Category: Politics

I’m Hear to Save American Money Again

Sometimes I wonder how the Supreme Court selects the cases they’re going to hear. Usually I can see some kind of Constitutional question that will lie within the rulings and thus understand why the case was taken but other times it appears as though the cases are nothing more than frivolous wastes of taxpayer money. Can you guess which category this case falls in:

The case of an American-Israeli couple who want the US to recognise their Jerusalem-born son’s place of birth as Israel has reached the Supreme Court.

Menachem Zivotofsky’s US passport lists Jerusalem as his birthplace, but his country of birth has been left blank.

It seems the whole argument about who owns Jerusalem is so contentious that our own government advices people simply don’t bring it up:

They cite a provision in a 2002 law, the Foreign Relations Authorisation Act, allowing Israel to be listed as the birthplace for Americans born in Jerusalem.

But former President George W Bush overrode that provision, saying it interfered with his authority over foreign affairs.

The Obama administration says it does not want to appear to take sides on the status of Jerusalem.

State department guidelines say: “For a person born in Jerusalem, write Jerusalem as the place of birth in the passport.”

This case is now going to the Supreme Court and my only questions is… why? Seriously why the fuck is the supposed highest court in the land wasting taxpayer money on this case? Once again I have a simple solution to resolve this issue and save taxpayers money. If the family wants to birth certificate to say Jerusalem, Israel then put that on the birth certificates. On the other hand if the family wants the birth certificate to say Jerusalem, Palestine then put that on the birth certificate. Hell if the family wants the birth certificate to say Jerusalem, Valhalla then put that on the birth certificate. After all does it really matter? Is anybody unaware of where in the world Jerusalem is? Does anybody care? OK, obviously somebody cares so let me rephrase, does anybody who matters care?

The Only White House Petition that Will Accomplish Its Goal

The White House has demonstrated that they’re simply going to ignore any “We the People” petitions instead of engaging in actual debate as they promised. Knowing this I believe one petition submitted on the website has an excellent chance of achieving its goal:

We demand a vapid, condescending, meaningless, politically safe response to this petition.

Since these petitions are ignored apart from an occasional patronizing and inane political statement amounting to nothing more than a condescending pat on the head, we the signers would enjoy having the illusion of success. Since no other outcome to this process seems possible, we demand that the White House immediately assign a junior staffer to compose a tame and vapid response to this petition, and never attempt to take any meaningful action on this or any other issue. We would also like a cookie.

OK I doubt the last part will be honored by the White House but the rest of the petition will likely be enacted as stated. Isn’t it sad that our government is so blatant about ignoring the people that it’s willing to create a petition website, claim they will give each petition that receives an arbitrarily selected number of signatures a fair shake, and then simply toss any petitions that would change the status quo into the online equivalent of a fire? If a private business treated customers this way (and didn’t have the backing of the United States government to get away with it) they would soon find themselves in bankruptcy as its customers fled to their competition.

Ron Paul, Our Only Hope of Defeating the Threat of the Federal Deficit

While other presidential candidates talk about spending cuts Ron Paul actually puts forth a comprehensive plant to reduce the federal budget but a notable amount:

GOP presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul will unveil his economic plan Monday afternoon, calling for a lower corporate tax rate, cutting spending by $1 trillion during his first year in office and eliminating five cabinet-level agencies, including the Education Department, according to excerpts released to Washington Wire.

A candidate that actually has a plan to reduce the size of government and thus knock down our deficit by an amount that matters? Count me in, hell give this man a raise when he gets into the White House. Wait? He’s willing to take a massive salary cut as well?

But Mr. Paul does get specific when he calls for a 10% reduction in the federal work force, while pledging to limit his presidential salary to $39,336, which his campaign says is “approximately equal to the median personal income of the American worker.” The current pay rate for commander in chief is $400,000 a year.

So Ron Paul has a real plan to reduce the size and cost of government for less money than the other candidates? It appears as though Ron Paul is the embodiment of the free market in action. Regardless of your view on Dr. Paul’s foreign policy you need to understand that the primary threat our country is facing isn’t Iran, Al-Qaeda, or communism; it’s the massive federal deficit. Unless we real in the government’s exorbitant spending we will find the “full faith and credit of the United States” to be a worthless world “commodity” and our economy will collapse fully leaving us in a situation far worse than the Great Depression.

