Austerity 2

Austerity riots in Greece

"The issue that is most important and most on people's minds is jobs." -Gov. Rick Perry

"Kids all across the country are feeling the sting of budget cutbacks as the average payout for a lost tooth plummets from $3.00 to just $2.60. That’s a net revenue decrease of nearly 14% in just one year. In addition, the number of kids getting completely flown-over by the Tooth Fairy has gone from 4% to 10% in the past year, leaving 5 in 50 kids with no tooth-loss compensation." -Angela B, Care2

No tooth-loss compensation! What has this country come to?! The freaking Tooth Fairy can't even afford to do business as usual, and I'm not even sure if he's an American.
Or even if he's a he, for that matter.
As I mentioned yesterday the country is currently experiencing a manufactured debt/spending crisis due to a hugely successful right wing public relations campaign sponsored by Republican billionaires and ex Bush administration hacks like Carl Rove and Gretchen Hamel.
"Earlier this week, Politico published a piece outlining the vast disparity in the ad war over the debt ceiling. Republican-aligned groups have run over $21.2 million in attack ads highlighting Democrats as irresponsible drivers of the national debt, and elevating the debt ceiling as a top priority. Meanwhile, groups on the left have spent about $30,000 on ads calling out Republicans on the debt, with one hitting lawmakers for “recklessly risking default.” Some Democratic leaning groups have even run ads casting Democrats as better at cutting than Republicans." -Lee Fang, Think Progress
It appears that the Republicans have once again framed the debate in this country and the Democrats, including President Obama, buy into it. Debt, debt, debt. Spending, spending, spending. That's all that's being talked about, and no one in the media, even the progressive media, are challenging the common wisdom, which, as usual, is completely wrong (with the exception, as always, of Thom Hartmann).
The economy is obviously sluggish. Unemployment is high... not only that but jobs are hard to come by as well! Wall Street and businesses are hoarding cash and transferring jobs overseas. We're facing a slide back into a double dip recession.
So what's ailing the United States if it isn't the national public debt and runaway spending, and who is courageous enough to buck the manipulated majority view and openly talk about it?
As Governor Perry stated above, the American people seem to think it's job creation, and not deficit reduction. A recent Gallup poll asked 1,016 adult people what they thought was the greatest problem facing the country. 27% said it was unemployment/job creation, and 31% stating the economy in general. Compare that to just 16% for the deficit. Other polls consistently display similar results.
So why is Congress focusing on spending and debt reduction rather than what the American people care about and what is currently adversely affecting a large portion of them? Job creation, after all, is what got the Republicans the majority in the House last year.
Here's the simple answer. The Republicans don't give a rat's ass what the American people want, or need, that's why. The only time the Republicans care about what the American people think is before elections, or when they are attempting to shape public opinion through lies and false advertising, such as the daily dribble on the Fox Propaganda Network. Besides, if the Republicans actually did something to help the American people as far as employment goes, or to improve the country in general at the present time, Obama will get credit for it, making it easier for him to win a second term. They sure don't want that.
Am I being too cynical and quick to judgment? Too misanthropic perhaps?
Yes, and delightedly so!
My good friends (I've never actually met them, but feel like we'd be good friends if I did. I'm very likable) Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman of Princeton University and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, among other economists, say it's jobs and economic growth as well.
Here's what Robert wrote about it (and the debt ceiling "crisis") a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/6813-dont-fall-for-the-gop-lie
And Paul has something to say about it as well, giving us a lesson on the current austerity measures employed in Europe:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/opinion/23krugman.html?emc=eta1
Wikipedia tells us: "In many cases, austerity measures have been associated with significant decline in standard of living. A case in point which was being watched by many was that of Greece. The financial crisis—particularly the austerity package put forth by the EU [European Union] and the IMF [International Monetary Fund]— was met with anger by the Greek public, leading to riots and social unrest. On 27 June 2011, trade union organizations commenced a forty-eight hour labor strike in advance of a parliamentary vote on the austerity package, the first such strike since 1974. Massive demonstrations were organized throughout Greece, intended to pressure parliament members into voting against the package. The second set of austerity measures was approved on 29 June 2011, with 155 out of 300 members of parliament voting in favor. However, United Nations officials warned that the second package of austerity measures in Greece could pose a violation of human rights."
I ask you dear readers, has a national program of economic austerity ever worked? Journalist Mark Ames doesn't think so.
"Take a look at just about any austerity program over the past century, and the record is always the same: economic destruction, political destruction, and violence. Take Venezuela, for example: Ever wonder why Venezuelans chose Hugo Chavez? What made Venezuelans so radicalized that they’d to turn to a Fidel Castro groupie to save them? Austerity is what happened, austerity cooked up in Washington by the same financial elite that we’re now facing today."
I've looked at countries that have imposed austerity measures in Argentina, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Romania, and Portugal, and I have to agree with Mr. Ames, all that seems to happen are spending cuts to social programs which affect the majority of citizens, a lessing of the standard of living, high unemployment, a sluggish economy, and a generally pissed off populace, which at times express themselves through desperate, violent measures, which at times prompts a similar response from the government against their own citizens. One could say, as Mr. Ames does, that strict programs of austerity, coupled with high unemployment and inflation, brought about the rise of the Nazi party in the 1930s, paving the way for the ascension of Adolph Hitler into power, and the onset of World War II.
So why are austerity programs used over and over?
Because we listen to the nonsense of Republicans, or in other countries, the IMF, or the World Bank, whose goals are not to improve the lot of the population within those countries, but rather to drain them of cash and natural resources. They like to revise history to make it seem that balanced budgets achieved through spending cuts that affect the middle and lower classes exclusively will save the day, but as Bill Clinton demonstrated in the 1990's, raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations, having them pay their fair share, is a much better, fair, and economically sound way to gain budgets that are balanced, or draw a surplus.
But then we elect Republicans back into office who immediately screw everything up again. That's what they do.
What should we be doing, instead of punishing ourselves economically for years and years? Considering the nation's infrastructure, things like roads, bridges, the electrical grid, all need to be refurbished and modernized. We need to spend. We need to do more than that even. We need to spend, spend, spend, and spend some more... to get this economy moving again. We need to send Grover Norquist on a one way trip to Antarctica. We need to balance trade, not free it. We need to break up the banks and media giants, so they work for the people for a change. We need to raise taxes on oil companies and banks, and all the other wealthy people who have had it so good since Ronald Reagan and Bush Jr. took office. We need single payer health care. We need a whole lot of stuff that we're currently not doing or getting... but need to if we wish to reclaim America.
The Republicans will bitch and cry, they'll shout from the rooftops. They'll claim on Fox that everything is going to hell while reality proves otherwise. That's what they do to. That's what they're good at. We just need to stop listening to them.
Perhaps it's time to take a lessen from our brothers and sisters in Greece, and strike off into the streets and, as Thom Hartmann so ably puts it, "raise hell."
Although the Greeks lost that particular battle, it's never too late to win the war.

Interesting Times

Here we are at the brink of an historical default. Earlier I wrote about what exactly was on the table, what Congress and President Obama were attempting to force on the American people in the name of bipartisan cooperation, and compromise:

Sunday afternoon I took a break from my normal greased poll dancing exercises, and checked the news online to see what our members in Congress were doing about settling the matter of the nation's debt ceiling, if anything. To my delight I found headlines such as this:

Debt Ceiling Deal Reached To Avert Default

"President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached historic agreement Sunday night on a compromise to permit vital U.S. borrowing by the Treasury in exchange for more than $2 trillion in long-term spending cuts."

