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10.30.2009

Team... WHO?

So here's what I'm saying: the expansion of the 'compound' is probably a house for Bristol. Big deal. Who cares. They can afford it now. Her 'compound' is a large house on a public lake visible from the highway. Not some "secluded location" as I got a good laugh from today while reading comments on the 'intarnets'. I have driven past it literally hundereds of times. So unless they've planted some strategically placed trees recently, you can see it from the parking lot of the public pisser right next to the park where people from Wasilla, frolicing on what passes for a beach during summer in Alaska, are crazy enough to swim and boat and jetski and fly planes and such. It's kind of what we do here in Alaska. I know. Shocking! Oh and by the way people of Wasillia -- figure it out! What do you think the pisser drains into? That's right. You're swimming in it, doofus. Criminy. Or is it just some crafty country way of preventing swimmer's itch? If so, bravo Wasilla!

Okay. I'm picking a side. My utmost expression of compassion in the entire soap opera of life that swirls around the entire Palin family is NOT for Levi. Nor Bristol. Definitely not for Sarah or Todd... no, my most heartfelt wishes and hopes should naturally lead me and everyone else to root for and choose Team TRIGG! I wish him the best. Good luck little buddy. You are going to need it. With all the effed up things adults do, let us all hope the best for him and that he is able to grow up vital, alive, healthy and happpy. And loved by EVERYONE in his family. Let us all hope that ALL the Palin and for the matter the Johnston family(s) "stop effing things up!" and learn to do right by each other, which is the just and humane path. Lives and hearts are at stake. But alas, no. Probably won't happen. That doesn't sell books. Or magazines. For ALL involved.

BAH! I'll have none of it! Go peddle your future Murdock sponsored reality show driven conceptual lifestyle infotainment bullshit elsewhere, lady! I leave consumption of any 'reality based' shows or books or magazines or whatever to others. It's not like they need my permission but I suppose they're going to build their little family fame industry. Nothing we can do to stop it other than ignoring it or not participating. But none of them shall ever see a single penny from my pocket. Unless someone wants to hold a TEAM TRIGG fundraiser, of course. Your mileage may vary and you are free to choose, &tc.but -- GO TEAM TRIGG! Woot!

From my own experience I learned that the answer to the problem with the NOOKULUR family model is that you need to ACTIVELY keep it from blowing up. Think of it as '24' only for 50+ years. I personally was somewhat less than successful and McGuyver-like during my experiments with it and yet because of it I have a brilliant son of whom I am very proud and who I will always love. I grew to understand that perhaps some adults need remedial education to learn how to act as adults rather than spoiled children when matters of family and heart come into play. Even myself. Everyone in the equation is human (though in Trigg's case, probably too young to understand much of what's going on for now...) and needs to be treated politely and with a certain sense of tact and decorum. All humans have feelings and emotions and honest communications are required for all concerned to come out relatively unscathed emotionally. The child's wishes take priority and everyone needs to learn to cooperate towards that end. Within reason of course... no driving off a bridge because "little Timmy told me to...".

Anyhow. As a child of divorce, someone who has been through divorce and as both a married then single parent myself, I say -- "Go TEAM TRIGG!" We're rootin' for ya', buddy.

-Laz

*note the author wishes to acknowledge every where you see 'TRIGG' he is secretly inserting the name of his son Jon. Parents, you understand. Which is NOT to say I am being insincere in my best wishes for Trigg himself. I really do wish young Trigg all the best and really feel he is the most important person in whatever drama if any arises in the near future. So one first and one last time: GO TEAM JON! GO TEAM TRIGG!

10.29.2009

Celtic Diva Nails It!

Why oh why do some Alaskans still seem to carry a bit of a chip on their shoulder about the subject and personage of Sarah Palin? Here's why. My friend Linda at Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis explains it better than anyone. Part 1 and Part 2. Yes, it takes at least that many parts to explain it because with Palin, "it's complicated". Excellent work, Linda! The only thing missing is Todd's sexy silk NY boxers and you can bet your sweet ass you can pin THAT one on Sarah, too.