Misleading Titles are Misleading

I love reading through Think Progress because so much of what they post is blatantly wrong. It’s kind of like Fox News except for progressives in that they’ll do and say anything in order to attack their opposition, Republicans. A person I know, who adamantly hates Ron Paul, posted the following story which is titled, “Ron Paul: Greater Access To Birth Control Makes A ‘Mockery’ Of Christians.”

When reading the title you’re obviously lead to believe Ron Pauls stated that greater access to birth control makes a mockery of Christians. Here’s what he actually said:

Not all Americans are comfortable with the Obama administration’s decision to mandate coverage of birth control and morning-after pills, and the considerations of these people, many of them Christian conservatives, are worthy of careful consideration — not mockery.

While the title leads you to believe he said one thing what he actually said was the arguments against birth control brought forth by Christians should be considered instead of mocked. I know a great number of people who simply hate anything to do with religion and if a person makes an argument based on religious beliefs they instantly reject it as false and start up the old mockery engine. Although I don’t believe religious arguments should be the basis of any policy besides religious ones, there is absolutely no reason to completely ignore an argument simply because somebody is making it based on religious beliefs.

I’m sure we can all agree that murder is wrong and most religions have some kind of dogma against the act of murder. Whether you claim an all powerful deity in the sky told humans not to murder each other or that reason lead most people to the understanding that dying sucks and thus killing each other isn’t productive is irrelevant. The bottom line is murder is bad for society and thus we’ve implemented various rules against the act.

Working With the Enemy

It appears as though things aren’t going so well for Obama’s lastest stimulus plan and he’s looking to Harry Reid for some much needed assistance:

Adopting a defiant tone after the vote, Mr Obama said he would work with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to see that individual proposals in the bill gained a vote as soon as possible.

Obama better check who his friends are because Reid wasn’t very helpful with this bill last week.

Last Night’s Republican Presidential Candidate Debate

It’s a new week which means a new Republican presidential candidate debate. There isn’t much to say about this debate that I haven’t said in posts about previous debates. Basically the entire debate can be summed up as follows: Everybody there besides Ron Paul is a fucking idiot and our country is boned if any of them obtain power of if Obama keeps his.

With that said there were some highlights. First of all Herman Cain really fucked up because when the moderator asked him who he thought was a good Federal Reserve chairman the answer that came out of his mouth was Alan Greenspan. While the answer was idiotic Ron Paul wasted not time jumping on that and pointing out the fact that Bernanke is just a continuation of Greenspan which is lead to more continuous bubbles.

A couple people at the debate watching party (yes, we have those) were playing the Herman Cain drinking game. The Herman Cain drinking game is very easy and consists of taking a drink every time he says the phrase, “nine nine nine.” The downside to this game is that you can get completely obliterated in a very short span of time so you may pass out and miss the tailing half of the debate (although the brain damage caused by the alcohol will be negligible compared to the brain damage caused by watching the rest of the debate). I still don’t understand how Cain thinks giving the federal government another source of revenue in the form of a federal sales tax is a good idea. While I detest Bachmann she pointed out the fact that governments aren’t very willing to voluntarily give up revenue streams but are more than willing to increase the size of those streams.

Bachmann has been fun to watch because she’s acting like an injured animal and striking at anything that gets close to her. She made a great quip about 999 turned upside down becomes 666. Being a religious zealot I kind of expected hearing her say that but damn it was still fun even though I saw it coming.

That’s about all I can say about this debate that I haven’t said about previous debates.

Hope and Change Baby

Remember when the Obamessiah promised he wouldn’t go after medical marijuana growers:

“Prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users,” he said in the summer of 2007, is “really not a good use of Justice Department resources.” Later he extended that statement to include medical marijuana growers and promised that “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.” Early in his administration, Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, reiterated these points.

Apparently The Chosen One doesn’t remember this:

Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on some pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state’s 15-year-old medical marijuana law.

Perhaps this is part of Obama’s new job creation bill, hire a bunch more government goons to raid and shutdown medical marijuana facilities. Either that or the federal government is just upset that a state is refusing to respect their authoritah. Finally, just so there’s no ambiguity, I leave you with this paragraph:

The Department of Justice issued a policy memo to federal prosecutors in late June stating that marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers in states with medical marijuana laws could face prosecution for violating federal drug and money-laundering laws. The effort to shutter California dispensaries appeared to be the most far-reaching effort so far to put that guidance into action.