I said to myself as no one else was there, "Wow! Finally! Self, after weeks now of this story being forefront in the news, it's over at last (frankly I was getting sick of hearing about how dysfunctional our federal government had become)! Now all of my neighbors who receive social security checks, and all of my veteran friends who get pensions, won't have to worry anymore about getting paid. Thank goodness."
Then I continued reading and found out that neither the House of Representatives, or the Senate had voted on the deal yet.
"Oh crap," I said to Herkimer, my in invisible cat.
"Shit!" Herkimer agreed.
Herkimer and I both knew all to well the difficulty in getting anything passed right now in Congress, especially concerning the debt limit, and especially in the House since the infiltration of the Tea Baggers. The last few weeks were a testament to this fact.
"Okay, okay, let's take a look at this," I said.
What is this bill Congressional leaders and the President are trying to pass? Let's examine, shall we?
The following is from the White House... that place where the President lives.
Immediately enacted 10-year discretionary spending caps generating nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction; balanced between defense and non-defense spending.
President authorized to increase the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion, eliminating the need for further increases until 2013.
Bipartisan committee process tasked with identifying an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, including from entitlement and tax reform. Committee is required to report legislation by November 23, 2011, which receives fast-track protections. Congress is required to vote on Committee recommendations by December 23, 2011.
Enforcement mechanism established to force all parties – Republican and Democrat – to agree to balanced deficit reduction. If Committee fails, enforcement mechanism will trigger spending reductions beginning in 2013 – split 50/50 between domestic and defense spending. Enforcement protects Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, and low-income programs from any cuts.

Well that certainly explains everything in a clear and straightforward manner.
First, it stipulates a reduction in the deficit of nearly 1 trillion dollars over ten years, from the day-to-day operating budgets of Cabinet agencies. And as we learned yesterday, that really means a reduction in the Public Debt (PD) of 1 trillion. At the same time the limit on government borrowing will be raised (the infamous debt ceiling) by 2.1 trillion, in three stages, allowing the federal government to function throughout 2012, and into 2013, which Obama had made clear was a stipulation that he required for the deal to go through. So, according to the proposed deal, the Treasury can increase the PD up to 16. 56 trillion, while Congress reduces spending 1 trillion over a decade.
Next, this creates another commission (bipartisan!) to study the problem of implementing additional spending cuts of 1.5 trillion from the so called "entitlements," and tax reform (increasing revenue by closing tax loopholes for the rich? What will the Tea Baggers think about that?).
Commissions. Huumm. This is what Obama said in 2008 while running for office: "Senator McCain's first answer to this economic crisis was - get ready for it - a commission. That's Washington-speak for 'we'll get back to you later.'"
He said this too: "Folks, we don't need a commission to spend a few years and a lot of taxpayer money to tell us what's going on in our economy," he continued. "We don't need a commission to tell us gas prices are high or that you can't pay your bills. We don't need a commission to tell us you're losing your jobs. We don't need a commission to study this crisis, we need a President who will solve it - and that's the kind of President I intend to be."
This will be the fourth commission that the Obama administration has convened, the best known being the Debt and Deficit Commission, which made recommendations, but failed to endorse itself.
Anyway, this 12 member commission (6 Republicans and 6 Democrats) would not be any ordinary commission, oh no. This is a Super Commission, that would be endowed with super powers, that Congress would not be allowed to take away. This super commission would be responsible for finding another trillion and a half of additional spending cuts, again, over ten years.
If for some reason the super commission could not come up with a consensus on what to cut, then a so-called "trigger," would be tripped, setting off automatic cuts across the federal budget; the Pentagon, domestic agencies and farm subsidies would be affected, as would payments to doctors and other Medicare providers. However, individual benefits under Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and programs for veterans and federal retirees would be exempt.
This commission spares Congress from doing it's job, which is appropriating money for the different programs and agencies of the government. Additionally, the legislation requires both the House and Senate to vote on a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, which if passed would further abdicate Congress from fulfilling it's constitutional duties, but has no chance in hell of passing with two thirds of the House and Senate, then 38 of our 50 states approving it.
Oh yes, The Economic Policy Institute crunched the numbers and found that the deal will cost 1.8 million jobs in 2012, mostly because the first round of the deal included no extension of long-term jobless benefits (528,000 jobs lost) and no extension of the current payroll tax cut for employees (972,000 jobs lost).
A lot of people don't like this legislation. Right and Left. I don't. There are no immediate increases in revenues, in other words the rich don't have to pay a dime... again. Lost jobs. All there seems to be are cuts, cuts to programs that the country needs quite badly. This at a time when the whole fiscal debate is wrong headed to begin with. This is not a time to be cutting spending, not coming out of a great recession, not with this sluggish economy. The only reason we're talking about the need for debt reduction rather than increased stimulus spending is because the Democrats have been out maneuvered PR wise, by the Republicans.
http://www.truth-out.org/how-shadowy-right-wing-front-groups-engineered-our-national-embrace-debt-reduction-over-job-creation
I have a lot of good company who seem to share my opinion.
Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman has taken a break from his burgeoning film career ("Get Him to the Greek") and ways in on the debate: "For the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America’s long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status."
Come on Krugman! Don't hold back, tell us what you really think.
Watch Paul spank George Will and Grover Norquist on "This Week," with Christine Amanpour (Hey, Christine... Paul won the Nobel prize, not the Pulitzer!)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/paul-krugman-george-will-_n_914760.html
One of my other favorite people, former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, Robert Reich wrote: "The deal does not raise taxes on America’s wealthy and most fortunate — who are now taking home a larger share of total income and wealth, and whose tax rates are already lower than they have been, in eighty years. Yet it puts the nation’s most important safety nets and public investments on the chopping block.
It also hobbles the capacity of the government to respond to the jobs and growth crisis. Added to the cuts already underway by state and local governments, the deal’s spending cuts increase the odds of a double-dip recession. And the deal strengthens the political hand of the radical right.
Yes, the deal is preferable to the unfolding economic catastrophe of a default on the debt of the U.S. government. The outrage and the shame is it has come to this choice."
Keith Olbermann had something to say about this as well, in yesterdays Special Comment:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/olbermann-debt-ceiling-special-comment-protests-obama_n_915957.html

A little after three o'clock my time, six o'clock in Washington D.C., the House of Representatives passed this debt ceiling bill 269-161, with 3 Democrats abstaining. 95 Democrats voted for it to pass, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who returned to the floor of the House for the first time, and in public for the first time, since she was shot last January. She insisted on being flown from rehab for the vote.
"I'm proud of some of the accomplishments contained with it and that's why I'm voting for it," she said.