-Laz

10.27.2009

...and Furthermore!

Two things in the battletide of health care reform. Notice I'm so non plused I'm not even bothering to capitalize 'Health Care Reform' any longer? Yeah. Me too. Because ultimately I believe the "public option" is narrowing down to equate to "expansion of Medicare/Medicaid" and it WILL happen, if not by majority vote, cloture or any other damn thing then by executive order if need be. Obama wants to grow a huge honking pair, he'd do it that way. Take responsibility for it all and when it is properly run and regulated and profitable, tell ALL the wingnuts to just go fuck themselves. Forever.

But I digress. Here's Wyden insisting there be a public option in the final bill, and here's old 'Independent' Joe putting on the squeeze play. Why the squeeze play? Because the only way it seems able to get through now is if there's an "opt-out" clause on a state by state basis. States rights. Still the possibility exists that the triggers may either be set too high and that having triggers in the first place PLUS insistence upon voiding the private insurers anti-trust exemption could possibly trigger the regionalization of medicine and medical treatment in America. In other words make it more hard to get competent, qualified medical care AND increase the travel cost! Brilliant! We already have that in Alaska so perhaps it won't effect us all that much.

So, yeah -- NO. Yes to the public option. Yes to the expansion of M/M. NO to any sort of trigger. It's part of the Medicare/Medicaid package, we're reforming and expanding the system to cover the uninsured, either you're in or you are out at the state level. Are any states presently NOT enrolled in both? End of story. Eureka. You have found the pot o' gold. You have freed the dragon. Public Option. Now move along.

Eventually and as stated I expect it will all be part of M/M so "no big whup..." THEN yes, reform of M/M is a must and please pass the anti-trust hammer. It's clobberin' time!

-Laz

Mmm... CEOs Are Bad, M'kay?

...both National and Local ones.

Okay. I agree. It's not the people in corporations that make them so bad. I'm sure there are boatloads of people who are perfectly nice, upstanding and honest fellow citizens working for many corporations. It's really about your leaders. Well -- our leaders. Some of them are righteous assholes interested in only money and power. Some of them are paid vast sums of money to make the heart wrenching decision over whether to fire 10,000 or 20,000 factory workers or just eliminate all corporate pension and health care fund contributions in order to maintain the 14% ROI (return on investment) that "stockholders DEMAND". Some of them seek to use their money and power to influence a government "of, by and for the people." -- especially here in Alaska.

Yeah. I'm touched. I'm sure the cost of therapy alone could run six figures. I mean how could you sleep at night knowing that your bad decisions were going to wreck the lives of families nationwide, cast them to the winds? Meanwhile please enjoy your $25 million severance package and your $50 million retirement/pension.

Or for you future prisoners, please enjoy your stay with "three hots and a cot". You can probably even find a way to do some "day trading" from inside the joint, eh Bernie, eh Bill? You know... to parlay all the money bad guys like you looted from Americans and America and stashed offshore in the Caymans or Dubai. Keep spreading the money and influence around while America pays for your extended stay at one of our fine penal hotels. Chin up, new meat. Lucky for you it's a "white collar" country club kind of prison and you will all probably be out in 5-10 years anyhow. If that long.

-Laz

(this message brought to you by the number 2 and the letter(s) "Senator B")

10.24.2009

When they outlaw net neutrality, only outlaws will have net neutrality...

(or "they can have my net neutrality when they come and pry it from my cold, dead fingers.")




Zoiks! Cranky Grandpa is back on the loose and he's looking to "scratch the back" of some of his biggest campaign donors, telcos.

As a side note (or 'rant' as many readers have been known to say ;) ), speaking only for myself but using the word 'America' to represent... well, myself and America -- America is SO sick and tired of business as usual in Washington, D.C., seriously. Not necessarily gun-totin' crazy pissed off crazy (though some few number are), but calculating crazy in the voting booth crazy -- voting AGAINST all obstructionists and do-nothings (hello, Congressman Yon Dung!) and voting AGAINST those that would choose corporations over unions and the little guy workers of America... voting them all out out OUT!

