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What has happened to this country…
Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes I’ve heard in all this drama about the debt ceiling:
“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told Becky Quick. “You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”
I do have a question for presidential candidate Herman Cain with his 9-9-9 tax proposal.
If we institute a 9% Federal tax is that to be added on top of state and city taxes? In Tennessee very little is excluded from sales tax. That would have citizens in this part of the world paying close to a 20% sales tax every time they buy anything.
Can you say regressive, and let’s tax the poor a bigger percentage of their incomes. I suppose his argument would be to point to the 9% income tax, but many of the our poorest citizens pay little or no taxes now. There is another whammy on this group. Especially so since many of these folks are the hard core unemployable, uneducated, disabled, or facing other life circumstances keeping them down. ( I know a lot of folks will argue with me, but I do not believe that the percentage of folks willing to not work and live hand to mouth is that large.)
Could there be some meaning to 9-9-9. If you turn it upside down it is 6-6-6.
I ran across this little tidbit after I posted this article:
“Without bold alternatives, Americans desperate for big solutions are attracted to bold crackpot ideas like Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” proposal, which would raise taxes on the poor and cut them for the rich.”
The above quote is from an article by Robert Reich at commondreams.org
To see the whole article follow this link: The Meagerness of the Republican Debates, the Smallness of the President’s Solutions, and the Need for a Progressive Alternative
“War is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”
Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, in 1935
Who is Smedley Butler? Wikipedia starts off as follows: “…nicknamed ‘The Fighting Quaker’ and ‘Old Gimlet Eye’, was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. By the end of his career he had received 16 medals, five of which were for heroism. He is one of 19 people to twice receive the Medal of Honor, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.”
If there ever was a man that knew war he has to be among the elite. The quote is the start of his book, War is a Racket, published in 1935. Continue reading “War is a Racket”
There floats around a story of a trusted advisor of President Abraham Lincoln who recommended a candidate for Lincoln’s cabinet. Lincoln declined and when asked why, he said, “I don’t like the man’s face.”
“But the poor man is not responsible for his face,” his advisor insisted.
“Every man over forty is responsible for his face,” Lincoln replied, and the prospect was considered no more.
Personally, I think there is a lot of truth in the above story. Most folk can recognize a face that is habitually angry or happy or sad. It does take living awhile for what has happened to you and what is inside of you to become stamped on your features.
I don’t like Eric Cantor’s face. It strikes me as a combination of arrogant, angry and prudishness (picture someone sucking on green persimmons). Every time I see a picture of this fellow it appalls me that he is a Congressman, let alone a leader in the not so august body. I want to see someone with compassion and acceptance stamped on their face.
On the other hand John Boehner looks like he wants to fleece me. Not so surprisingly that is exactly what he is doing to the middle class and poor in this country.
This picture is from the recent Values Voter Summit. This group is about as homophobic as they come. However, the two “fellows” in this picture appear to be as gay as you can get. The only thing missing is for one of the boys to give a reach around to the other.
C. Peter Wagner, an endorser of Gov. Rick Perry’s “The Response” prayer rally, explains that the nation of Japan is controlled by a demon spirit (The Sun Goddess) because the Emperor had sexual intercourse with her.
Wagner has been credited with founding the New Apostolic Reformation. This group conducts spiritual warfare against demons, seeks dominion over public institutions and government. Their goal is make America a “Christian” nation as they define it. As I understand they believe that the church leaders are apostles and prophets. Apparently the prophets have conversations with God and relay the skinny to the apostles. Scary stuff.
George Carlin sums it up very nicely…
Maybe the kids occupying Wall Street will be a start. It is way past time to take OUR country back from these $h!theads.
I’ve been looking for a statistic on the percentage of welfare/Medicare fraud by recipients. I kept seeing this quote all over the Internet. While I did not find the original study, I am going to trust the Boston Herald.
“A study in Massachusetts showed that more than 93 percent of the money recovered from welfare fraud came from vendors.”
Read the full story at the Boston Herald at this link: The real cheaters
Want more Candorville…check out Darrin Bell’s web site candorville.com