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A Plan for America…..My Brother…and George Carlin

  • Posted on February 19, 2011 at 12:14 pm

Yesterday I got an email from my brother Jim.  Jim and I can agree on some things and disagree on others.  I found his email really interesting and I decided I would share it with you because it will make everyone “think” and we all know the mind is a terrible thing to waste.  Also, earlier in the week someone had posted a George Carlin video on the Confluence in a comment and it got me thinking.  All of this to me is tied together and this is my unique way of putting it together for people who might read my blog.  All I can say is “God Bless George” he was a brilliant comedian.  It’s amazing how he is gone but what he has said is still remarkably relevant today.  If you really can’t handle his “language” then don’t watch it, but really are you that sheltered?

This is my brother’s email in its entirety:

Katie

The Challenge for President Obama

President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech, stated “but to win the future, we’ll need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making”. The challenge that needs addressing is correcting our flawed financial system. We need a monetary system that works for all the American people.

Since the on-set of this very deep recession, the Federal Reserve has granted loans to the banks and associated financial institutions totaling over nine trillion dollars and purchased over two trillion dollars of toxic assets; and the Federal government has passed another seven hundred billion dollars directly to these entities with a similar amount to the states, much of which also has found its way to these institutions. And in the process of doing these things, the government has incurred an additional debt of five trillion dollars.

The President inferred in his speech last night that it was worth it as he now tells us this recession is over, in his words: “…broken the back of the recession”. But we now have an official unemployment number of near ten percent and possibly fifteen to twenty percent more under-employed or discouraged from actively seeking work. We also have during this time home foreclosures in the millions. These numbers are not so different from those at the depths of the Great Depression.

Had this debt increase of five trillion dollars been disbursed directly to the people, each would have received about Twenty two thousand five hundred dollars ($22,500). That would be Forty five thousand dollars ($45,000) for most every American family, much of which would have gone to buying down personal debt. This transfer of money directly to the people would have incurred no debt to the government, as the Federal government has the power to create its own money, as Abraham Lincoln did during our Civil War with the famous greenbacks.

But instead of passing this debt free money directly to the American people, this government Lincoln told us was of the people, by the people, and for the people, passed this money to the banks and received it back as debt. This surely will assure the people’s perpetual indebtedness to the banks and their associate elites, both in retiring personal debt and in paying higher taxes to meet the interest payments on the government’s debt.

As a people we could accept nothing stupider than to allow our government to assign this the most important part of our economic life: the control of our monetary system; to this privileged private group. But to talk about our government creating our money is verboten in the mainstream media. The reason seems rather obvious but until we correct this component of our economic life we will continue to digress with our way of life progressively worsening until we truly are a slave state.

And until we get help at least from some of the mainstream media, the greenbacks Lincoln used to free the slaves that have now been given fully to the banking system will continue to be used to enslave us all.

Jim

You are probably thinking about those Lincoln greenbacks, so here is a link.  From my perspective the politicians should be listening more to the American people and less to the corporations.

http://www.xat.org/xat/usury.html

There is more here on the Second Bank mentioned in that link under Andrew Jackson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bank_of_the_United_States

If you are interested in more of what my brother has to say and his thoughts, here is a link to a book he has written.  http://www.aplanforamerica.org/

Some of you may be wondering why I haven’t posted on what is happening in Wisconsin.  I’m working on a post about that and hope to have it up in a day or two.  We have to do more than just play around with Facebook and social network websites.  We all need to do our due diligence to become better informed citizens of the world.  Otherwise, we will continue to get the type of corporate government we seem to have in power right now.

Open Secrets, Money, Politics and Body Scanners, Oh My!

  • Posted on December 5, 2010 at 12:40 am

Don't you wonder what that technician is being exposed to day after day?

Dave Levinthal from Open Secrets was on CSPAN this morning and I must say it was a very interesting show.  If you are not familiar with the Open Secrets blog it shows how much money is in politics.  You can look up your own congress people and see their net worth.  He said that while a little bit less than 1% of the American people are millionaires between 40-50% of congress are millionaires.  We are not being represented by our peers, not by a long shot.  With the money that is being spent on our elections, this trend will probably continue.  Dave Levinthal wants people to simply be informed.  He thinks we should be aware about the money and politics.  On this page you can look up the richest and the poorest members of Congress as well as their average wealth.  http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.php?type=W&year=2009

This website deserves some perusing as it is very interesting.  I’ve been going here for the last couple of years and there is always more to learn.  I highly recommend people to check it out.  These are the main companies that many have invested in.  http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.php?type=P&year=2009

I know some of you may have invested in some of these companies as well.  However, you probably don’t hold a government office that awards contracts and monies to companies.  I think it is no wonder that our government seems more and more corrupt as time goes on and it doesn’t seem to matter which party you are in.

The discussion also centered on the Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission case that allowed untold money to be spent by corporations, non-profits and trade unions in our elections.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission

Much was also discussed about how our congress people got their money and what lobbyists are pushing for and who benefits from that push.  Shouldn’t we all know which special interests and which politicians benefit from the laws that get made and tarp monies that have been paid out to them?