Minority Leader Pelosi had a different opinion. "It's hard to believe we are putting our best foot forward with the legislation that comes before us today."
She voted for it as well.
The big vote over, the Republican controlled House gave itself a vacation, until after Labor Day, September 6th to be exact. They leave with much left to do, like reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, you know, that little agency in charge of looking out for all of the airplanes flying around. At the present time the government is losing 200 million dollars a week in taxes. But why would the Republicans be concerned with that paltry sum, and the thousands forced out of work due to their inaction.
But I digress. The passage of this debt ceiling bill is unfortunate. Not that a government default seems to have been avoided (the legislation will be voted on in the Senate in about nine hours, noon Washington time. It is expected to pass), but this whole thing could have been avoided last December when Obama extended the Bush tax cuts for two years in order to get one year of extended unemployment benefits. During a press conference, a reporter asked him point blank, should he at this time divorce the public debt from a needed debt ceiling vote in the future as they are not inextricably linked. The President didn't seem to understand the question and had the reporter repeat it, then answered, and I paraphrase, no one would ever hold the country's economy hostage for political or ideological reasons.
I'm sure President Obama feels differently now.
The title of this post is "Interesting Times," which is a segment of the well known phrase, "May you live in interesting times." The phrase is often attributed to the Chinese, as an old Chinese proverb. Some even suggest that the philosopher Confucius said it himself.
It's origin is unclear. It very well may have been invented by the English, or even Americans.
One thing is clear however. The phase is not a pleasant bid to thwart a life of boredom, but rather a curse... a curse assigning the one it is told to a life of harsh circumstances.
I think we are indeed living in interesting times.

Austerity

Austerity protest in Ireland

Austerity, austerity, austerity. What does it mean?
Merriam-Webster gives this definition: The quality or state of being austere.
Well that explains everything except what the hell "austere" means.
I looked that up to! Merriam Webster again: Stern and cold in appearance or manner.
Yes, yes, so they're describing me... I see. However, we're discussing economic austerity today, the kind that many European countries like Ireland and Greece are currently embracing (or being forced to embrace), as well as our own Congress and the President.
So, Wikipedia tells us: "In economics, austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided. Austerity policies are often used by governments to reduce their deficit spending while sometimes coupled with increases in taxes to pay back creditors to reduce debt.
"Austerity" was named the word of the year by Merriam-Webster in 2010 (determined by the volume of user hits at Merriam-Webster.com in response to current events and conditions; (2) Pragmatic, (3) Moratorium, (4) Socialism (interesting), (5) Bigot, (6) Doppelganger, (7) Shellacking, (8) Ebullient, (9) Dissident, and (10) Furtive).
Let's carry on. Our nation, the United States of America is currently fixated on reducing the deficit (the discrepancy between the amount of money the government spends and what it takes in with revenues, such as taxes each year. At the present time the federal government is spending more than it's taking in (and no wonder, two unnecessary wars are exceptionally expensive, so are unnecessary tax cuts for the wealthy, and less revenue in taxes due to high unemployment and a weakened economy), so the nation is running a deficit rather than a surplus. It has been running a deficit for quite a while, ever since George W. Bush came into office in 2001, ten years now, almost eleven. This adds up over time, and what has the Republicans and the Tea Baggers all riled up is the accumulated amount of all those years of deficit spending (borrowing), which is called the United States public debt (PD). So when you hear in the media about the conservatives wanting to reduce the deficit by cutting spending, what they're really talking about is reducing the public debt of the country which is quite formidable. It now stands at about 14.46 trillion dollars. Now as I'm sure you know, a trillion is represented numerically as 1,000,000,000,000. A one with twelve zeros behind it. You could also say a trillion equals a million million. It's certainly more than I'll ever make. Below is a picture of a trillion dollars.

See that guy standing at the left hand corner of all those pallets of cash. Each one of those double stacked pallets represents 100 million dollars (do you think they'd miss just one?)... American. Multiply all of those pallets by 14.5 and you'll have all of the money the U.S. currently owes (fortunately it owes most of the money to itself).
That's about 98.6% of the countries annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or rather the public debt equals 98.6% of the total value of all of the goods and services produced in the United States during the past year.
With an estimated current population of 311,035,6821, each and every one of us owes about $46,149.42. Babies too!
I'll take cashier checks or money orders only. Come on, cough it up!
Our public debt stands as the twelfth highest in the world.
Japan's PD is over 200% of it's GDP, yet it's unemployment rate is 4.7% (compared to 9.2% in the U.S.), and two out of the three major Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSRO's, Fitch, Moodys, and Standard and Poor's) rated it's economy as stable (AA-) before last March's earthquake and tsunami. Despite the unprecedented costs associated with the clean up and rebuilding of the affected ares (which paradoxically may strengthen the local economies with increased job growth), Japan plans to decrease it's indebtedness through budget consolidation, social welfare and tax reforms. Due to it's lower credit rating, Japan may be forced into "austerity like" measures, cutting pension benefits while increasing employment insurance payments, but nothing as drastic as the cuts in social programs as the Republicans would have it here in the U.S. Why? Because Japan actually cares about it's citizens.
The austerity plan for the United States, if the Republicans have their way, will include no tax increases whatsoever on large corporations and those making $250,000 a year, or more. No higher taxes at all. No they want to lower the PD through spending cuts only. And what will they cut? What is commonly known as "entitlements," (the word entitlement refers to a notion or belief that one is deserving of some particular reward or benefit. This is hardly true. Social security is called an entitlement. It is not. It is an insurance fund that workers pay into through their payroll taxes throughout their working lives. Social security is a promise by the government to pay back that money when workers reach a certain age, or become disabled) social security, medicare, medicaid, programs for the poor and seniors, infrastructure (the Republicans have something against high speed rail systems, probably because they don't wish to give President Obama any credit at all for building such successful and efficient transportation networks), emergency first responders... oh hell, they want to cut spending for everything (especially the Tea Baggers).
Will members of Congress join along in the "shared sacrifice," themselves by reducing their own salaries, that conforms to the spirit of austerity that they are forcing on the American people?
Nope. H.R. 204, was introduced by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords last January, three days before she was shot in the head by a madman in Arizona. Fortunately she survived and is in the process of recovery. Her bill though has languished, having not even been considered by the House of Representatives.
To briefly sum up, austerity measures that the Republicans would foist upon the American working class include trillions of dollars (over ten years typically) in cuts to the budget in social safety net programs that affect the middle and lower classes, seniors, women and the poor. They vehemently refuse to increase revenue (please remember, there are only two ways to balance a budget, from your own personal home budget, to that of a nation, and that is to either cut spending (buy or use less things or services), or increase income (such as in taxes). A mixture of both is ideal) under any circumstances, even though the tax increases proposed will only affect the wealthiest corporations and individuals.
They are protecting corporations that are making billions in profits annually while the rest of the country is in economic misery. They are protecting corporations that are not creating jobs even though the Republican rational for not increasing their taxes is that they are the "job providers." They are protecting corporations that are indeed, showing little allegiance to this country other than to suck it's economy dry. It is protecting corporations that send American jobs to China and India.
The Republicans are protecting corporations, and the richest among us, that created the economic crisis to begin with, which has seemingly made austerity measures necessary, not just in this country, but around the world.

