold you or your future “yous” accountable for international grand larceny. So, who gets to pay for their greed? The working-class schlep who will never see a pension, lost their 401k and can’t afford to buy legislation to hold the scammers accountable.

Fascists don’t like unions because people are much easier to control individually. The autocratic personalities, like Republicans, conservatives and Tea Baggers like having one strong man in charge. The “every man for himself” mentality fits very well into their Social-Darwinist outlook. This is why they have obligatory masturbation whenever the word Ayn Rand is mention. One man’s “objectivism” is another man’s social Darwinism. Divide and conquer. Pit individual against individual and the objectivists can’t lose. That’s the Tea Party way, the conservative way, the Fascist way. Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. Doesn’t much fit their persona of good Christian American, because we all know as told to us in Matthew that Jesus asked for a co-pay before healing the lepers and welcomed the capitalists into the church.

As much as the right wing preaches about democracy, they don’t really like it. As much as they preach about being heard by their representatives they don’t really like that. Their adoration and worship of money and corporations puts their priorities on profits, prophets and corporations as holy institutions. Private industry and corporations can do everything better. CEOs are the latter-day Saints. This makes them Fascists, by definition. They would be much happier if we put the Koch Industries, Inc. in the White House and disbanded the legislature and the judiciary.

The only problem is that, as mentioned above, and as has been proven corporations are sociopaths. If you’ve watched the documentary “The Corporation” you know what I mean. If a real person, not a corporate person, did what a corporation does they would be put in a mental institution or locked away on death row as a danger to society. Operating with reckless and wanton abandon for the quality of human life with the only goal being “profit” does not leave very much respect for the working person or the human race. Doesn’t leave much room for rights.

So, who should be allowed to determine their destiny? The people themselves, en masse, as prescribed by democracy having their grievances heard? Or the unaccountable, megalomaniacal, corporations that have bought legislation to ensure subjugation? I think in a democracy the choice is clear and workers get to vote with their feet.

Fuck the Mormons, tax the churches

Tax the churches. Is there any doubt that churches are thrusting themselves into the political? A proposition that should go over well with the TeaBaggers. They don’t like lots of words, nuance or anything too complex. This would simplify the tax code a little for them. Churches should pay taxes on everything they do, like any other business. You know, like Joe the Plumber that wasn’t named Joe nor a plumber. If they don’t like it they can station themselves in a nice tax shelter in the Caribbean. Another reason the teabaggers should get on board is because they believe everyone should do their fair share and everyone should contribute equally. This should include all businesses that use the commons we all pay for to conduct their transactions. Think of how much property tax you could save if all of those churches had to pay property tax just like your business. I ask, why shouldn’t they be taxed? Out of some antiquated false and undeserved deference to a business hocking invisible wares?

They should also be taxed to pay for the government that they are involved in. Part of the deal of no taxation is that they can’t be involved in politics. Recent political and court battles have shown that churches are actively and defiantly involved in influencing politics to suit their theocratic agenda. This should not be taken lightly. If churches as an organization want a say, well, they have to pay.

This has been no more apparent than in the fight in California over Proposition 8 to legalize gay marriage. This fight was completely bankrolled and organized by none other than the flying batshit crazy Mormons which are only a step removed from Scientology and Jedi as a religion. They knew what they were doing was as wrong in California as it was in Hawaii years before, which is why they tried to keep it such a secret by creating front organizations like the National Organization for Marriage. I’m sure all the evangelicals that jumped on that train would be sickened to know that it was all created and funded by that dirty, crazy Mormon money. California didn’t speak on Prop 8, the Mormon Church did. How does it feel to have your state run by whackjob loons California? Well, not the usual California ones but the nutso religious ones.

When the church was first called on providing support to the Prop 8 fight they said they spent about $2,000 of in kind support. Then that went to 190,000, turns out it was well over $22,000,000. They either have a shitty accountant or they lied. I’m going to bet the holy Mormon church lied. Do the ends justify the means so long as it’s in the name of Jesus? Isn’t lying a sin? Did Jesus tell the President of the church to lie? Did he get one of those Monopoly get out of Celestial Heaven free cards? I bet it was on a gold plate.