We have to watch our political leaders to see where they are investing their money.  Does it surprise anyone that some politicians have invested in the company that does the body scans at the airport?  Some are small investments while John Kerry’s is quite large.  http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/11/several-federal-lawmakers-invested.html

Does anyone really believe a machine that scans the body like this could possibly be safe for long term use?  Technicians and doctors don’t expose their bodies to the many types of imaging equipment utilized in hospitals and dental offices for a reason.  Those foot scanners that people used years ago in the shoe stores were outlawed for a reason.  These machines cannot possibly be safe in the long term.  There will probably be increased cancer cases in the years to come all supposedly to “protect” us.  Isn’t it interesting to see how these types of companies are awarded funds from the government by the very people that are invested in them?

This short post today is just to wake you up from your slumber.  If you haven’t been thinking about the money in politics, you should be.

The Education of Bristol Palin

  • Posted on October 17, 2010 at 12:42 am

Bristol Palin could surely be the girl next door.

I haven’t been watching “Dancing with the Starts”.  However, I have seen enough of it this season through small clips to wonder what’s going on with Bristol Palin.  We all know the story about Bristol and who her famous mom is and all the problems that may go with being a child of politics.  The show has used Bristol for the obvious reasons of obtaining ratings.  What is sad to see is the way this child is being put into some fairly risqué dance routines that don’t seem to fit her personality at all.  She is being used and abused by a system for a monetary gain.  It makes me wonder what this young woman would do for money?  I think Bristol could easily have been on this show and not have been put into the sexy situations and the show could still have great ratings.  For some unknown reason the show executives have decided to portray Bristol in a fairly raunchy way which I think undermines all young women and surely portrays Bristol in the poorest light possible.

I feel she is being forced to do the opposite of what she is really about.  I saw the first dance where she was dressed like her mom and then her coat was ripped off to reveal a rather sultry, flashy, hooker type dress.

This dress is so un-Palin like and highly suggestive.

This may have been a statement that Bristol was trying to make, but I highly doubt it.  What troubles me is seeing mom in the audience whooping it up when Bristol looks to be rather uncomfortable in her own skin.

Some people probably have no sympathy for Bristol because she is getting paid to do this show.  However, I wonder if this young woman realizes how she appears to be some comic parody.  She is supposed to be representing “abstinence”.  In every aspect of the show that I have witnessed she has been portrayed more like a harlot than a confused teen.  She is fairly young and inexperienced.  She made a mistake as a youngster and she is living with the consequence of her mistake.  This new Bristol seems to have given up something precious from the old Bristol.  That would be the “self respect” thing.  I don’t believe for a minute that this young woman really wants to be portrayed as she is currently is or else she is just clueless to the image that she is playing.  In the most recent dance she wore seamed stockings and a shirt.  She actually pulled off the shirt of her dance partner as though she was so full of lust she had to have him right there and now.  This is a new level of trash TV and I’m appalled that Bristol has been put in this position and doesn’t seem to realize how she is being made fun of in many ways.

I think it’s a way to make fun of her and probably her mother’s stance on some issues.  However, mom has “bought” into this because money seems to trump anything else that really matters. The fact is it is tough to see Bristol as an abstinence proponent as it seems to be a case of “Do as I say, not as I did.”  However, she could be a great spokesperson to show young teens that there are consequences for having sex that you may have to live with in the future.  However, Bristol’s life seems to be better than ever.  She gets to be on a TV show.  She’s making a lot more money than any other kid her age would be making if they were in the same situation, young, unwed with a child.  It’s really about the education of Bristol and this education seems to be about making money while the press still thinks you have value.  There is a certain amount of sleaziness to all of this.  What won’t Bristol do for money?  She obviously gave up some of her virtuous clothing choices to appear on this show but more than that she seems to be willing to try to appear to look like some unrestrained sex kitten for ratings.

I am troubled by all of this.  I look at Bristol with the eyes of a mother and also with the eyes of a woman.  I see her as being betrayed by her female qualities for the sole purpose of selling a product and the product is sex.  It really is abusive to all young women to see her portrayed in this manner.   We are back to the Madonna/Whore phenomenon.   A woman must be portrayed as the good girl or the bad girl, the Madonna or the whore.  Bristol is a “fallen” woman as she had sex without marriage and she wasn’t able to cover it up like most young women because she got pregnant and chose to keep the baby.  I guess now that she is a “fallen” woman it’s okay for her to be portrayed as a slut.

This is how Bristol is being portrayed on the internet. This is fake for now.

Bristol’s mom is so busy campaigning and selling her own books that she doesn’t seem to mind the image that her “fallen” daughter is sending out to other young women and of course living with while she dances and prances on this show.  This is poor parenting from my point of view.  I know we have little control over what our children do in life but mom doesn’t have to sit there acting like everything is fine and dandy talking about “Bristol the Pistol” as though she’s just a sweet little girl from Wasilla, Alaska.  No, Bristol is getting an education but it’s not the kind of education most of us want for our daughters, nieces, friends, sisters or any young woman we really care about to get.  Bristol is discovering her worth is related to what her body can give her.  Right now her body is selling sexual fantasy.  It’s an image most of us wouldn’t want attached to our young ones.  Most of us want our children to get a real education by going away to college and learning about life under the bubble of the perfection and idealism that college can sometimes be.  Bristol seems to be attending some kind of college of hard knocks but the money is so good that she doesn’t see what she’s lost in the process.  Kids can be stubborn and sometimes they revolt from what their parents want but some how I don’t think Bristol’s mom seems to mind where her daughter is right now.  I just wish they could both see what I see.  Bristol may be having fun with all of this and maybe I’m an old stogie but truthfully there is more to being a woman than just trying to appear sexual.  This young woman saw two roads and she chose this one.  I wonder what the other one would have brought her.