Change is a'comin', I can smell it. I can feel it. Very soon someone in high political office may get upset enough with all the stinkin' 'moneychangers in the temple' to start tossing them out. They're starting to do that with bailed out companies and bonuses by getting clawback from essentially majority publically owned companies (due to them still owing America both me AND the entire country). America is beginning to demand responsibility, accountability and mostly PAYBACK for all the monies we taxpayers LOANED these companies -- BEFORE they give out fat bonuses for failure. If these are new hires, not responsible for past mistakes then okay, but if these are rewards passed out to rats abandoning a sinking ship, that they themselves scuttled like pirates to pilfer for the booty -- then yes, I have a problem using taxpayer money to reward these pirates.


Though I'm clearly kidding by comparing through allusion the implications of Obama as 'a savior' or 'messiah' for America (this time the country and I suppose by extension even me), change DOES need to come starting with, as he was told to do by advisors from the outset, curtail and sharply regulate and control lobbyists. Corporate influence over D. C. must end in its entirety. 527 groups with 501(c)3 status eligibilty must always be and should always remain tightly controlled to only narrowly allow non-profits and their public members to form coalitions in order to access their representatives in D.C. in cases where people feel the cause needs to cary more clout and gravitas (and then by extension employ an actual living, breathing person to go 'lobby' the representative). This naturally carries more impact than that of a lone constituent sending a letter to their congressman or senator to discuss an issue. The bottom line is that it should all be done through non-profits with all elections publically funded to eliminate corporate control and undue influence on our government.

Yes, corporations are people too, but MONEY must be removed from the equation for us to be able to make good law based upon facts, science and reality. Reform the way Washington works FIRST and THEN Obama and his administration could really work through health care and labor issues and human rights issues and DADT and getting us out of bad wars while protecting America issues and &tc, ad infinitum. Ahem. Oh and he'd SO be able to take care of that nuclear non-proliferation thingy while he's at it, too. Here's to hoping Axelrod reads this. Ah screw it, maybe I'll just email him the link. ;)


TL;DR version for Dave: Change Washington, D. C. first, then change everything else to what is good for ALL the common citizens of America, not just a select few. P.S. -- KEEP NET NEUTRALITY!



-Laz

10.23.2009

Hark! Yon Dung doth approacheth!

Weigh in on this from the ADN?

Does any of this surprise anyone from or now presently living in Alaska? Really? Who pays for Don's picnics? Hello? The sponsors all have banners at the events. Right down to the gas grills.

I've already posted about our sole congressman and said he needed to be replaced. I'll support the best candidate that runs against him in the next election. So should you. So should we all.

Let's get ALL the corrupt bastards back in court and finish all the sentencing already. Is the court waiting for a written invitation from the people to proceed with the machinations of justice and due process? Consider it grated, please proceed.

-Laz

10.22.2009

Hallelujah! (and) Progressive Blog Links Rodeo Roundup!

Is this the bill you're looking for? Why yes thank you! It's all starting to make sense now. From here until election day it's firebrand progressives like Grayson and Weiner and Franken laying down the legislative smack. HARD.

"We're attaching  some amendments to your pork laden, war profiteering, home district rewarding Department of Defense spending continuation bill..."

"Hey! Wait now... let's all simma down naow..."

"You [Republicans] don't like what we [Democrats] are doing, then filibuster. Or vote no."

 America needs more critical thinkers. Though sometimes you get rogues.

By the way, Rep. Anthony Weiner actually supports a true single payer system, as do I. Just expand Medicare/Medicaid and reform the hell out of it.

-Laz

10.19.2009

Things Are Tough All Over...

Okay. This has got to be a joke, right? I doubt that Palin has ever even heard of LinkedIn, let alone personally know how to sign up for one of their accounts or post he resume there! But I will say in all honesty, if she really needs the work I could seriously use a housekeeper. Seriously. I realize she may be vastly overqualified for the position (or perhaps not if we are to believe Levi Johnson's Vanity Fair account of behind the scenes life within the Palin household) but I'd be willing to pay her $250 for a day and provide her with the HAZMAT suit she'll most likely need to come over and clean my little four room apartment. Standing offer Sarah. Call me!