So, the churches that should be spending that tax exempt money to follow the teachings of Jesus to help the poor, the needy, the sick, the challenged are instead using that money to manipulate politics, to push a Christian Taliban agenda where the end result is theocracy. That is their dream result. They are no better than the Taliban. There are 6000 references in the bible to helping and giving to the poor and a couple handful of mentions of homosexuality and Christ never even mentioned it. However, Christ did have a secret visit with the Lamanites or Nephites in the US after his death in his zombie phase, so he may have mentioned it then. It may have been in those secret golden plates of Joseph Smiths. The abuse and misuse of this special tax status is all the more reason to revoke it. If you think Taliban is too harsh read the story of Bruce Barton and what the leaders of the Mormon BYU campus did to him as a suspected homosexual. There is very little separation from them, most American evangelical leaders and the Taliban. They both have the same goal, the same endgame in mind: theocratic despot utopia. The leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Bullshit has created an environment in that state that has led to a higher per capita suicide rate amongst teens than all states and some countries. The great Christian leader said it was better to be dead than be gay. Ohhhh, I love those great Christian/Mormon morals and values. That’s straight from the prophet, the man that’s on Jesus’ speed dial. Isn’t suicide an unforgivable sin as well? I guess even Jesus gets confused by all of his father’s rules too.

The Mormon church is a organization of bigotry, racism, xenophoia and prejudice. Fuck them. Let their tax exempt status fall and make them pay taxes on all of those temples, churches and magic underwear.

And for the Evangelicals that think they are off of the hook now, your voodoo is just as much bullshit and made up as the Mormon’s. Your “religion” is being used as it always has been. It’s mind control. It makes you the “us” and gives you a “them” to hate and fight against. A common enemy to unite you and cement you in your beliefs. Moors, Moslems, witches, Communists and now homosexuals.

So, if I start selling some fake invisible bullshit; create an “us” and find a “them” to hate, If I just start spouting off about how much I hate everyone with blue eyes or something like that, can I be tax-exempt as well? I think it’s worth a shot and religion seems to be a pretty good racket right now. It provides a great protective umbrella from social and personal responsibility and always has the great out that the Almighty Spaghetti monster, or whatever, will forgive you no matter what you do. You can create rules for the society and push your agenda without having to contribute anything but your dogma based on zombie worship or some sort hatred of people that are different.

Cutting VA funding is not an option

If you were wounded in Vietnam you had a 70% chance of surviving. Due to advances and improvements in battlefield medicine, if you are wounded in OIF/OEF you have a +90% chance of surviving. When you come back and you complete your service and you separate from the military you may have wounds, physical or mental, that still need treatment or care. Some may even get a 100% disability rating for wounds they received in combat that were never physical at all. That’s the problem with war it’s messy. The war for the warrior doesn’t end on a date set by politicians and world leaders. The war will always be with them and me. It will be with us until the day we die. You called us to duty and we answered. Some of us answered the call multiple times and are suffering compounding injuries. The VA was created to take care of these injuries. It angers me to hear, as we are bogged down in two wars supposedly fighting for the American sheeple, that they want to cut VA funding as a solution to the deficit “crisis.” As a matter of fact it’s two wars I didn’t even hear mentioned by any, not one, of the fucking candidates for office. None of them that gained national attention even had the audacity to mention it. They don’t care about the wars because 1) these candidates, like Christine O’Donnell don’t know very much about them and 2) it’s longer than an episode of Dancing with the Stars so the wars have passed the attention span of the American people. But you would think in an election that was supposedly about deficits we would discuss the occupation-nation-building operations in two foreign countries costing the American taxpayers $200 million per day. Nah, they were more worried about raising the marginal tax rate on millionaires 3%.

