Tuesday, July 12, 2011

I'm Still Confused, But What the Hell I've Been This Way For 59 Years

Listening to the debt ceiling talks, I have become confused about what is a tax and what is everything else. The Republicans are resorting to semantics in an effort to protect their jobs. My confusion stems from this. Why is it a tax increase when we take away corporate welfare, in the form of tax breaks and subsidies and yet when we increase the co-payments for Medicare and Medicaid recipients it is not a tax increase it is an increase in the co-payment. The Republicans are more then willing to increase "fees or co-payments" for average American but are not willing to eliminate "elite and corporate welfare". Please if anyone can help an old, confused man to understand this, do so. I invite my Republican friends to explain, how this works.

My next area of confusion is, of all things, related to Mr. T. Boone Pickens. Mr. Pickens will never be confused with a liberal and, yes before anyone brings it up, he will make money off of his idea. Contrary to what some believe I am all for people making as much money as they can, just do it legally and pay your FAIR share of taxes. Back to Mr. Pickens. He has proposed that we convert our large commercial trucks from gasoline to natural gas. He also proposes that the Federal Government pays subsidies on this for five years only. The cost to us is one billion a year, for a total of five billion dollars. The payback. Over the next ten years we would save over one Trillion Dollars by not having to import foreign oil to run these vehicles. Pay 5 billion to save over 1 trillion dollars, that is a great return for all of us. Mr. Pickens also supports building wind power plants to replace those using oil. He wants us to re-build our electrical power grid system, using newer and better technology, which will save us again with cheaper and cleaner forms of power. Everyone, including Republicans and Democrats support his proposal, so why the hold up? The Koch Brothers. If you are not sure who they are, read my blog from last week and understand, how these sleazes, control politicians. Pickens has invested into natural gas, wind and other domestic and cleaner industries, so like I stated earlier, he will make piles of money. The good thing is this will benefit our country and all of us. It will create high paying jobs and reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The Koch Brothers and Koch Industries are heavily invested in the status quo. They are pouring money into stopping this. Their concern is for Koch Industries and themselves, not the country or any of the peasants that live here. Again if any of my readers can help lift the vail of confusion that surrounds this, please do so.

Finally, for those that remember the Miller Light commercials from years ago, I am still pondering is it, "Tastes Great or Less Filling". Since I have to work this afternoon, I will not be able to try and solve this problem, that has plagued us for years. So I throw myself on the mercy of my readers to do a taste test today and solve the mystery. Please let me know the results. At least some of my confusion would be cleared up.

Monday, July 11, 2011

I'm Confused, But What Else Is New? My views including Casy!

Running off on the keyboard. My random thoughts.

I stated that I am confused, let me tell you why. During the elections last year, the Republicans and Tea Party Candidates, ran on the issue of getting debt under control. The latest proposal by the President is to reduce the debt by 4 trillion dollars. The Republicans are saying that they cannot get a big deal done and propose a 2 trillion dollar reduction. My confusion is how do you run on the issue of reducing the debt and then cut in half the amount that the Democrats put forward. Is that the difference between just beating the hell out of Middle America and saving the elite and corporations?  Why is reducing the debt O.K. as long as we only take from us? What ever happened to the idea of fairness? Oh, wait I understand, it is NOT an election year! They will only talk about balancing the budget, seriously, during their re-election campaign. Let the big money continue to roll in, because you are protected once again by our political leaders. Maybe we should just let Congress leave and let the Corporations make new laws. Wait, again they already do that.

Did you see where Sarah Palin came out with the statement, "I can win."  To all of the Monday morning quarterbacks out there, does that sound familiar? I can't tell you how many times, while watching a basketball game I shout at the player that just missed the free throw, "I could make that shot."
Ms. Palin is great on the sidelines, complaining because she quits half way through her term as governor, she never faces the criticism. Hey Sarah, leadership is getting into the game and competing to see if you can win. As the saying goes, "Lead, follow or get out of the way." For the good of our country I suggest you do the latter, and while your are at it, shut up until you have something intelligent to say.

John Boehner is more concerned about being Speaker of the House then doing what is good for the country. Eric Cantor is wetting himself, trying to get Boehner out and himself in. This is what I call leadership. Just go to neutral corners and come out fighting, boys. At least it would be over quickly.

It seems the NFL is able to get more done quickly then our Congress. Reports say the greedy owners and the whining players are close to a deal. If they get theirs done maybe we could talk them into going to Capital Hill and getting the country straight. "Pacman" Jones would fit right in with the crooks in Washington.

Last did you see where the banks and our wonderful leaders are trying to quickly get a deal struck on how much the banks will have to pay for the mortgage mess? The banks want this done even though the investigation is just starting. I wonder why! That would be like starting a murder trail the week before charges are brought. The other part that really leaves me shaking my head is the banks DO NOT have to admit to any wrong doing. Who do they think they are Casey Anthony!

That is just part of what is rambling inside of my head this morning. I just hope you are less confused then I am.