To be continued

Salvation Diary 49

"Salvation" artist Amanda Milke
http://amandamilke.wordpress.com/


August 21 Wednesday Day 344

Clyde Foster has returned to us, making it his third time here. It's good to have him. Let's hope that he can stick it out and accomplish whatever goals he might have.
Kevin Rockoff went and got himself a job as a security guard. He starts tomorrow at 10:00AM. Tomorrow's his birthday. He'll be 33.
Happy birthday Kevin!
He tells me that he's going to marry his mail order Indian princess January 10th.
Good for him.
I attended a safety meeting in the afternoon. Ernie Sens was there, along with Clarence Orion, his wife Pattie (the Major's secretary), Frank Corona, Charles Parsons, Bill Richardson, and Dennis Cunningham. We talked about safety. We decided to become earthquake prepared, to have fire drills and a building evacuation plan in case of emergencies. We also decided to send me, Frank, Clarence, and Charles, to a Red Cross CPR class. We're going to learn CPR and other life saving procedures. Maybe we'll be able to save someone's life and become heros.
I had a headache. I took some Extra Strength Tylenol tablets. The headache went away.
I walked outside to smoke a cigarette after chapel and talked to Marvin Smith. I asked him how it was going. He said slow. He is our bailer. His job is to bail up all the clothes that the Salvation Army collects but cannot resell. Cardboard boxes too.
Marvin told me that it was the slowest day he'd ever had.
"Really," I said. "Just think. Of all the days I could have picked to ask you how it was going, I picked this one, the slowest day you've ever had. What are the chances of that happening?"
"Yeah, in eight months..."
"Eight months! That's almost like... two hundred and fifty days, isn't it? What are the odds? It must be something like two hundred and fifty to one, Marvin. And I beat the odds! We beat the odds Marvin. You and I, because I certainly couldn't have done it without you..."
On and on.
The coup in the U.S.S.R. has been smashed. Civil resistance, world opinion and scrutiny, and no clear plan of what to do with the power once it was acquired, doomed the attempt to failure almost from the very beginning. That country has a rough road ahead. I wish Mr. Gorbachev well.
And Cathy came tonight, and was still very upset about Spotty. The kitty may have a fever.
Cathy tells me, she herself, has not slept well for two weeks, and hasn't had much of an appetite. I gave her the benefit of my vast storehouse of veterinary knowledge, cautioned her to take care of herself first and generally tried to reassure that everything would be okay. That, along with the cat book I had given to her previously was about all I could do. I can't solve her problems for her, nor anybody else's, but I hope I can be of assistance if she wants me to be.
Then I sent her on her way.
Then I made sure everything was nice and tidy in the residence before we put the place to rest for the night. I counted money, organized counselor's lists, adjusted ledgers, locked doors, and put out the dog. After everyone was in I performed my last nightly chore, going through all the dorms, I tucked everyone in nice and tight, offered a comforting word if needed, listened to problems, and told an occasional bedtime story until the men's eyes drooped shut and they drifted off into gentle slumber.
Then I made my way to my lonely room, undressed, did two thousand butt naked push and sit ups... then I too dozed.
Tomorrow we would do it all again.


August 22 Thursday Day 345


Today, we did it all again.
And did it well.


August 23 Friday Day 346


Cathy gave me a call last night. I have a note to prove it.
At 9:30PM, I came to my office from the sample room, where I had began a batch of urine tests. I was there to finish up some paper work.
I found a note on my desk which said this, "Cathy 920 RKC." I asked myself what the "RKC" might mean. I said, "What the fuck does 920 RKC mean? Was Cathy maliciously marauded by 920 cases of renegade Royal Krown Cola?"
I asked Jack Crossley, the duty desk man, if he had taken the message.
"Uaaaah... no," was his considered reply.
I showed him the little piece of paper with the message scrawled on it, and asked him who had put it on my desk.
"Uaaaah... not me."
"Well Jack, this wasn't here when I left my office. That tells me that someone put it there, probably a human being in close proximity to our present location. They placed this piece of paper on my desk, after taking a message from this phone here, or the one on my desk. Now who do you think this person might be? Have any idea at all Jack?"
After several minutes I was able to wrangle from Jack that Roger Collins had briefly watched the desk while Jack used the restroom. I went in search of Roger and eventually found him out front smoking a cigarette.
"Did you take a message for me, Roger?"
"Yes."
"Well, what did she say? Did she say anything?"
"No. No message."
"Well, what does 920 RKC mean, Roger?"
"She called at nine twenty, and just asked if you would call her back. I put my initials there so you would know who took the call."
"What's your middle name? Kevin?"
"Yes."
"Thanks Roger."
I called Cathy from up in the sample room. She just wanted to tell me she had taken Spotty to the vet, and that the cat had been given an injection of antibiotics and seemed to be feeling better now. Spotty and Pee Wee are friends once again, and Cathy is relieved.
I too, was very relieved.
We talked endlessly (twenty minutes) about this and that. She gave me some useful pointer regarding the school registration process I would be going through. She asked me to give her a call sometime.
This morning I got up early, collected my paycheck from Robert, then caught a ride with Harold Eversley and Joe Brown to the bank.
When I got back (returned), I found Robert in one of the small T.V. rooms taking a driver's safety test from the video machine. He had just started (began) when I walked in, thereby giving me the rare opportunity to distract him.
The test is given (administered) to all employees who may, for one reason or another, come to use one of the Salvation Army's vehicles. There are 33 filmed driving episodes, each with a potential hazard that the test taker must identify, and then choose the most correct response to avoid injury or accident (one out of four possible answers). A correct answer scores 3 points, the least desirable response gets you a big fat 0. It is necessary to get as many numerical points as possible, hopefully gaining enough points to pass the test. One must pay strict attention to the recorded driving scenes or one will miss important clues and potential hazards.
Robert's comment when the first scene appeared: "I can't see anything!"
I had taken the test two days ago, scoring a 74 out of a possible 99.
Robert, when finished, somehow managed a 104.
Really!
Robert would have other problems associated with driving this day. Last night his new car overheated. He has determined that the thermostat was responsible, and made arrangements to replace it.
As I was leaving for PCC to register for class, Robert called me over to make a deal. He would drive his car over to the Mobile station to have his thermostat replaced, and I would follow him in Red Shield 15, pick him up, and he would then take me to school.
It sounded like a good plan to me, and probably would have worked out just fine if he hadn't locked his keys inside of his car.
Upon discovering this fact, he said, "Well I'll be go to hell!"
He took me to PCC using Red Shield 15, and then went to El Monte to buy more bus tokens for the center. Later he had one of our many car door technicians open his car with a Slim Jim so he could retrieve his keys.
Further into the evening he would lock himself out of his room.
I got to (arrived) at school fifteen minutes early. I found the class I wanted was still available, and was happy about that. I smiled mischievously.
At two o'clock I got in line and registered. It took about thirty minutes of mostly waiting around to complete the procedure, and cost me $26.50, but other than that, the whole ordeal was relatively harmless.
I'll be going to school on Tuesday afternoons, from four until seven.
I got a free photo I.D. too.
I returned (got back) to the residence in time to start work at 3:30 (three thirty).
John Swisher had got a visit from the paramedics while I was away. He would be on bed rest for the entire weekend.
He is the new As-Is Yard supervisor, and has a tendency to work too hard in the hot sun, and into such a frenzy that he tends to collapse quite often.
He's nuts.
I also talked to Ernie Sens at dinner. We discussed the upcoming CPR class I would be taking.
"You know," he said, "those dummies they use are really sophisticated now. You start giving them artificial respiration for fifteen minutes and you begin to get emotionally involved. As they start breathing on their own... you really want those dummies to make it."
I spent most of my shift reading and writing. I thought about how much I wanted to give Cathy unnecessary artificial respiration.
It had been a good day. I had enjoyed every minute of it and felt fine.


