Feds Going to ‘Save’ us with Stimulus Package

Please excuse the skeptic in me, I guess he hasn’t been properly fed lately.

By now you have all heard that Obama’s Gurus have put together a handy how-to guide to help our faltering economy. The price tag, as of this writing, is $787 billion of our tax dollars. Wow, that should stimulate even the most stubborn spend thrift amongst us. Do you hear that bankers, we don’t need your stinking money.

Let’s look at how this kick in the financial pants is going to help us.

$120 billion for infrastructure – repairing bridges, roads, and government buildings. I wonder what percentage is going to go for government buildings. Personally, I think the roads and bridges should get it first, after all it is our money.

$100 billion plus for education – keep it all from the administrators, we have seen far too often how they like to spend top dollar for coffee makers and cushy office digs for themselves first. How about letting the kids and teachers have the lions share this time, okay guys.

$30 billion on energy-related projects to create “green jobs”. Since this “green jobs” things is such a new concept, and apparently the latest hot button issue, expect this money to be frittered away before someone can get a real handle on how it should be spent. I wonder if this is the 1-3 million new jobs the Budget Office is claiming will be created. Since so many jobs have been lost this past year is this going to equal a net loss or gain?

Over $212 billion in tax breaks for individuals and businesses – this way the money only goes to those who actually file taxes. What a concept, giving back to the people who actually footed the bill for this monster plan. $400 per person doesn’t sound like very much and we all now it won’t go very far.

But, there’s plenty to go around, so for those of you who no longer have jobs because of the way those greed-meisters on Wall Street ripped this economy apart, here’s a little something for you: $267 billion in direct spending like food stamps and unemployment benefits. There’s even enough for all the illegals who live off of us.

Realistically speaking, this is more of a band-aid than any real help. It is rightfully labeled a ‘stimulus plan’ and not a big fix. It will take some very fancy footwork and hard introspections to get this economy to the stable and prosperous condition it was in before the Bush administration dipped their greedy fingers into the till.

Hmmm, according to my calculations this comes to $729 billion. I wonder where the remaining $58 billion is going? Oh well, I'm sure Obama's crew has the matter under control. No worries, right?

So, let’s not sit on the sidelines holding our breath for this financial wizardry to take effect, go out and spend your $400 bucks like the ‘gift’ it is meant to be. We’ll worry about how we’re going to pay for it tomorrow. After all, we’re carrying on and old American tradition.

Groups Asking U.S. to Ban Use of Cluster Bombs and Landmines

Leaders from 67 diverse U.S. groups issued a strong call to President Obama to reconsider U.S. noncompliance with international treaties banning the use of landmines and cluster bombs.

The signers of the petition include the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the head of Evangelicals for Social Action, the President and CEO of CARE, the heads of communion of seven major U.S. churches, two former U.S. ambassadors, one former senator, and Citizens for Global Solutions.

Human rights groups noted the United States' conspicuous absence in Oslo early December 2008 as 100 nations gathered to sign a landmark treaty outlawing the use of cluster munitions.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush opposed signing the treaty banning cluster bombs, with the State Department saying: "Such a general ban on cluster munitions will put the lives of our military men and women, and those of our coalition partners, at risk."

Since his election, many activists and stakeholders are questioning whether President Obama will reverse his predecessor's policy.

Cluster Munitions are indiscriminate and unreliable weapons and pose an unacceptable threat to civilian populations during and long after combat operations have ceased -- in much the same way as do landmines. The use of these types of weapons is an egregious blight against humanity and should be outlawed in every country.

Cluster munitions are large weapons that release up to hundreds of smaller sub-munitions.

Air-dropped or ground-launched, they cause two major humanitarian problems and risks to civilians:

First, their widespread dispersal means they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians so the humanitarian impact can be extreme, especially when the weapon is used in or near populated areas.
Second, many sub-munitions fail to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended.

For these reasons, 98 percent of cluster-bomb victims are civilians and 27 percent are children, says a study by Handicap International.

The United States is one of only 39 nations in the world that is not party to the decade-old Mine Ban Treaty, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in March.

Porn and Politics

Dusty Storm, a ‘personality’ in the porn business, is being considered to run for political office in the state of Louisiana. Has the state of our political system gotten so distorted and fallen to such a low level of respect that this proposal can be entertained as serious? As if to say, “people we have elected to political office exhibit the same low-moral character of the porn industry so why not elect a person whose only qualifications are that she ‘rose to the top of her profession’.

Who are these fans but a bunch a men in a perpetual state of arousal.

If the political arena was not so riddled with corruption and ineffective personalities then candidates like this could never be considered. We have done this to ourselves.

Her backers say her ”real world experience and special understanding of the economic hardships facing Louisianans and Americans make her uniquely qualified to take on the tough challenges we face.” What a load of hogwash! Special understanding? Uniquely qualified? Please enlighten us as to what special understanding and unique qualities does having sex with anyone who breathes makes her think she is more capable than someone engaged in legitimate employment facing the daily struggle of putting food on their table and keeping a roof over their head.

