Memorial Day

One of the major news stories this Memorial Day originated in international waters on the Mediterranean Sea. The Israeli military struck at 4:30 AM. Before they were finished commandeering the ships carrying relief supplies for Gaza, ten people were dead and dozens wounded. The relief flotilla was attempting to break through the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have been crowded into a virtual ghetto, and are at the mercy of the Israeli Government for food, water, medicine, and building materials.

The Gaza population is under collective punishment in retaliation for the actions of the militants who fire an occasional rocket into the Israeli land adjacent to Gaza. In early 2009 some 1,400 Palestinians, mostly innocent civilians, were killed by the Israeli incursion into Gaza. Less than 20 Israeli soldiers were killed.

To the people on the relief vessels it was no different from piracy. The Israeli government says that they are acting in self-defense. I’d say the primary responsibility for loss of life lies with the side with the most power. If history is any lesson, there will be no accountability for this action.

The fact that this story comes to us on Memorial Day brings up a memory of another incident. As we remember and honor the Americans in uniform who have lost their lives in service to our country, we should not forget the deaths of 34 of our fellow citizens on the USS Liberty.

The Liberty was on the Mediterranean during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. On June 8, 1967 while clearly flying the US flag, the Liberty came under fire by rockets from Israeli jets. When the rockets were all fired, more jets returned with rockets, cannons, and napalm. It was reported that lifeboats were strafed by Israeli machine guns. Later Israeli torpedo boats fired five torpedoes at the Liberty with one striking the ship, killing most of the 34 Americans who died from the assault. 173 more Americans were wounded.

One of the Israeli pilots saw they were attacking Americans and refused to fire on them. He returned to base and was arrested upon arrival.

This horrible incident was to become a major cover-up by the US Government. The Johnson Administration was quick to call it all an accident.

On June 8, 2005 the USS Liberty Veterans Association submitted a report of war crimes to the Department of Defense.

According to the USS Liberty Veterans Association:

The Department of Defense has unilaterally waived its obligation under the Department of Defense Law of War Program by refusing to investigate the allegations contained in the War Crimes Report. The Department of Defense has also refused to provide a speaker to address the crew of the USS Liberty and explain their actions with regard to the War Crimes Report.

On this and every Memorial Day I would ask my fellow Americans to do two things: Honor the service, memory, and lives of those who have been killed and wounded. And I also implore each of us to ask one question.

Why?

Legal vs. Illegal

Illegal immigration has become the hot issue of the day, due in large part to the new Arizona law forcing cops to demand proof of citizenship or legal immigration status. It’s such a big deal that even the half-wit, half term governor of Alaska said, “We’re all Arizonans now.”

That reminds me of when her patron Johnny “Bomb Bomb Iran” said, “We’re all Joe the Plumber now”.

Well, guess what? We’re not. But speaking of ridiculous blather, I received another “enlightening” forwarded email. The title was Legal vs. Illegal. I was hoping this message was written by a lawyer. After reading it, I decided it probably was not, at least by an ethical lawyer.

First came the “reasonable disclaimer”.

I highly support LEGAL aliens. But I have a major problem w/ my taxes supporting ILLEGAL aliens. America has enough "poor" that need help but don't qualify for it because of this situation. Please read this...it made lots of sense.

Well, since they said, “Please”, here we go again.

LEGAL VS. ILLEGAL

You have two families: "Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal". Both families have two parents, two children, and live in California . Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted. Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".

Ready? Now pay attention... Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.00. Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or $31,200.00 per year.

Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00. Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.00. Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $18,031.00. Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00. Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year.

Joe Legal now has $9,631.00. Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $ 31,200.00. Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for insurance. Joe Legal now has $7,231.00. Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and he still has $31,200.00. Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.

Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month. Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work. Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.

Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal's children go home Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.

Do you get it, now? If you vote for or support any politician who supports illegal aliens...You are part of the problem! It's way PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans! What are you waiting for? Pass this on.
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And so I just had to hit "reply to all".

Grrrr. This makes me want to HATE illegal aliens. But wait, why hate just them? Why not hate the wealthy (and usually white republican) cheats who hire them? Could THEY be at all to blame?

This all makes me very skeptical.

Maybe it’s time for a real “balanced and fair” look at this.