August 24 Saturday Day 347


I continued to feel good this morning. I woke up and yawned. I reached over and grabbed my copy of Vonnegut's "Jailbird," and read two chapters, read a couple from the Book of Luke, thumbed through "Co dependent No More," a book Cathy had lent to me, then got up and took a nice shower.
I wrote downstairs for a while in the lobby, until lunchtime (chicken patties), then went to the park for an hour and roasted while listening to vintage Elton John.
After a second shower, I slid down to the canteen and got myself a nice cup of coffee and continued to write until it was time to go to work.
There wasn't too much to do when I got there. I fiddled around mostly. Robert Vasquez was roaming around, so I kept myself looking like I was actually doing something worthwhile and constructive.
Robert seems to spend more time in the residence on his days off than when he's working.
Or is just my imagination?
At eight o'clock I called Cathy's number. I wanted to say hello (pitifully force myself into her life), see how Spotty and Pee Wee were doing, and tell her of my registration experiences. However she was not at home. I talked to her answering machine instead. Her answering machine sounds suspiciously like Cathy.
I copied down some passages from Nan Robertson's, "Getting Better," then started another Whitney Strieber novel, "Majestic."
There had been some kind of Jazz festival during the day, up on Colorado and Fair Oaks. It continued on into the evening as well. I had not checked it out because I did not wish to become part of the crowd today, but a lot of our guys did. A couple of them got a little too festive and blew positive on the breath-a-lizer. One of them told me, "I swear Rick, all I was doing was kissing this girl. Her alcohol flooded breath must have been inducted into my lungs!"
I wished them well.


August 25 Sunday Day 348


Another wonderful day. My God, I'm glad I don't drink anymore!
Cathy did not return my call so I had no plans for the day. Regular Sunday routine for me
During collection in chapel, Clyde Foster, who was helping me with the middle section, kept passing his plate down the same isle I was working. What would happen was the two plates would collide in the center and stop, which took an inordinate amount of time (while the confusion abated) for the process to resume.
For some reason this happens almost every Sunday.
Ron Collins wimped out like a little snot (as did I last week), and did not go with me to the Sunday morning A.A. speaker meeting at the American Legion building in South Pasadena. I did though, and had a very good time.
During the coffee break a girl by the name of Gary sat next to me, and we talked about how nice it was to be sober. She's a cocktail waitress.
Women seem to sense my natural strength and sexual prowess, and flock to me (fantasy).
A retired judge of the state Supreme Court was our guest speaker. He now works part time as the announcer at Dodger and Rams games. He related that while still a Municipal Court judge and attending a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, he was approached by a woman wanting her court card signed (a verification of attedance at a 12 Step meeting mandated by a court). He told the lady that he would be happy to, but he was not the meeting's secretary.
"No, but you're the bastard that sent me here!"
When she returned to his court he discovered that she had been to exactly twice the meetings he had stipulated she attend.
"Why did you go to this many meetings?" he asked her.
"Because of you!" she replied. "I started to like the meetings so much that I resented the fact that you made me go to them. So I went on my own!"
After the meeting I walked to the residence with Brian Montique, then went to the park for an hour.
After dinner I took in the sights and sounds of Colorado Blvd> on a Sunday evening. There were many women giving me the old eye (extreme fantasy).
I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how my word processor worked. I managed to make a file, and named it "Sal." The file consisted of the first three sentences of this memoir.
Near eleven, thoroughly exhausted and confused, I went to bed.


August 26 Monday Day 349


For some reason I woke up thoroughly confused. This is a natural state for us recovering alcoholics and drug addicted individuals, and should be expected.
I shook my head several times, in a vigorous fashion, and became oriented once again.
A little while later I got up, went to the bathroom and smoked an unauthorized cigarette. I changed into my yellow swim trunks and went to the weight room to lift and pull on heavy objects with lots of density for about thirty minutes.
After I finished I returned to my room and changed into street clothes, then wrote in the lobby.
Wendy came in, looking fresh and beautiful, with long, flowing blonde hair (how many blondes are there in the world, do you think?). We talked a little about school registration and Shakespeare (and not necessarily in that order), then she got sucked into the counseling vortex.
As I headed upstairs to put my notebook away I heard Robert bawling out Roger Collins, accusing him of smoking in the bathroom because he had found my cigarette butt in the toilet. Apparently it had survived the flush.
"I didn't do it! I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" Roger exclaimed.
Later Robert informed me that he would be on the lookout for any unauthorized smoking in the bathrooms.
I told him, "If I find'em... Bam! Out they go! Won't even give 'em time to pack their bags. All these smokers should go downtown to Seventh Street and Towne (Skid Row), where they belong!"
"Good man," he mused. "Of course they'll probably let them back in the next day. But that's neither here nor there... it's our job to kick them out."
After lunch (chicken nuggets again), instead of going to the park, I went to the movies. "Dead Again," had just been released, and I thought it might be worthwhile.
It was. I thought I knew who the killer was from the first scene, but the writer threw a curve at the last minute and it turned out to be someone else. The film explored reincarnation, a subject I have a lot of problems with, but what the hell, it was a very well made film, a triumph for Kevin Branagh, it's star and director. The black and white footage was very stylish, and the opening scene was particularly effective.
The female lead wasn't too bad either, who ever she was. Wonderful actress, she may be British. She had the kind of face (a beautiful one at that) that looks familiar even though you're sure you've never seen her before. Very interesting.
I may have fell in love with her... secretly.
I think I'm positive of it.
Later on I caught a ride with Harold Eversley to the mall. Harold had given me a tip that Miller's Outpost was having a sale. Indeed, I found a shirt I liked for $20. I bought it, and walked back to the residence.
At dinner, the cooks brought out a little birthday cake for Jerry Schimmele. He was fifty eight years old. I had bought him a card the day before. "I'm not giving you a funny birthday card," the printing on the front proclaimed. On the inside it said, "The fact that I'm giving you a card at all is funny enough."
Jerry is a good and reliable friend and therefore open to as much abuse as I can muster.
I included a ten dollar bill within the card because I'm such a nice guy and all.
But not genuinely.
I was all set to watch another exciting episode of Steven Spielberg's "Tiny Toon Adventures," when I noticed that it had been preempted by a stupid Dodger baseball game.
The Dodgers probably lost. I didn't watch it to find out. I played with my word processor some more, and got it to do some more tricks.
Barbara was now back from her two week vacation in Montana. She said it rained almost the entire time she was there. Now she was free to return to her relapse prevention duties.
We discussed using other mind altering chemicals besides the ones we normally like to abuse, as a precursor to total relapse. Wanting too much, and omnipotence, were also labeled as slippery behaviors or attitudes.
I spent the rest of the evening playing with my word processor again, and my printer. I managed to print a short letter to my mother, thanking her for getting me the device, while demonstrating its various abilities.
Getting it to work was quite simple really. Like most things in life, all one has to do is read the instructions.
It's finding the right instructions that's the hard part.

Treason

Traitors


Traitor


Traitor


Insane Traitors


Traitor


Traitor


Traitor


Traitor


Traitor


Traitor


Traitor


Stupid

United States Constitution
Article III
Section 3.
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

"...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]." In many nations, it is also often considered treason to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government, even if no foreign country is aided or involved by such an endeavour.

"...the term "traitor" is used in heated political discussion – typically as a slur against political dissidents, or against officials in power who are perceived as failing to act in the best interest of their constituents."