Obama promised he wouldn’t use the Department of Justice to override state marijuana laws and he’s using the Department of Justice.

The Obama Campaign Blame Game

Those dastardly Republicans are at it again, they’re doing everything in their power to block the Obamessiah’s jobs bill! What a bunch of despicable bastards! Don’t they know that they’re going to ruin this country unless they follow the plan of Our Dear Leader? Wait a minute… when did Harry Reid become a Republican:

On the Senate floor today, Republican leader Mitch McConnell asked for unanimous consent to proceed on voting on the bill. Reid, who has struggled to find enough votes for the bill in the Democratic caucus, objected to the motion and killed the opportunity for a vote.

But that doesn’t jive with the message the Obama Campaign sent out regarding this:

President Obama is in Dallas today urging Americans who support the American Jobs Act to demand that Congress pass it already.

Though it’s been nearly a month since he laid out this plan, House Republicans haven’t acted to pass it. And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is out there actually bragging that they won’t even put the jobs package up for a vote — ever.

It’s not clear which part of the bill they now object to: building roads, hiring teachers, getting veterans back to work. They’re willing to block the American Jobs Act — and they think you won’t do anything about it.

But here’s something you can do: Find Republican members of Congress on Twitter, call them out, and demand they pass this bill.

So Harry Reid blocked the vote on Obama’s jobs bill and the Obama Campaign is blaming the Republicans. Since our politicians are acting like a bunch of three year-olds I propose we change the Capitol Building into a giant playpen full of children’s toys. Hell we can even get them a pony.

Rick Perry Wants to Invade Mexico

If it wasn’t blatantly obvious that Rick Perry is a neo-con he decided to show his true colors for all to see. Mr. Perry seems to believe that sending American troops into Mexico is a logical method of fighting the drug cartels:

Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry on Saturday said he would be open to sending U.S. troops into Mexico to combat drug cartels.

Speaking in New Hampshire during a campaign stop, Perry said, “It may require our military in Mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and keep them off our border.”

Let’s stop to think about this for a minute. The only reason the drug cartels in Mexico have any power is because they were able to attain wealth through an illegitimate business. Their business is only illegitimate because the United States government declared a pointless war on drugs. One sign of insanity is performing the exact same sequence of events and expecting a different outcome. By that definition the federal government must be insane because we had a little episode in our history known as Prohibition. Due to alcohol being declare a verboten substance the criminal underground began making a fortune off of bootlegged liquor. This lead to an increased level of violent crime which was only reduced when the constitutional amendment banning alcohol was repealed.

So what does our miraculous government do several decades down the road? Start a prohibition against various politically selected drugs which turned manufacturing, selling, and using those substances into a crime. This lead to a dramatic increase in violent crime which has not subsumed. If Rick Perry is serious about reducing the violent crime rate along the Mexican-American border he will advocate an end to the war on drugs as Ron Paul has. By ending the needless war on drugs we will take the power from the drug cartels as legitimate competition enters the market and the production of currently illegal substances begins to drop sharply in price. So long as the federal government attempts to play nanny we’re going to have to deal with drug cartels whose power is ever increasing.

An invasion of Mexico to stop the drug cartels will end in nothing but more wasting of taxpayer dollars and more of our soldiers dying needlessly. We already have several wars going on overseas anyways so why is there any talk about starting another one?

Winning Voters

What’s the best way to win voters? I honestly don’t know but I can tell you one way that doesn’t work, telling the voters you want to suspend elections:

Spokesman Mark Johnson confirms that Perdue, speaking off the cuff as she often does, told the crowd that partisanship in Washington is keeping Congress from doing its job. She said lawmakers are too worried about re-election to work across party lines.

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said.

That’ll certainly win people over to your side. Although what she said was stupid I’m guessing her thoughts during the time were worse. She was probably thinking, “Hey. Hey you serf. Yeah you. Us barons were talking and we’ve decided to stop letting you idiots vote. Now get back in the field and harvest me some fucking corn before I have you killed.” Obviously Perdue’s campaign is down playing this:

Perdue’s press secretary Chris Mackey said the remark had been taken out of context. “Come on,” she wrote in an emailed statement. “Gov. Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of what’s best for the people they serve,” Mackey said.

Sorry but that doesn’t matter. Her statement makes for great blog fodder and there is now way I’m going to pass it up, especially when there is a high likelihood that she at last partially meant what she said (most politicians are tyrants at heart).