First of all, none of the assertions in this rage piece are referenced to any fact-based source. Some of the blatant lies leap out, like the one about “full medical and dental coverage” and food stamps and welfare for illegals. And “Jose” better have some “stinkin’ insurance” on his car, or he’s out of here if he’s pulled over.

Someone said, “It made lots of sense”. Or maybe it just happens to fit his prejudices. I bet he didn’t do any fact checking.

Let’s start with this one fact. The entire point of this classic right wing hate mongering is to get people angry, and to vote for republicans. Note this little dig, “If you vote for or support any politician who supports illegal aliens...You are part of the problem”.

This could be straight from Limbaugh Land. Let’s take minute and have a look at Reality Land.

Here’s one source (Reason Foundation) that completely contradicts this rant.

Illegal Immigrants are Paying a Lot More Taxes Than You Think

The fact that illegal immigrants pay taxes at all will come as news to many Americans. A stunning two-thirds of illegal immigrants pay Medicare, Social Security and personal income taxes. Yet, nativists like Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., have popularized the notion that illegal aliens are a colossal drain on the nation's hospitals, schools and welfare programs — consuming services that they don't pay for.

In reality, the 1996 welfare reform bill disqualified illegal immigrants from nearly all means-tested government programs including food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and Medicare-funded hospitalization. The only services that illegals can still get are emergency medical care and K-12 education.

This is from an article from USA Today:

Many illegal immigrants pay up at tax time

Illegal immigrants are paying taxes to Uncle Sam, experts agree. Just how much they pay is hard to determine because the federal government doesn't fully tally it. But the latest figures available indicate it will amount to billions of dollars in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes this year. One rough estimate puts the amount of Social Security taxes alone at around $9 billion per year.

Paycheck withholding collects much of the federal tax from illegal workers, just as it does for legal workers.

The Internal Revenue Service doesn't track a worker's immigration status, yet many illegal immigrants fearful of deportation won't risk the government attention that will come from filing a return even if they might qualify for a refund. Economist William Ford of Middle Tennessee State University says there are no firm figures on how many such taxpayers there are.

"The real question is how many of them pay more than they owe. There are undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of people in that situation," Ford said


Illegal immigration is a complex problem with no easy solution. Even Arizona’s “Your papers, please,” law will not fix it. All it takes is a healthy sense of curiosity to learn a little bit about this issue. But apparently curiosity must be one of those anti-American liberal “values”.

I guess what I’m saying is if you only “pay attention” to right wingers, you’ll never really know the answer to, “Do you get it now?”

The author asks one final question, followed by a demand, “What are you waiting for? Pass this on.”

I answer, “What’s the hurry? Why would someone write this, and urge you to spread it like a virus?”

It would seem to me THEY are, “part of the problem”.

Sign Of Sickness

My friend sent me the forward titled "Best Sign of the Year"

The teabagger’s sign read, “Give Tiger a break, Obama’s screwing the whole country.”

I didn’t know Tiger needed a break. Gosh, they really do feel sorry for millionaires, don’t they?

My buddy asked, “Once again my poor mislead sis. u got anything 2 remedy her sickness?”

I’m afraid she and others like her may not see their anger as part of a “sickness”. Here’s some “medicine” that she will likely refuse, but it will help immunize you and others from her condition.

The screwing the angry man’s sign mentions was more likely from the Republicans and conservative Democrats. I’ll share some real fact-based information with you about this.

Remember when protesting meant something? Like protesting a government that wanted to send your ass to Vietnam to die, and... for...what? Now THAT was something to protest. Those people had a real grievance.

Millions of us protested Bush/Cheney’s murderous war based on lies about Iraq. That was also a legitimate grievance. The so-called “liberal media” didn’t show near as much of that as they do the thousands, or hundreds, of teabaggers, though that’s another story.

Now the tea bagging Ditto Heads and Becker-heads whine and cry about taxes, Constitutional taxation. Never have such privileged white folks whined so much about so little. Obama CUT most people’s taxes, but they are either too stupid to know that, or too rich to care, or are just plain hateful racists. They shriek about Big Government spending, but want their wars, Medicare, and Social Security. Yes they do.

They themselves are socialist enough to want Medicare and Social Security. But they don’t want to hear that. (Remember the “Take your government hands off my Medicare” sign?)