-Laz

10.16.2009

I Love The Smell Of Deperation First Thing In The Morning...

Not mine but rather Sarah Palin's seeming desperation. Remember this is an independent, ad-free and unpaid blog -- thus I have no financial gain or benefits to disclose for writing what I write. It is my personal opinion covered by my right to freedom of speech. Period. Nobody is slipping me money under the table nor paying me either directly or indirectly, in fact it costs me over $600 a year for my broadband access. I have never even asked for any donations to support this blog, myself or my writing! Lastly, Google provides the blogspace for free. So there you have it. That is MY disclosure statement, so please indulge my whims again for a moment by allowing me to relate the following bits of recent Palin related information with those thoughts in mind.

There are two items of recent note about our ex-governor, the perpetual second runner up, that I now discuss -- first, she announced yet another PAC yesterday. Why? According to Fred Malek, apparently one of the few former McCain campaign staffers still willing to talk about her, "She wants to continue to be in a position to help causes dear to her heart and help people close to her". Hmm... does that not sounds exactly like what she herself said on the day she quit her job as governor of Alaska? Perhaps Fred helped her write her July third abdication speech? So basically then it is the announcement of a new PAC funding Sarah and her aparent megalomaniacal personal ambitions, right Fred? At this point you may be wondering as much as I am just what exactly is wrong with the old SarahPAC which would cause the need for an announcement of an entirely new PAC? Incidnetly, even after this announcement the old SarahPAC is still functioning online and continues to beg for more money from her supporters. So really -- why a second PAC?

Allow me to take a stab at explaining this from the perspective of a non-lawyer but as someone who has done extensive research concerning her troubles with personal finance and her various online fund raising efforts. At face value this new PAC appears to be exactly the same thing as SarahPAC, which again immediatly begs the question as to why she needs yet another PAC? Why Sarah, WHY? Is it because the hammer of justice is about to drop hard on SarahPAC due to its original thinly veiled charter that essentially makes it a slush fund to pay her friends, family, cronies and the monthly fees of spokes-model Meg "The Mouth" Stapeltongue rather than actually supporting political candidates and causes other than Team Sarah itself? My short answer is yes I believe so, yes precisely. Here comes the hammer, Sarah and lovers of Sarah. Better brace yourself.

As a PAC, the FEC has already officially grumbled about SarahPAC's legality based upon its original charter, pretty much alleging hers is NOT truly legal under the rules, regulations and laws governing what qualifies as a tax exempt 527 group. It has also been suggested by some at the FEC that there are glaring legal difficulties with the original charter of SarahPAC in claiming it to be a 501(c)3 which would allow her donors to write their contributions off on their taxes. Since Sarah is not currently running for political office how can she and her team continue to ethically claim tax exempt status? It's not a campaign fund. Add to that the fact that  the limited amount of FEC disclosures available also show only small portions, indeed a minor percentage of the donations to SarahPAC have actually been passed along to support other political campaigns and causes of interest to her and her team. A comparatively miniscule amount, even. Essentially it seems thus far that the money mostly goes towards furthering her personal ambitions which presently appear to be a nothing less than a personal money making venture for Sarah and her team. No pun intended but the cash cow seems to be Sarah herself as is the direct majority beneficiary of the PAC amply demonstrated by FEC disclosures of the percentage of total monies doled out from the PAC towards other legitimate political causes and concerns. So unless she has declared herself PERSONALLY to be a non-profit entity, a candidate or a registered lobbiest concern and is willing to back it up with public disclosures to both the FEC and IRS, she seems to be dancing around with the truth in a murky gray area both legally and ethically about the usage of funds donated by her supporters to her original PAC.