Her backers claim she has a wide political spectrum of followers (I’ll bet she does) who think her philosophy of personal responsibility and the promotion of individual enterprise are enough to get her elected. This is the same philosophy of personal responsibility that pushes every law-abiding, tax-paying, blue-collar worker in America to trade their time for an increasingly diminishing paycheck in hopes of providing for their family. And these are the lucky ones who managed to hang on to their jobs after their corporate leadership has taken everything they can get first.

There is a dangerous undercurrent here that promotes promiscuity and breaks down family values. Let’s find out what her parents think of "her determination and talents to the professional level, becoming a featured performer in the adult entertainment industry."

Political careers have crumbled over promiscuous behavior. Families dissolve over promiscuous behavior. Is this symbol of an entire industry that considers monogamy as passé and turns the act of making love into a money making enterprise really a champion of family values or an example of morality and ethics? Have we become so jaded that we now expect so little of the process of writing our laws and protecting our rights that we can elect a porn star to take on these responsibilities?

Perhaps the time is right for porn to get into politics. Politicians have screwed us out of everything else we hold dear.

New Economic Stimulus Plan: Suspend the Personal Income Tax

Congress is getting an earful from their constituents over the bailout program and taxes. The U.S. public has become accustomed to learning of misappropriations of funds, pork barrel spending, earmarks, and the like. It is not unheard of to learn that a politician did not pay their fair share of taxes. But when the federal government wants to use our tax dollars to bail out every company who is experiencing hard times for the purpose of ‘stimulating’ the economy, we need to rethink our governments spending strategy.

With hundreds of thousands of layoffs every month now, input into the treasury’s coffers are slowing down. Typically, when a company’s income starts waning they raise prices to existing customers to cover the deficit. What is the government going to do in this same situation? Raise taxes?

It is going to be a hard sell, especially when we learn of politician who vote for these raises are not paying their share and still receive annual pay raises.

I think the best way to get this economy back on the right track is to suspend the personal income tax. Allow us, the individuals who still have jobs, to use that money that currently goes to pay our politicians, to decide how to best spend our money. Only then will politicians experience the real pain of facing the threat of not having a paycheck to put food on the table. Maybe being forced to feel what it is like to face possible eviction from their family home will they be ‘stimulated’ to pass some meaningful legislation.

Global Warming is Real, Mr. Klaus

The annual world economic forum of global leaders was held in Davos, Switzerland this past week, and Czech President Vaclav Klaus used this forum to verbally attack Al Gore over his stance on global warming.

"I don't think that there is any global warming," said the 67-year-old liberal, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. "I don't see the statistical data for that."

Referring to the former US vice president, who attended Davos this year, he added: "I'm very sorry that some people like Al Gore are not ready to listen to the competing theories. I do listen to them.

"Environmentalism and the global warming alarmism is challenging our freedom. Al Gore is an important person in this movement."

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, he said that he was more worried about the reaction to the perceived dangers than the consequences.

"I'm afraid that the current crisis will be misused for radically constraining the functioning of the markets and market economy all around the world," he said.

"I'm more afraid of the consequences of the crisis than the crisis itself."

I agree that people tend to become alarmed over perceived dangers, that is after all what warnings are meant to do, if they are taken seriously. This climate threat has been ‘perceived’ by climatologists for many years and those early predictions are beginning to take shape. The non-scientific community needs only observe the changes in weather patterns and the resulting destruction of wildlife habitat to see this is true.

You cannot dismiss the fact that polar ice sheets are melting at a record pace. You cannot ignore the fact that navigable routes have opened through the arctic, about 30 years ahead of predictions.

Nor can you ignore the fact that the planets surface is warming up.

The greatest debate over causal factors is whether these changes are the result of a natural cycle or are they man-made.

The burning of fossil fuels has certainly taken its toll, not only on human health but also on the health of the atmosphere as a result of excavating earths resources, burning those resources and releasing the resulting gases into the atmosphere. The resultant greenhouse gases increase the planets temperature. Not alarmist theory, scientific fact.

Earth’s climate is a closed system. Everything that exists in this system, stays in this system. The melting of polar ice caps produces evaporation and the increased atmospheric moisture results in increased rainfall which then leads to increased severity of hurricanes. A side effect of this increased hurricane intensity is the associated low pressure sucks more moisture away from the drier climates of the world creating more severe droughts. As a result, agricultural patterns worldwide are being affected.

Polar ice cap melt also increases sea levels which could result in future category 2 and 3 storms causing much more severe flooding than anticipated otherwise, in low-lying coastal areas.

As the planet grows ever warmer, and former cold zones give way to rising temperatures, plant and animal species are loosing their habitat and dying off thereby decreasing biodiversity. This does not bode well for planets inhabitants, for man and beast.

Are these the ramblings of ‘alarmists’ for the purpose of “radically constraining the functioning of the markets and market economy”? It seems Mr. Klaus, and by association all other naysayers, is more concerned with the health of the market system than with the health of our planet. And this perfectly illustrates the very reason why we are in this mess today.

We dismiss scientific findings at our own peril. This has proven itself many times throughout history. Taking heed of this lesson is of the utmost importance to prevent a predicted global calamity.

It is a widespread fact that species and their habitats are on the decrease while chances for ecosystems to adapt naturally are diminishing. This cannot be merely brushed aside as ‘alarmist’.


Sources:
Science Daily, Sep 22, 2005

Global Issues, Jan 1, 2009

Climate Change Weather Patterns