They want more tax breaks and tax cuts for the RICH REPUBLICANS. The teabaggers are puppets dancing to the Republican Big Money Band. Never mind they are making out like bandits with all the wealth that Reagan started redistributing to them.

Teabaggers are spoiled crybabies. They are the whitest, widest and whiniest crybabies ever.

Here’s the REAL redistribution of wealth that the Republican teabaggers don’t want you to know about.

This is from the Tax Policy Center.

Post-Reagan Income Re-Distribution:

Historical Income Distribution for All Households:
In 2006, the most recent data available, the top percentile of earners made 55.7 percent of all pre-tax income. The bottom 40 percent of earners made only 13.2 percent.


Average Pretax Income In Dollars

Bottom 20% / Top 1%

1980- $15,500 - $504,200
1985- $14,800 - $675,900
1992- $15,500 - $817,700
2000- $17,100 - $1,508,500
2006- $17,200 - $1,743,700


Share Of Income (Percent)

Pretax Income

Bottom 20% / Top 1% / Top 10%

1980- 5.7 % - 9.1% - 30.5%
1985 - 4.8 % - 11.5%
1992- 4.4 % - 12.3%
2000- 4.0 % - 17.8%
2006- 3.9 % - 18.8% - 41.6%


Wow! SOMEBODY has been making a killing these past years.
And this is only up to 2006. The trend has not reversed in the last few years.

Some teabaggers like to complain about what Obama is doing to our jobs.

Here’s something ELSE they don’t care to know.

Look at the Bush/Obama transition years and the trends in job losses and gains.






So you see, the poor conned-servatives would rather listen to Limbaugh and Beck say things that make them angry, than to learn the facts. I think they like being angry. It’s easier to blame others and have scapegoats for everything that’s gone wrong. I’m afraid it is the dark side of human nature. It is the authoritarian personality. If you substitute the word “Jews” for the words “liberals, or “progressives”, in Limbaugh/Beck talk you’d get a clear picture of where they learned their game.I wish I knew what else to do for them. We can only tell them the truth.

That kool-ade they’re drinking must be very delicious indeed.

VE Day Mud Fest

I need to confess to a dirty secret. I’m not proud of this, but it is who I am. Most of my friends already know, and God bless ‘em, they put up with me anyway. So, here it is. I love engaging radical righties in commentary repartee. I really do. I seek it out. My friends say, "Never argue with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it." Maybe I’m the pig, because I enjoy it. At least I’m not whatever the righties are; and that’s what makes me happy.

Our friend the Gun Toting Liberal posted on Her Theocratic Holiness, Sarah Palin. Our Lady of Perpetual Victimhood was pontificating on the O’Reilly Spin Factor, “I have said all along that America is based on Judeo-Christian beliefs and, you know, nobody has to believe me though. You can just go to our Founding Fathers' early documents and see how they crafted a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution that allows that Judeo-Christian belief to be the foundation of our lives. And our Constitution, of course, essentially acknowledging that our unalienable rights don't come from man; they come from God.”

I don’t remember that “rights from God part” in the constitution. I do recall something like, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” though.

O’Really set the stage for her by suggesting it was “dumb” to see any Constitutional question to a National Day of Prayer, “Today is a National Day of Prayer. It has been endorsed by President Obama. But there are legal challenges all over the place, and that, of course, is dumb. The Constitution clearly states the government cannot impose religion on citizens, but setting aside a day to encourage expression of voluntary spirituality is in no way an imposition.”

“Respecting an establishment of religion” magically transforms into “imposition”. Anyway, same old, same old.

As it turns out GTL went to school in Wasilla with the future mayor. Yes, he did! Such a blessing! If I were him, I’d think I should go to the rallies and sell autographs to jealous teabaggers. Maybe sell some autographed pictures and T-shirts, too.

Please go visit and read GTL’s post on: Sarah Palin To Bill O’Reilly: We Must Criminalize Working On Sundays; Women Wearing Hats In Church; Eating Shellfish

Our language impaired “Doomed” left the first comment and I couldn’t resist playing along.

And away we go with our happy little mud fest.