Her recent FEC disclosures show a limited amount of actual "political actions" or "causes", mostly in the form of donations to a select few of her fellow Republicans and their campaign funds (John McCain and Michelle Bachman amongst them). In addition, the few times she and team Sarah even bothered to actually spend PAC donations on something recognizably political OTHER than her or team Sarah, they over donated above the legally permitted per annum amount which in turn then had to be reimbursed back to her PAC just to keep everything within the law. Fair enough. A simple mistake for which I will not cruxify them. These things happen. Those campaigns returned the excess amounts when directed to do so by the FEC because of excess per anum dollar amount violations, so no problems there other than the seeming perpetual stupidity of her PAC administrators. But as has often been the case in the recent past with so many of her legally required public personal financial disclosures, she and her team may have been playing fast and loose with the truth, the rules and their adherance to actual law. The FEC disclosures I have read show that she has been just as lax at reporting SarahPAC expenditures to the FEC as she has been in declaring (within a legally mandated set period of time) the financial value of gifts given to her while serving as governor of the state of Alaska. I cease to be surprised and -- surprise! -- she has been just as late complying with FEC rules as well. Sarah and team Sarah always seem to be late with their legally mandated "homework", having to erase the smiley faces and hearts and replace them with properly dotted i's and properly crossed t's.

Most interesting to me however is that her team's actions appear to be a literal demonstration of an acting and actual confederacy of dunces! You bet'cha! She has hired herself her very own circular firing squad! From my perspective it is obvious that perhaps she is getting somewhat less than what she is paying for from her employees who continue to act as some sort of perpetual newsmaking gaffe machine. It would almost be funny if it weren't so damn sad. It makes it hard to decide if I should feel cynical or maybe even sorry for her. In most cases I'm going to choose cynical because often it seems intentional and almost orchestrated rather than accidental. On top of all of this it appears, again through the limited disclosuers team Sarah HAS actually made to the FEC and in both the main stream media and as reported on various partisan or non-partisan political blogs, that many of these very same dunces may be directly paid out of her SarahPAC slush fund. Which of course only further compounds her potential problems with the FEC and IRS and their rules. Team Sarah will probably claim otherwise but though their own initial and perhaps accidental uncoordinated press releases and in words taken directly from her spokesperson Meg "The Mouth" Stapletongue, it was originally disclosed that this was actually the case before someone had a cow (Sarah, doing damage control C.Y.A. work as undoubtedly advised to do by her more politically savvy hired gun mercernary attorney, I'd wager) and quickly tried to claw those statements back by asserting that Sarah was actually paying for all these employees personally. Sorry folks. You already said it was paying for Meg and the Team Sarah folks at first. Once you hit the 'SEND' button it it nigh well impossible to 'UNSEND'. In my opinion all of this crazy sideshow freak circus amounts to the appearance of her and her team wilfully skirting the bounds of what is both legal AND ethical and serves only to confirm the hapless antics of her confederacy of dunces perhaps even in a craven effort to only get her still more press merely to keep her name in the headlines. Sad to contemplate that possibility but how esle is one to explain the veritable Keyston Cops nature of her and her team and their crazy press release circus? It's almost like the Three Stooges, only without the funny parts! Oh wait... never mind. Anyhow, the news and press releases are out there in the wilds of the untamed internet and I don't feel the need to provide citations. I've seen them, I've read them and I have now reported them. If you are truly interested in unraveling all this crap (and I pray for the sake of your sanity) then I encourage you all to go look for it yourself. Again, I have nothing to gain from retelling all of this other than amusement at the total and continued ineptitude of her team plus the personal satisfaction of reminding everyone of their possible lies concerning her, her ambitions and the somewhat shadowy financial details of her and her political machine. It totally boggles the mind just how badly one could possibly screw up what supposedly started out as a bright political career and yet from all appearances that seems to be the case.