I've made some pretty harsh statements concerning those pictured above. I could even be sued for libel by each and everyone of them except for Bill. The evidence for his title is beyond question, and on display five days a week.
So I need to be thorough in making my case.
For the purposes of this post I've defined the act of treason as overt and covert acts of violence against "We the people of the United States," as noted in the Constitution's preamble, and through actions and inactions, attempts to subvert justice, domestic tranquility, the general welfare of all who reside within the countries boarders, and those who would stifle liberty for ourselves and our children.
It is my contention that the United States of America has virtually been overthrown by huge, domestic and multi-national corporations. These entities have corrupted the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government with legal forms of bribery in the form of campaign contributions and lobbying.
According to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2010, the U.S. is tied with Belgium as the 22nd least corrupt country out of 178 measured, right between Chile and Uruguay (Somalia was considered the most corrupt nation, and Denmark the least).
22nd? That's not too bad, you say. I say it's horrible, and that the level, prevalence, and domination of government by Wall Street, major industry, and the people who control these entities is tantamount to a coup de tat by these businesses, whose only use for Congress is to protect their on going interests, to ensure they are allowed to continue maximizing profits, and rape the middle class of it's economic and social security to the fullest extent possible.
And that in my mind is a recipe for treason, carried out by traitors who do not have the best interests of the people in mind, indeed, just the opposite. To these... individuals, the people are there only to steal from. There are no other considerations.
Any political action, any new law, any attempt to disenfranchise the American people and their way of life, their health, their education, their employment security, and their general wellbeing on a national scale, in my mind is a form of treason. These acts may be motivated by pure ideology or stupidity, as in the Tea Bagger Movement, or to protect the super rich and their interests, in other words for money and power, with the help of Congress and quite often the Presidency.
Having said that I suppose I do have to make a distinction here between deliberate acts of sabotage or theft toward the general welfare of the people of this country, and acts initiated by simple incompetence, insanity, and/or ignorance (distinct from stupidity as ignorant people just don't know any better).
For example, George W. Bush knowingly weakened the economy by his implementation of huge tax cuts for the rich in 2001 and 2003, he knowingly began two unnecessary wars resulting in the deaths of thousands of American members of the armed forces and hundreds of thousands of innocent foreign nationals, and deliberately weakened regulations for Wall Street resulting in the financial crisis of 2007/2008. He is clearly a traitor of the highest order. His allegiance was never to the people of the United States. His allegiance was always to corporations and the rich who themselves have demonstrated little or no allegiance to the people of this nation (home foreclosures after bank bail outs being but one prime example. Overseas tax shelters and the outsourcing of jobs from the U.S. being others). Corporations and the ultra rich have only one allegiance... to money... and the power that the accumulation of money can provide (i.e. the ability to manipulate and control large sectors of the federal (and state, county, etc.) government).
Once out of office Bush lamented that his greatest failure as president was not getting us into two needless wars (or if you believe the invasion of Afghanistan was a warranted response to the attacks of 9/11, then at least the invasion of Iraq, which stands as one of the greatest foreign policy blunders this country has ever committed), but his failure to privatize social security, which the American people flatly rejected, and rightly so. The privatization of social security would have been the biggest windfall for Wall Street in it's history handing them essentially hundreds of billions of dollars they could have accumulated and spent overseas, rather than maintain the proven and secure social safety net that social security has provided since it's inception.
So, compare George W Bush to Senate hopeful Sharron Angle, or sitting Senators Jeff Beauregard Sessions III and Orrin Hatch. Obviously these individuals are just too ignorant to be held accountable for their own actions, and hopefully the electoral process will eventually correct the issue of the two Senators currently in office, as it preemptively did for Ms Angle.
24 million Americans are out of work and nearly $9 trillion in household wealth has vanished since the 2007/2008 economic crisis. It is an historical fact that once in power Republicans run up huge budget deficits, for which they declare as matters of national emergency once Democrats gain office. It appears that the Democrats have the unenviable task of perpetually cleaning up the Republican mess while those same Republicans blame the Democrats for the mess to begin with. This... tactic keeps the United States from progressing in any real manner, either economically, scientifically, socially, or whatever. The world is changing rapidly with real problems (i.e., climate change, water scarcity, over fishing, etc.) that need real solutions, and the traitors in power would have the country regress into a 13th century theocracy in order to continue their rape and pillaging of the nation's working class.
I singled out those traitors above because they tend to be the most obvious. The list of traitors in this country is huge, from the war profiteers, to the hedge fund managers, to the banking executives, to the defense industry that doesn't know when to stop. We are surrounded by treachery, and we must see them for what they are.
Let me quickly point out the traitorous actions of those above least I get sued:
The Koch brothers, Charles and David, each own about 42% of the second largest privately held business conglomerate in the United States with an annual revenue of approximately 98 billion dollars. Both brothers are listed by Forbes as the 5th wealthiest Americans, 18th richest on the planet, each worth about $21.5 billion dollars. Koch companies are involved in core industries such as the manufacturing, refining and distribution of petroleum, chemicals, energy, fiber, intermediates and polymers, minerals, fertilizers, pulp and paper, chemical technology equipment, ranching, finance, commodities trading, as well as other ventures and investments.
Some of their consumer products include Quilted Northern, Angel Soft, Brawny, Sparkle, Soft 'n Gentle, Mardi Gras, Vanity Fair, and Dixie.
"The Koch brothers — America’s wealthiest industrialists — had a direct hand in the resurgence of the right during November’s midterm elections. Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the conservative nonprofit that David founded, spent $45 million bankrolling right-wing candidates, many of them Tea Partiers. AFP outspent the Democratic Governors Association by more than three to one. That same election cycle, Koch Industries subsidiary Flint Hills Resources contributed $1 million to California’s failed Proposition 23, that ballot that would have killed legislation cutting back greenhouse gas emissions." -Clare O'Conner, Forbes
Why would Charles and Dave want to stop polices reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Why would they spend millions attempting to discredit climate change in general. It may have something to do with Koch Industries being one of the primary sources of carbon pollution in the United States, that's why.
So, the brothers Koch would trade away the health of yours and my children (if I had any), their own children (if they have any), the health and future of the entire planet, for more money. More money than they already have. They are traitors to the people of this nation, and to the world.
The brothers front group "Americans for Prosperity," is currently dumping money in Wisconsin, attempting to influence the state senate recall elections there, in exchange for millions of dollars worth of no-bid Wisconsin government contracts for Koch Industries. Democrats only have to win two more seats, two out of eight seats. Charles, David, and Gov. Scott Walker are going to lose.
The brothers are by no means the only billionaire backers of the Republican Anti-American Party. There is B. Wayne Hughes (Public Storage) for instance, and Harold Simmons (leveraged buyout banker), and Jerry Perenchio (Univision), and Robert Rowling (Omni Hotels & Gold's Gym), and, John Childs (private equity), and Cliff Asness (hedge fund), and Steve Schwarzman (Blackstone Group), and Ken Griffin (hedge fund), and Phil Anschutz (diversified businesses), and Rich Devos (Amway), and Steve Bechtel (Bechtel Corp., the third largest privately held company in the U.S.), and Kenneth Langone (Home Depot), not to mention Richard Mellon Scaife (Newspapers)... among others.
And the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox and Friends, and O'Reilly always mention and pick on poor George Soros, one of the few well off progressive donors. Poor George.
Rupert Murdoch, and his evil minion Roger Aliles, of course are responsible for Fox News (propaganda) which is the public relations firm for the Republican party. This is an organization devoted to spreading misinformation to its large susceptible audience. Fox News is credited with being the only television network whose viewers actually get stupider after watching. They are also responsible, in a large part, for the Tea Bagger movement, which is now actively terrorizing the country.
The Tea Baggers are domestic terrorists ( http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/72-72/6802-the-tea-partys-terrorist-tactics
) and traitors to the majority of people in this country, wishing to instill their values onto everyone else (like religious fundamentalists, and pro-lifers). They are also subverting the Constitution of the United States, even though they believe they are defending it.
They are also insane.
Senator McConnel (Turtle Boy), House Speaker Boehner (The Brown One), Majority Leader Cantor (The Adams Appler), Rep. Michele Bachman (Congressperson of the Tea Baggers... enough said. Also insane). All minions to all of the billionaires listed above, to Wall Street, to the oil and gas industry, to the defense industry, etc., but certainly not looking out for the interests and welfare of America's average citizens, to it's veterans, to it's seniors, to the poor, to the teachers, to the nurses, to the country's middle class. They by far are the biggest, most egregious traitors of all.
Then we have Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and Stupid, the mouthpieces of the right wing traitors. I truly believe that if they by accident were to ever actually say something that may be true, their nervous systems would go into shock and they would fall into comas.
Fat chance of that happening though.

