The Tea Party Movement

My ideas for this blog usually come from some sort of news source or some political commentary that I think is interesting and then I research to the best of my ability the facts. Last night while watching a political satire show I heard a very interesting perspective that totally made sense and I would like to share parts of it here. After reading the post ask yourself what the real motive is behind the Tea Partiers. For those that don't know the Tea Party movement says that they are for less government, less spending and less taxes. So lets look at the facts. In 2009 more than ninety percent of the people in this country paid less taxes than they did under George Bush the year before. Where was the movement during the Bush years when spending was out of control? Anyways the comedian says the Tea Partiers are right about one thing, we have to bring down the national debt as we now pay about four hundred billion every year in interest alone. But the problem with the Tea Party movement is that they want to deregulate the free market and keep their jobs here in the U.S. They want guaranteed health coverage regardless of pre existing conditions without a mandate form the federal government. They want big tax cuts along with deficit reduction. I cant even think of a suitable analogy for that disconnect. It would be like thinking getting a handjob will clean your garage. In fairness its not just the Tea Party movement, if you ask the American people how they want to tame the deficit, either by raising taxes or cutting spending. Cutting spending wins always and by a huge margin in the poles. So what government spending do you want to see cut? The answer from the people is nothing, not a thing. America is like a family that spends way more than they bring in but mom wont give up her shopping sprees and dad wont give up that big boat he bought. Even now when we cant afford that boat and do you know what Americas boat is? It's our empire. Face it we have an empire. We have half a million troops in other peoples countries all over the world. And maintaining that empire and everything that goes into defense costs us about a trillion (that's right a trillion) dollars a year most of which goes to fighting the Russians in 1978. Fighter planes that we need for all the dogfights we get into with the Taliban, submarines to foil their plots to blow up our ships with car bombs, and space lasers to shoot down their exploding underwear. What defense spending really is, is a giant welfare program. A giant jobs program for defense workers to build crap that we don't need. So when Tea Partiers scream about handouts this is what they should be protesting. We spend more on weapons than the top 15 military powers combined. Cut it in half and see if anyone invades us. So if Tea Partiers will start protesting that I will believe that you really are "We the People" what about our grandchildren patriots. But if your unwilling to cut defense spending and give up the empire then you don't really care about the debt. He goes on with opinion about what the Tea Party movement is really about and I am not going to get into that, but think about what you just read and ask yourself are we really any different from the Roman or British empires. Why do we have massive troop numbers in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and every other foreign country we decide to meddle in. Wouldn't protecting our borders in this country with those troops be a much less expensive and more productive way of insuring our safety. Imagine this, China decides our government is being controlled by large corporations and our people no longer have a say so in how we the people conduct our lives. China sends a hundred and fifty thousand troops to topple our president and restore our former way of life. How would you feel having Chinese planes controlling our skies, and Chinese tanks and troops patrolling our streets. I know how I feel and I would do everything I could to take out every last one of them until they were gone. I imagine that's how the other countries of this world feel about us being in their countries.

I Am Being Called a Communist

I am now being called a communist from a coworker because of a reference I made in an earlier post about the people of Venezuela being better off now because of their president Hugo Chavez. To clear the air I am not a fan of communism nor will I ever be. I don't agree with the policies that Hugo Chavez uses. I however agree with facts, something my Republican coworker doesn't seem to get. He constantly interrupts when I try to explain something and then changes subjects or puts the spin on just like his two hero's Beck and Limbaugh. The fact is 95 percent of the citizens of Venezuela are now better off than they were before Chavez was freely elected into power twice. Something my friend says was a fixed election even though it was watched over by an international team of diplomats monitoring it. Question is, how is it that when the Republicans desired candidate doesn't win an election they say it was fixed, or better yet, "where's his birth certificate?" What I think is far worse is when our country places its choice of dictators to rule in other countries to stop anything we deem to be harmful to our country. The Shah of Iran and various leaders in South Vietnam in the late sixties, or El Salvadore in the eighties come to mind. So lets get back to the communism thing. In the movie The Hunt for Red October there is a seen where Sam Neills character asks Sean Connery's character (Both being Soviets) about going between states without carrying papers after they defect to the United States. Sam Neills character is astonished that you could do such a thing. We were led to believe that was how life is in the Soviet Union. No longer do you have to travel that far anymore. Just head west to Arizona where the Governor just passed a law today that basically states that if you look Hispanic a police officer can pull you over and demand that you show your proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate. My friend from work defends this policy by the way. And it has already happened as a truck driver was arrested because he could not prove he was a citizen not having his birth certificate. He did however have a CDL drivers license and was in fact born hear in the United States. This to me sound much more like communism than anything Obama has tried to do. It seems to me the only part of the constitution that the far right wants to acknowledge is the second amendment with total disregard for the rest of it. Who's the communist? It sure as hell isn't me.

April 15th Tax Day

Tax day is the fifteenth of April and this year it seems everyone has a comment so I am going to make one also. Republicans and Tea Party people are shouting outrage at the fact that around 47 million Americans will pay no federal income tax. What they are saying is that the people who are paying taxes are supporting the people who don't. Let's take a look at the people who don't. I believe that it is people who are below the poverty level working minimum wage jobs or worse. They can barely survive as is. People like Rush Limbaugh would have you believe that all those people need to do is go back to school and try hard and they can be a part of the American Dream. Funny, because I know plenty of college educated people who have been unemployed for a while now. For many years they paid into the system and what they get back is some hick with the travelling Tea Party roadshow, whose most likely on unemployment himself, blasting them for not paying taxes this year. On the other hand there are plenty of well off people who don't pay taxes at all either. It is alleged that the Pritzker family pays no federal income tax. Something about offshore tax loopholes and reinvesting any profit back into the company. For those that don't know who they are, they're probably Chicago's wealthiest family and basically own Hyatt Hotels, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Trans Union the credit reporting service. If I remember correctly this information came out about four or five years ago when two of the Pritzker children sued their family for their portion of the family trust. The court was going to open the Pritzker books and the family decided to settle rather than open the books. The two young adults ages 20 and 22 at the time settled for a reported 900 million dollars. That's a lot of dough to shell out for a couple of early twenty somethings just to keep your finances a secret. And finally one last look at not paying taxes. Exxon Mobil had a 13 billion dollar profit in 2009 and is not paying anything to Uncle Sam. Who loses? You, me and everyone in this country. It is estimated that there are over 150 large companies in this country who are not paying any income tax but they will receive a tax refund of some kind. Why aren't the Tea Party people going after them? I guess it's just easier to pick on the little guy.