Whatever the causes or reasons it does appear to help keep her name in the news which is probably the most important issue for Sarah and team Sarah. Especially considering the other item of note today: her popularity. According to a newly published Gallup poll, her popularity numbers nationally are still on the wane as they have been since the end of the McCain campaign. Don't even get me started on how low they have dropped for her within her own state! I'd go as far as to say that even the majority of Alaskan Republicans no longer favor or support her. Most Alaskans don't like quitters. Especially ones that quit on Alaska. Ask former governor Hickel. The latest numbers show fourty percent overall average favorable opinion nationwide, with sixty-nine percent of polled Republicans still seeing her favorably. So nationally many Republicans who didn't have to live with her as their governor still seem to have the wool pulled over their eyes. Perhaps more telling is that twenty-five percent of Republicans nationally see her unfavorably with just six percent registering no opinion. Still even more telling is the approval rating of those valuable "swing voter" independents: a full fourty-eight percent register as unfavorable, with eleven percent registering no opinion and only fourty-one percent registering approval. It goes without saying that the vast majority of Democrats both nationally and locally register as unfavorable.

All of these factors lead me to believe that her announcement of another new PAC is precisely because they already have an inkling that the old one is about to be shut down for both FEC and IRS violations. But as has been the case for her sketchy and incomplete (not to mention LATE) personal gift disclosures while the governor of Alaska, we have yet to have an official declaration of any legal violations and any subsequent penalties or remedies, so this story isn't over yet. Not by a long shot, unfortunately. As an Alaskan I am comfortable with the idea that many of us would prefer that her and the questionable antics of her political machine just go away forever. She has become an utter embarassment for many, many Alaskans and with every hapless gaffe continues to reflect negatively on both the state and it's inhabitants. As far as I am concerned we Alaskans need only be patient a little while longer until the she and the whole shebang implodes on her, her employees and her supporters at NewsCorp (including but not limited to Fox News, Harpers, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal who continue to promote her as Rupert Murdoch's (mostly undisclosed to those NOT in the know) pet project). May we all collectively offer a deep and loud sigh of relief when this impending implosion occurs and she fades into personal and political obscurity as a sad Alaskan hisorical footnote. May we also cheer at her and her hapless minions repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot (as they still continue to do), thus liberating us and the rest of America from any further news about her, her causes and her political ambitions (whatever the hell those may be now she's been branded a quitter and hasn't yet announced for any office) now and forever. Then and only then we will ALL be able to breathe that collective sigh of releif and we Alaskans can return to rebuilding our now sullied reputation as hardy and THINKING rugged individualists. From my fingertips to your eyeballs to her ears. Amen.

-Laz

10.15.2009

The Chickens Come Home To Roost...

Back in August when the Tea Baggers were at the height of their collective craziness, Senator Graham poo-pooed the idea that there was any problem with the radicalization of the Republican party. Well guess what, Senator? Now these very same Teag Baggers want Senator Graham's head on a platter for saying he'll work together with Democrats on global climate change legislation! How do you like them now, Senator?

-Laz

10.11.2009

Unintended Side Benefit of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Win...

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize win is helping to make the heads of partisan political hacks pundits explode. Too funny. Obama has already done more concerning nuclear non-proliferation within his first year of office than Bush did in his entire eight years COMBINED. In fact Bush was going the opposite direction by proposing to deploy a controversial 'missile shield' in eastern Europe, much to the chagrin of our supposed ally, Russia. There's your reason for why Obama won, neocons -- but your vision is too clouded with the haze of partisan political hackery like the example of CBS' Chip Reid cited above to see it.

-Laz

10.08.2009

Episode 1: Overheard on Facebook

Shannon Moore:

Oh, to be against the war and then for it...a fancy pair of flip flops...

Maddison Bradshaw replies re: Ex Gov 2rd runner up, SP:

"For so many reasons, can someone just make her go away, just have her evaporate or something?"

Moi:
Then tell Rupert Murdoch to stop paying her. He owns Harper, her publisher. Don't buy her book. Boycott anything Newscorp. All things Murdoch. Tell the interloping carpetbagger addios. Go peddle your snakeoil elsewhere. Sarah's rumored 'concern' over investing in gold  coincides with the previous day's Glenn Beck Show. Beck has lost a total of 80 advertisers since originally calling Obama a racist. Two out of three of his remaining major advertisers are in the -- surprise! -- gold and gold speculation markets. Sarah is so transparent I can see Russia through her from here. Cut off the $ supply through the advertisers, and not just Beck's circus freak sideshow but ALL of Fox News and you cut off their oxygen. [Yes even Harper. Then sadly we can all say goodbye to Idaho's favorite daughter Sarah, as we realists here in Alaska have already disowned her.] End of story.
-Laz

10.07.2009

Holy Crap! The Anti-Beck Juggernaut rolls on...