Voter Fraud? Really?

The Republicans are always so upset and worried about voter fraud. They see it happening everywhere.
The term "voter fraud," has broad meaning and many facets. "Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both. Also called voter fraud, the mechanisms involved include illegal voter registration, intimidation at polls and improper vote counting. What electoral fraud is under law varies from country to country." -Wikipedia
What Republicans always seem so worried about is the "illegal voter registration," cited above. They are very concerned that people who are not eligible to vote (felons, those who do not reside in the voting district, double voting, etc.), vote, thereby impairing the integrity of the election process. And we know how much Republicans stand for integrity.
Well... I hate to contradict my Republican friends (the miserable sons of bitches), but it appears that they are manufacturing this "crisis," possibly for purely political reasons, and maybe, just maybe, conjure a little voter fraud all on their own, masked behind their supposed concern for fair elections.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, at New York University School of Law: 1. Fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare. Most citizens who take the time to vote offer their legitimate signatures and sworn oaths with the gravitas that this hard-won civic right deserves. Even for the few who view voting merely as a means to an end, however, voter fraud is a singularly foolish way to attempt to win an election. Each act of voter fraud risks five years in prison and a $10,000 fine - but yields at most one incremental vote. The single vote is simply not worth the price.
Because voter fraud is essentially irrational, it is not surprising that no credible evidence suggests a voter fraud epidemic. There is no documented wave or trend of individuals voting multiple times, voting as someone else, or voting despite knowing that they are ineligible. Indeed, evidence from the microscopically scrutinized 2004 gubernatorial election in Washington State actually reveals just the opposite: though voter fraud does happen, it happens approximately 0.0009% of the time. The similarly closely-analyzed 2004 election in Ohio revealed a voter fraud rate of 0.00004%. National Weather Service data shows that Americans are struck and killed by lightning about as often.

2. Many vivid anecdotes of purported voter fraud have been proven false or do not demonstrate fraud. Although there are a few scattered instances of real voter fraud, many of the vivid anecdotes cited in accounts of voter fraud have been proven false or vastly overstated. In Missouri in 2000, for example, the Secretary of State claimed that 79 voters were registered with addresses at vacant lots, but subsequent investigation revealed that the lots in question actually housed valid and legitimate residences. Similarly, a 1995 investigation into votes allegedly cast in Baltimore by deceased voters and those with disenfranchising felony convictions revealed that the voters in question were both alive and felony-free.

3. Voter fraud is often conflated with other forms of election misconduct.

4. Raising the unsubstantiated specter of mass voter fraud suits a particular policy agenda.

Ahh, there we have it. "Raising the unsubstantiated specter of mass voter fraud suits a particular policy agenda." Raising the specter of mass voter fraud (and the Republicans know how to raise it so well by turning on the Noise Machine. Over and over again they yak "voter fraud," "voter fraud," "voter fraud," "voter fraud," so many times in the media, well by golly, it must be true) may just mask actual acts of voter suppression, which in itself is an act of voter fraud. It may have happened before.
In 2006, seven U. S. Attorneys were fired by George Bush's Department of Justice (and pasty face Carl Rove) for being less than enthusiastic in investigating non-existent cases of voter fraud. In 2002, John Sununu won a close Senate race. On that election day, there were charges of "phone jamming" the Democrats’ get out the vote efforts.
In 2008 more than 50,000 registered voters in Georgia were removed from the rolls of eligible voters due to discrepancies in their identification information.
In 2004, 5.3 million Americans were denied the right to vote because of previous felony convictions. This form of vote suppression in the United States disproportionately affects minorities including African-Americans and Latinos, in other words, likely Democratic voters. Before the 2000 General election, the Secretary of State in Florida, Katherine Harris, working for the Republican candidates brother, Governor Jeb Bush, ordered 57,700 citizens identified as "ex-felons" be removed from the voters list, although about 8,000 names were erroneously placed on the exclusion list, 88% of these individuals were African American.
On and on and on. Just last Monday new evidence suggests the 2004 general election may have been hacked when there was a strange and unexpected shift in votes for George W. Bush. http://www.truth-out.org/new-court-filing-reveals-how-2004-ohio-presidential-election-was-hacked/1311603015
If that is indeed the case then George W. Bush was never legitimately elected into office in both the 2000 and 2004 elections.
As disturbing as that may be, the reason I'm discussing this issue today is because of the recent actions of the Governor of Wisconsin, the infamous Republican union buster, Scott Walker.
You may remember Mr. Walker from earlier in the year when he put into effect a law that attempted to gut public-sector unions of their bargaining power, break them financially and force workers to pay for the state budget deficit, while initiating draconian budget cuts, after providing rich tax cuts for big businesses, all of this just one month into his term. This caused 14 state Senators to leave the state in order to keep the law from being implemented.
Due to Gov. Walker's actions recall elections are now underway concerning the state Senate. Six Republicans who backed Walker's anti-union bill stand to lose their seats, and now two Democrats are being challenged by Republicans (one Democrat, Dave Hansen, has already retained his seat). We'll see on August 9th if the Democrats can regain control of the Senate, and things are looking good.
The voters want to recall Walker as well, but they have to wait until next January, after he's been in office a year to do that. So in the meantime the Gov is trying to do as much damage as he possibly can.
Last May Walker signed into law a bill requiring voters show a state issued I.D. in order to vote. He said it was "common sense reform" that would "go a long way to protecting the integrity of elections in Wisconsin."
He's not the first one to do this. Eleven states now require a photo ID to vote. Kansas also added a photo ID requirement this year, but it won't take effect until January 1st. Thirty three states have considered adding voter identification requirements this year.
So what's the big deal, you may ask. I have a California I.D. (they won't give me a drivers license... I don't know why), so I could vote if California initiated this type of law.
But some people think these photo I.D. laws are actually attempts to keep some people from voting. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio thinks so.
"Many of these bills only have one true purpose, the disenfranchisement of eligible voters - especially the elderly, young voters, students, minorities and low-income voters," said a letter that Fudge sent to Attorney General Eric Holder last Monday with more than 100 House Democrats signing on.
She says that these people may not have photo I.D.s because they use the bus most of the time, like me, and thereby don't need a driver's license. Or the cost of getting a state I.D. may be prohibitive for many of these citizens.
"Not only does it cost money to purchase a license, but people must have required documents, such as a birth certificate and Social Security card or another form of identification to get a license," Fudge spokeswoman Laura Allen said "It also takes time, transportation and money to get these documents."
And most of these "elderly, young voters, students, minorities and low-income voters," tend to vote for the Democratic ticket, thereby Rep. Fudge's assertion that photo I.D. laws are nothing but a rather blatant attempt to rig elections in favor of the Republicans.
Blatant.
What do the Republicans say about this? Why these laws are required to fight voter fraud of course... voter fraud that does not happen to exist in this, the real world.
The Attorney General's office state they are monitoring the situation.
That makes me feel so much better.
Hey, but wait. Gov. Walker isn't finished. Oh no. Now that he signed his bill requiring voters to have photo I.D.s into law, Walker is attempting to close as many as 16 Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) offices, every one of them in districts that favor Democrats. Why? In order to expand hours in other offices, as required by the new law. And guess where these expanded hour offices happen to be located. Why in areas where Republicans are more likely to obtain their driver’s license or photo ID.
WTF?
Blatant. Blatant. Blatant. This is nothing but a transparent, obvious, and blatant attempt to rig future elections (especially his own recall election coming next January).
This man is unconscionable. A true psychopath. He needs help. He needs to drop everything, lie down, and let the nice folks in their white coats come and take him away to the funny farm where he can play with chirping birds... and what not.
I'm sure the voters in Wisconsin, disenfranchised or not, will allow him to take a rest next January. I for one will be looking forward to seeing it happen.