The hypocrisy of the flag-waving patriots who speak out of both sides of their mouths is astounding and angering. Supporting the troops is more than a yellow ribbon magnet on your SUV. Partriotism requires more than lip service. It’s more than waving the flag and screaming about some imaginary Marxist boogeyman. You might want to discuss that at your next tea party. If the VA is underfunded, raise taxes to fund it. If you don’t want to pay for us to fight these wars then don’t fucking send us to fight these wars. True patriotism is about selfless service and sacrifice. Why don’t you just ask us, the veterans?

“Don’t tread on me,” is their battle cry. Well, don’t tread on us. Don’t wipe us veterans under your boot and think we’ll stay there. We’re fighters, we got these scars fighting and we won’t stay there long. Don’t brush us under the rug in chasing some imaginary white rabbit of deficit reduction. Don’t again make us casualties of a war of ideology. I’m tired of being in the shitty end of the stick in right wing delusional thrash cycle.

The VA is important. This is not a debt that is owed to me, this is a covenant from America to be kept. How can we fight for our country with the thought in our heads that we are expendable, that we are consumed in use overseas. That when we come home our sacrifice means nothing because the billionaires that benefit most from our fighting have decided they don’t want to pay 3% more in taxes. I’m sorry their patriotism doesn’t extend past their checkbook and can only be found in hackneyed platitudes of press statements from right wing think tanks that work for them and on the misspelled, offensive posters of supposed Tea Party “Patriots.”

Fund the VA every penny it needs. Tax every American that reaps the benefits of the security gained from the sacrifice of veterans to pay for it. Tax defense contractors that have reaped a whirlwind of profits from these two wars enough to make the war unprofitable to them just like we did in WWII. Take away the loopholes and shelters for corporations like GE, largest defense contractor in the US, and BP, largest US defense oil contracts, that paid $0 in taxes last year. Tax them until it hurts and it’s paid for.

Grow a spine, man up, put on some man pants and let’s be the country we once were. One that respected and appreciated the sacrifice of the warrior enough to ensure the wounds they received in defense of their country were treated, cared for and healed. Let’s be the patriots our grandparents were and not the faux-patriots the right-wing prides itself on being as guise to dupe people into voting against their best interests.

Let’s be the country we were under FDR. I for one don’t understand the brand of patriotism exhibited by people like Sewell Avery, CEO of Montgomery Ward in the 1940s. Mr. Avery didn’t want to pay his fair share of taxes to pay for WWII. The difference is that when he didn’t pay, FDR sent the national guard down to his office to arrest him and made an example of him and his faux-patriotism that puts profits before country. He was required to pay $30,000 and to put it in perspective in the 1950s he retired with a fortune worth more than $300 million, much of that from war profiteering. Don’t you think he owed a little back to the country that gave him the security, opportunity, roads to make that fortune possible?

So don’t wave your flag and yell about supporting the troops until you’re ready to put your money where your mouth is, or to make hold your corporate overlords accountable and have them do the same.

Anger Management, that's me, has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

No Mosque Senor

No mosques near ground zero.

Then no Christian churches near Native American reservations that have been terrorized for 600 years by Christians. Christians killed 90% of the Native population of the Americas between 1492 and 1892 using the same convert or die strategy as the Muslims use today. Christopher Columbus was the first religious terrorist in the Americas.

Nor near the Oklahoma City bombing, nor anyplace where the Ku Klux Klan has terrorized people (pretty much takes out the south and Indiana).

No churches in Wichita, Kan. or anyplace an abortion clinic has been bombed, no churches in Atlanta, Ga. (1996 bombing by Christian "Patriot" Group).

You see how ridiculous your petty your war over which imaginary friend can beat up which imaginary friend can get. We are more moral than this fictional character called god created by stone-age man. All of your beliefs are archaic and retard mental, emotional and social growth. So I have a simple call no mosques, churches or places of worship anywhere. Let’s turn them all into buildings of science, thought and reason.

A thousand high fives a day quota

One of the great things about attending the Jamboree was being surrounded by the young men and women that find patriotism not to be passe or a trend, but inherent in their everyday lives. Their support, admiration and affection of the military was inspiring and humbling. As I was walking down the hot paved road against the wall of Scouts and leaders pushing the other way I would be awakened from my heat-induced, walking slumber with the near cry, “high five,” only to get my hand up, most times, just in time to slap the sweaty hand of a young Scout.