In between today and my last post about boycotting Glenn Beck's infotainment and propaganda show on Fox, no less than nineteen more companies have dropped advertising support! That's right, NINETEEN. Including the maker of Guiness. Now I'll drink to THAT, mate. That's 80 companies total and now some of them are pulling ALL their ads from all Fox News shows.

Thanks to all who take the time to keep pushing on this issue... if we keep up this pressure we can not only strangle the beast that is Glenn Beck, but Fox in it's entirety. Believe it.

-Laz

10.05.2009

The Beck Boycott Goes Worldwide...

A total of sixty-two advertisers have now dropped support for Glenn Beck on Fox. The latest is a UK grocery chain. Instead of the boycotters petering out in force or ferocity, the supermarket Waitrose has doubled down! They have pulled ALL ads from Fox, not just Beck's daily infotainment hate circus. ALL shows, ALL timeslots. That's what I'm talking about! Boo-yah! How do you like us NOW, Fox?

Thus we enter the next phase of shutting down the idiots of Fox who worship at the altar of hate speech and it's about damn time. Remember, you too can add your voice to this important boycott by supporting the people who started it all, Color of Change. Better yet, directly participate by boycotting those who still advertise on Fox. Companies think they are doing the right thing for their profit margins by advertising with the cable 'news' network that supposedly has the most viewers, but what they are really doing is supporting a far right wing propaganda machine. Stop them all now. Help us throw sand in the gears of this ugly hate machine and shut it down forever.

-Laz

10.02.2009

Reasons Why The Public Option Failed in Finance Committee...

This artice at True/Slant gives us a glimpse into the true reason why Baucus and the so called 'Gang of Six' helped to kill the public option in the Senate Finance Committee. More than $19 Million reasons in fact and this is only four or five politicians, all listed are Democrats. There is blood money and bribes (aka 'campaign contributions) on both sides of the aisle, so neither party is blameless. Imagine if we tallied up all the lobby dollars donated to campaign funds to defeat this issue? I'd estimate that we are approaching something like $300-500 Million poured into the campaign war chests of everyone in the house and senate by private insurers, big pharma and other for profit medical enterprises to shore up their industry's muderous profits. So yes, a whole damn lot of money (much of it taken as profits made from the premiums paid to them by their clients) is being paid out to insure that these companies retain their profit margins and in the meantime uninsured Americans continue to die at the rate of over 44,000 people a year.

Even though as a Buddhist I don't really believe in the concept of souls or hell I think you can clearly understand me and where I'm coming from when I say I hope that the souls of these 44,000 lost Americans torment these motherfucking sellout bastards forever after they all wind up in hell. I personally vow to vote against and refuse to support any senator or congressman who works against health care reform and health insurance reform. Join me next election in spirit as you enter the voting booth -- vote your conscience against those that don't have one.

-Laz

10.01.2009

Thinking local, acting like dumbasses...

Ah, local Alaskan politics! Why must you vex us so? Several issues are confronting Anchorage in the wake of a new mayoral administration that need to be addressed and while I am in no position to actually do anything about it myself since I am not a member of the assembly or mayor Sullivan's staff, I do have some opinions to share.