Here's a copy of the letter Rep Fudge sent to the Attorney General and a petition concerning this very issue:

Dear Attorney General Holder,

Nothing is more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. New laws that have passed around the country, which restrict the pool of eligible voters and make it harder for Americans to cast a ballot, represent a step backwards in a decades-long struggle to end voter discrimination in this country. We urge you to exercise your authority under the Voting Rights Act to examine these laws so that voting rights are not jeopardized.

I am particularly disturbed by the voter ID laws that have now been passed in 30 states, and other voter suppression tactics, such as restrictions on third party registration and early voting. These laws do nothing to address the kinds of problems that are actually threatening the integrity of the voting process, such as improper purges of voters, voter harassment, and distribution of false information about when and where to vote. Instead, these laws serve to disfranchise eligible voters and, in particular, have a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, low-income individuals, students, and voters with disabilities.

The Department of Justice has an obligation to fully enforce voting rights law. I urge you to aggressively scrutinize these laws for discriminatory impact, examine and object to pre-clearance submissions that have a discriminatory effect, and bring cases where necessary to stop these regressive voter laws.

http://www.care2.com/causes/tell-gov-walker-to-stop-disenfranchising-voters.html

To Discover A Star

Kepler's Supernova


Kathryn Aurora Grey


Kathryn's Star


Abby Ridge Observatory

Dear readers, thanks to the Republicans in the House of Representatives, and their Tea Bagger miscreants, we've been examining some pretty serious issues for the last week or more. Let's take a little break from that for the time being (today) and talk about some things that really matter... like supernovas.
A lot of readers have been asking me lately, "Rick..." (they call me Rick) "...what the heck is a supernova anyway?"
Well it's certainly not a 2000 science fiction film, I can tell you that. That movie was called "Supernova," but there wasn't even one single stinking supernova in it. There wasn't even a regular nova, let alone a super one.
I can tell you this though, the short answer to this question is... a supernova is a star that has exploded, and exploded big time.
The explosion is so big, so energetic, that for a brief time (a few weeks of months), it can outshine the entire galaxy which hosts it.
The first picture above is of a supernova that occurred within our very own galaxy, the Milky Way. And very recently, just last April. It is called SN1604, or Kepler's Supernova if you prefer. I certainly don't care. Call it whatever you want. It's about 20,000 light years away from us, which means that the star actually blew up about 20,000 years ago, and it's light is just now reaching us here on Earth. To look out into the depths of space is to look into the distant past.
There are a couple of mechanisms by which a star will explode like this. One is illustrated in the chart below:

But basically the process involves a star that collapses to a critical point and it goes Kaboom, but silently as there is no sound in outer space (something film makers should learn to understand, except for the late Stanley Kubrick).
Some of my readers are asking other questions about supernovas (What!? They don't have Wikipedia? It's a very reliable source of information) "Rick," they say, "who is the youngest person to ever discover a supernova?" Well that's an easy one. As far as recorded history goes, that would be ten year old Kathryn Aurora Grey of Fredericton, New Brunswick, up there in Canada. That's her picture above. What a cutie!
Hey, don't take my word for it. Here's the official announcement from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada:

Toronto, Canada (January 3, 2011) – The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) is pleased to announce the discovery of a supernova by a ten-year-old amateur astronomer—the youngest person ever to have made such a discovery.
Ten-year-old Kathryn Aurora Gray of Fredericton, New Brunswick under the watch of astronomers, Paul Gray and David Lane, are pleased to report the discovery of a magnitude 17 supernova in galaxy UGC 3378 in the constellation of Camelopardalis, as reported on IAU Electronic Telegram 2618.
The galaxy was imaged on New Year's Eve 2010, and the supernova was discovered on January 2, 2011 by Kathryn Aurora Gray and Paul Gray.

The discovery was soon verified by Illinois-based amateur astronomer Brian Tieman and Arizona-based Canadian amateur astronomer Jack Newton. It was then reported to the International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.

It would appear that the RASC misspelled their last names. What can you do?
This is what happened as far as I can tell. Kathryn's dad, Paul Grey just happens to be an amateur astronomer himself, and has a little experience discovering supernovas. He's found seven of the freaking things!
Well, Paul has a friend, David Lane, who is also an amateur astronomer, but he has that cool observatory in his back yard that's pictured above (that is a ten foot dome, whatever that means. I suppose the base's diameter is ten feet across). It's called the Abby Ridge Observatory. That telescope can be operated by anyone on the planet who wants to pay for it and who has access to the Internet. Anyway, Paul and Kathryn visited David (who is no slouch at discovering supernovas himself... his number stands at four), who was impressed with Kathryn's enthusiasm for astronomy.
David took some pictures last New Year's Eve, about 52 of them, and Emailed them to Paul. A couple of days later, on January 2nd, Paul and Kathryn sat down to dad's computer and looked through them. Paul had specific software that helped locate supernovas, which is done by comparing photographs of the same region of space at different times.
Kathryn later told Melissa Block of National Public Radio (NPR), the computer started blinking (indicating that a supernova might have been discovered), she tried to stay calm.
"Kathryn pointed to the screen and said: 'Is this one?' I said (Paul) "Yup, that looks pretty good."
If you compare pictures of that third picture from the top with that of the same region at a different time, you will see the point which is the exploding star blink on and off. That is what caught Kathryn's eye, and that is what makes her the discoverer of the star (or remanent of the star).
Her dad checked to make sure the images were not that of passing asteroids, which can mimic the appearance of supernovas. He ruled that out, and Kathryn became the new youngest person to discover one (which really pissed off dad, as up until then he held the record, discovering his first supernova at twenty two. They have since reconciled).
"It's fantastic that someone so young would be passionate about astronomy. What an incredible discovery. We're all very excited," said Deborah Thompson of RASC.
Kathryn's star is called Supernova 2010lt... I don't know why, other than I believe the 2010 stands for the year it was imaged (New Year's Eve, 2010). As indicated above it is a magnitude 17 supernova, which is a measure of brightness as seen by an observer here on Earth. It is located in the galaxy UGC 3378, in the constellation Camelopardalis, and is about 248,800,000 light years away, and you know what that means, dear readers, yes, what Kathryn and Paul saw is something that happened about 249 million years ago.
"I'm really excited. It feels really good," Ms Grey told Canada's Star newspaper.
When asked by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) what it was she was going to do now, considering she's already discovered a supernova at the age of ten.
"I'm just going to look for more supernovas," she said.
Dad's found seven. David four. At ten years old Kathryn has plenty of time to catch up.