If you attended any of the Arena Shows it would be apparent from the beginning what their stance was on the military. A speaker didn’t get up without first thanking the military for their support of the Jamboree or sacrifice to our country in this time of war. The fact that these young people are raised to support and respect the military with unfettered infatuation, honestly, puts pressure on me to act appropriately as we walk the grounds of the Jamboree taking photos of the military supporting this great event.

We are demi-gods in our own right to them because we are the end personification of the goal of the Boy Scouts. We, in flesh and uniform, are the the commitment of service to one’s community and country that is the keystone of scouting. “On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty, to God and my Country,” is the beginning of the Scout Oath.

“I want to be an Army Ranger,” said many of the young men. “I’m going to join the [insert branch here],” was heard many times over the course of two weeks. While the admiration and support is great, the innocence of it disturbed me until I saw something at the opening Arena Show. I can’t remember the speaker but the man at the front of the 50,000 Scouts and leaders asked them all to give a hand in support of the military supporting the Jamboree and protecting them overseas. Then, as if that wasn’t touching enough, he asked that all of those who have a relative currently serving in the Armed Forces please stand, and with that nearly 3/5ths of the audience rose.

That’s when I realized most of these young people not only get it but they live it. They live the sacrifice of missing a parent for a year or more at a time. They live the sacrifice of a parent missing life’s minor and major events. Some are even living the pain of dealing with a family member returning from war scarred physically or mentally. Their admiration is unfettered and made stronger not out of a lack of consciousness of those sacrifices but because of them. Their is no innocence in that admiration. They aren’t just drinking the Kool-Aid their parents gave them. At the end of the day, if I count them all up, I gave maybe a hundred or more high fives to kids who need it or deserve it more than me, and accepted them on behalf of my brothers and sisters in the Armed Forces, many of whom, certainly, need or deserve one more than me, then so be it, sore hand and all. “High five!” Smack!

Boy Scouts and supporting the National Scout Jamboree Part I

An informal AAR of the event that my unit, the 14th PAD and it’s seven Soldiers attended. This is not the official opinion of the JTF-NSJ, the U.S. Army, or the DOD. Unlicensed reproduction or distribution without the express written consent of the NFL is strictly prohibited.

So, I got to spend two weeks at Fort A.P. Hill, Va. from July 20th to August 5th supporting the National Scout Jamboree. It may come as a surprise to most people that there is actually a military Joint Task Force with a Brigadier General as commander, assigned to support the BSA with this event every 4 years since it has been held on a military installation. The JTF is about 2,000 service members comprising of everything from firemen, military police, logistics, medics, entomologists and yes, of course, public affairs.

It’s a large event with more than 50,000 scouts and leaders in attendance and 20,000 visitors expected. This year is the Centennial Celebration of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910, so it only compounds the issue with the number of people that would be interested in attending this event. The Jamboree which is usually held every four years was delayed one year to allow for it to take place on the centennial.
The military support to the event is a joint operation. All services and all components were represented from the active duty Marines and Army to the Air Force Reserve and Coast Guard Auxiliary. Much like Captain Planet these forces only combine when rings are held together and magical words are incanted.

So, basically one week before the event there is an exercise to ensure that everyone is on the same page concerning consequence management, reaction drills and most importantly powerpoint slide format. Heaven knows that the military would stop operating without Outlook and Powerpoint. If Powerpoint stops then we essentially stand up walk out of our offices and don’t return. It’s in the contracts, read it sometime.

Exercises are great when done with realism and when designed to test the limits of the system. The JTF exercise was pretty impressive with every thing from moulage, fake damaged body parts and blood, to on-post shooting incident exercise, to protests, and the introduction of a certain pushy, hard-nosed, NBC affiliate reporter, Chip Chipperson. Let me tell you, Chip Chipperson is a real asshole. His slogan, “Chip Chipperson doesn’t report the news he makes the news.” Chip is my newsman alter-ego with the quick-wit of Keith Olbermann and the paranoia and delusion of Glenn Beck and Alex Jones.