The new controversy is the budget shortfalls in city government. Some, mostly Bill Starr, Dan Coffey and mayor Sullivan himself appear to be making political hay out of trying to blame our money woes on outgoing mayor, now U.S. Senator Mark Begich, saying that his administration hid facts from the assembly so that he could meet his budget. This is factually incorrect and I believe they know that. Starr has pointed to one internal Begich administration email and attached spreadsheet as evidence that the former mayor deliberately hid the shortfall from assembly members. Which begs the question -- how did someone who essentially is a member of the legislative branch of local government (the Anchorage Assembly) get his hands on internal documents that were only meant to be seen by staff members of the administrative branch? Mayor Sullivan, would you care to answer that question? Have they never heard of the separation of powers? It applies even at a local level, Mr. Starr. I believe the method and manner in which he came into possession of these documents needs to be exposed. If it were I am sure we would most likely see the links leading directly back to the new Sullivan administration as mayor Dan attempts, with the help of partisan political hacks like Coffey and Starr to scapegoat the former mayor for yet to be determined reasons.

As already addressed by Begich in direct response to the asshattery of Starr, the documents Starr now holds up as evidence of deliberate deception against the assembly were internal planning documents that detailed various budget scenarios. They are 'game theory'. Begich asked his staff to come up with various best and wort case scenarios for budget planning and submit them. Starr is whining about the path NOT taken and claiming that mayor Begich was less than forthcoming and honest with the local assembly. Bullshit, Mr. Starr. It has already been explained that they did the best they could with the money they had available for the budget and any shortfalls are really because of our current economic situation. In other words times are tough all over even for city government. The documents you now hold up as evidence of obfuscation were scenarios, not reality or the resutling actual policy that came from mayor Begich's administrators. You literally are using them as a straw man to score political points with Anchorage conservatives and you should be ashamed for doing so, Mr. Starr.

In my opinion all of this political theatre is nothing less than a prelude to mayor Sullivan attempting to introduce a very unpopular local sales tax in order to lessen the fiscal sting and make it appear as though it's not HIS fault that he had to do it -- it's all Begich's fault for putting us in the position we presently find ourself in as a city not able to meet its budget. Sullivan has proposed a sales tax before and he will no doubt be pushing for the same thing again in order to score political points with conservative, Republican and Democratic homeowners who now bear the brunt of local revenue generation through collection of local property taxes, the only way things get paid for in Anchorage municipal government.

If there is any conspiracy whatsoever it is between these three a-holes -- Sullivan, Starr and Coffey -- all longtime conservative agitators looking to snare all Anchorageites within their web of taxation deciet. What Starr is asking for is for the administrative branch to provide the assembly with copies of their internal work papers, a clear violation of the separation of powers. His demand is a double edge sword because if successful and any new laws are passed they will provide unprecedented access to internal administration documents. This would also presumably apply to Sullivan and HIS administration. Do you guys REALLY want to go there?

My suggestion is they quit dicking around and playing the blame game by coming up with their own solutions to the present budget crisis rather than trying to pin the blame on someone who hasn't been in office for well over a year. Oh and quit making mountains out of molehills where no wrongdoing exists just so you can sneak an upopular tax in through the back door -- a tax that discriminates against the poorest members of Anchorage society as Sullivan refuses to add exemptions for critical items such as food. It unfairly places more of the local tax burden upon those who can already barely afford to live and survive in this town while relieveing the tax burden from those who are more than capable of meeting taxation and cost of living requirements to be able to live comfortably within this municipality. After all, how much infrastructure do those who rent or those who are homeless or with marginal, low paying jobs use as opposed to homeowners who rely on water, sewer, lights, roads, snow removal and a host of other municipal services paid for by their taxes? The answer is that the majority consumers and beneficiaries of those services need to pay for them and quit whining or trying to foist the bill off on those who can ill afford it and to those who don't own property in this town. We already have 'hidden' regressive municipal taxes (alcohol and cigarettes) that punish those of lower economic means and now these idiots want to add more just so they can score political points with their conservative constiuents? Fuck that, Mr. Mayor! You and your buddies on the assembly need to man up and come up with real solutions instead of being dickheads, which by the way doesn't help anybody -- not even Anchorage property owners (who, by the way, have enjoyed a cap on taxes for well over a decade), ultimately.

-Laz

(I will have a couple more posts on more local political hot button issues in the very near future, so stand by for those later today...(procrastination is the art of getting artfully sidetracked))