Comments:

Doomed:
At the same time, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 9.9 percent last month.
The White House pointed to the report as validation of its efforts to stimulate the economy.
Where are the Jobs Mr. Obama? We can see how your government hiring is creating jobs…..while unemployment continues to rise.

As for Sarah the Barracuda talking about Religion ON THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER.
I think she should have said something like this.

God is dead. There now the 15 percent of America that is NOT Christians will rejoice. Its called coddling to the tyranny of the minority for political correctness.
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DD:
“I don’t care about the Constitution.” – Bill O’Reilly

Yes, Sister Sarah, Our Lady of Perpetual Victimhood should know a LOT more than a dumb old Constitutional law scholar. She don’t need no book learnin’ cuz she got “beliefs”.

The unemployment “Rate” ticked up, but so did job creation. I could explain how this happens, but I know how the authoritarian mind rejects what it dislikes.

Since Bush left office, job loss has been reversing and new jobs are forming. Those are the facts.
And those are not just “government jobs”. That’s Rush Fox koolade talk.

Another fact. A government, like a corporation, is NOT A PERSON. It cannot be Christian or atheist. A government’s politicians or a corporation’s executives can claim to be Christian, although usually there is no evidence of any Christian love in them. Power and wealth are what they really worship.

Here are a couple “Christian government” quotes:

“The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” John Adams, Treaty of Tripoli, ratified by the United States Senate without debate unanimously in 1797.

“The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life.” – Adolph Hitler “My New World Order,” – Proclamation to the German Nation, Berlin, February 1, 1933

"Beware of ALL politicians, especially those who cloak themselves in religion." – Dave Dubya (You can also use just the first four words.)

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.”
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Doomed:
The Household Survey has shown an increase of 1.1 million jobs since January 2010. However, workers employed PART-TIME due to economic reasons have increased by 836,000 over the same period, seemingly accounting for 75% of 2010 job creation.

Once again a Progressive administration that HATES big business and Corporations are forcing people to hire temporary and part time workers.

DD you can spin it anyway you want but based upon these numbers it will take 31 months to even remotely return to the status quo and of course we know that will never happen because we are now borrowing money to create jobs.

We are ballooning employment right now. corporations know it and that is why they are hiring temporary and or part time workers.

We are going to double dip on this recession because its being funded by borrowed money. Recessions are mainly designed to pay down debt but in our case the feds are just printing money and borrowing money to create NON SUSTAINING jobs.

Mr. Obama and the I hate Corporations Progressives are in charge and they are not about to do what is necessary to create meaningful jobs.

That is to put in place legislation and regulations that are conducive to a healthy jobs creation market.

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DD:

Somewhere after all the “HATE” gibberish and the nonsense about PART-TIME and NON SUSTAINING jobs being undesirable and not “meaningful jobs”, I found something I completely agree with.

“Legislation and regulations that are conducive to a healthy jobs creation market.”

Well done, Doomed, I knew you’d come around.
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Joe:
Attention! We have a thread high jack in progress:
End of the War in Europe...
Churchill VE Day Speech

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DD:
Woo Hoo!! Nazi Germany was defeated. The resistance to fascist militarism continues.

“Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.” –Bertold Brecht
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CLD:
Coo coo, coo coo…or thats right, its “corporations” that are the problem….right…
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DD:
Corporations? Since when do THEY influence government policy? It’s not like they have ulterior motives when they stuff the politicians’ pockets with campaign cash and hire lobbyists to hand them pre-drafted legislation in DC.

Nah, you’d have be some kind of brainwashed Alinsky-worshipping commie to even imagine such treason.

Besides, money is the source of all goodness in this world. And those with the most money are the BEST people in the world. As proof, we see Sister Sarah, Our Lady of Perpetual Victimhood, is becoming ever more self-righteously holy as her bank account grows. Blessed are the economic elite, for they shall take everything. Give ye unto the rich, ye teabaggers of little sense, for they scoff at your ignorance.

WE know it’s those dirty hippie socialists that have been destroying democracy and America with all their…their…ah…politically incorrect lack of patriotism. Yes, that’s it.
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Well, there you go. I tried not to let it go on for too long. And I’ll try not to be such a pig too often... Or wait; maybe I’m not a pig. Could I merely be the “tyranny of the minority for political correctness”?