Here’s the deal though, when you bring 2,000 people together from 5 services, 4 components of those services, and about a hundrity bajillion different units no one really knows what they are supposed to do or what the other guy isn’t supposed to do for the first couple of days. Cue Yakety Sax. That’s what should be playing for the first few days. Because really it’s just people running in and out of doors being chased by a half-naked, middle-aged man.

But with the help of a good, realistic exercise those kinks are worked out and create at least a functional unit and eliminates the need for Yakety Sax or Benny Hill.

So, the first two days we were there we both documented and participated in the exercise. Plane crashes, media engagements, on-post shooter incident, out of control protestors, out of control fire. I think at the end of the two days of the exercise the JTF could say they were prepared for anything short of the alien abduction of a Boy Scout and even then I’m sure NORTHCOM and NORAD have some sort of contingency plan they fall to for that sort of thing.

...More to follow...

Up Next...
“A thousand high-fives a day quota.”

Fucktards II: A rant...

The Tea Party is the largest group of near-sighted assholes I have ever had the privledge of witnessing. Fueled ideologically by the idiotic rants of failed shock-jock, opportunist, and moron-cult leader Glenn Beck, founded by a man who lobbied for terrorist organizations in the US, Dick Armey, and funded at the grass-tip, not roots, by ... See Morecorporations.I was at the 9-12 protest in D.C. and they have nothing but hate. It was a bunch of angry, spoiled almost all white people bitching about something they knew absolutely nothing about based on conspiracy theories and Fox News propaganda. They are sheep. I say give them what they want. Put their leaders in office and let them burn the country down around them.

Their platform is full of holes and contradictions. If you're against spending where were you when Reagan TRIPLED the national debt and Bush doubled it? If you're worried about jobs where were you when Bush lost 1.5 million jobs over the course of two terms? If you're concerned about oil spills where where you when the MMS was literally in bed with the oil lobby doing cocaine in a Denver hotel room with the same lobbyists and when Dick Cheney held actual SECRET meetings to establish US energy strategy with the oil companies? That's the exact definition of Fascism. Confronting these morons did no good then and does no good now. They would just go back to their retarded talking points about birth certificates and Saul Alinsky. They are stupid, ignorant, paranoid and delusional...all of them. If it's not about race, if it's not about party affiliation then where were they for the 8 years of Bush violating their supposed "platform" 100 times worse than Obama? None of them, and none that I've confronted, talked to, argued with can answer that simple question.

Fucktards

I mean is there a better word to summarize a movement of fat, self-righteous, racist, nearly all white, Chrisitan people, naming their political movment after an act of sodomy all the while sucking the government tit for medicare and social security complaining about big government. God, I hate these people I wish they would just go away.
The reason America even recognizes them is because we always feel bad for retarded or slow people. It's kind of like saying, "Awww ain't that precious. Look at the flop and flail around out there." That' s all their doing is flailing and saying, "Nuh-uh" to everything Obama does and says between their Socialism-Tourettes where they just spew words they don't know the meaning for and string them into a diatribe of insults. "Commie-Social-Facsist-Muslim lover." What the hell does that even mean? Most of them attended the Sarah Palin School of Debate for Tourettes Syndrome. That's it. Sarah Palin doesn't make sense because she has Tourettes Syndrome. When she's speaking it's just a epileptical Tourettes Syndrome tick.

I feel much better now that I have that out of my system.
That's just some of it. It's been piling up for awhile.

Theses

Well, looks like taking command of an 8-person unit is not nearly as easy as you think. Thanks to all the support functions company-level units have to perform having more people is actually better. Fortunately, the PA soldiers are just as capable as artillery soldiers when it comes to working outside your MOS and just getting the job done because really that's all we can do at this point. HAHA!
We just did the change of command a little over a week ago and I feel like I've been here for months.
Got a lot to do in very little time for upcoming missions but my procratination is getting the best of me because really who wants to practice going to MOPP 4 when it's 100 outside. Not me. Blah.