Nada senor. Congress has done nada. Zip zero!

So far, the current Congress is the biggest “Do Nothing Congress” since the Truman administration. This is according to the latest statistical research. Not much has been accomplished since 2010. Barely much has happened. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. Blank. Just an empty space. Batting .000.

How did this happen? Or, should I say, how did this not happen? What went wrong? How is it that nil was accomplished? Or, unaccomplished? The congressional records only have two and a half pages in its logs. All the invocations, flag pledges, and break for lunch motions and seconds going back to Jan 2011. That’s it. Nothing else. Fade to black.

How could it be that four hundred plus U S Representatives couldn’t get anything done? Was there not a quorum? No House bills to debated and vote on? Could they have been all asleep? Maybe more like out to lunch? Drunk under their desks? What?!

There are no excuses. The zeros speak for themselves. You cannot deny numbers or the lack there of

I think we might have a good case here for an all-new congress. Empty out the house and hire a new batch of Reps. Start all over again from scratch. What do you think?

Even Santa Clause has signed a pledge to Grover Norquist.

Since when has our Congress become beholding to Grover Norquist? A man with no elected office. Not even appointed to anything by anybody. Certainly not confirmed by any congressional committee. Just a roving Washington DC jerk.

I thought the congress took an oath to up hold our United States Constitution. Nonetheless, most of congress has mindlessly sworn a pledge to Grover. A freaking lobbyist! The man behind the curtain in the Emerald City. The wizard of Odds.

Dorothy! Look behind the curtain. It’s a trick. A sham. A little weasel pretending to be somebody. But, he is not! Grover is just a oozing oily smelly lobbyist. How disgusting! Get out the hoses!

Never the less, our elected air headed congressmen and women have chosen to follow GN like he is the pied Piper. Leading the naïve and unassuming congress folks down a Yellow Brick road. A road paved with hollow pledges.

Following like Mr. Norquist had a fist full of candy. More like a fist full of cash. Deep pockets filled with unregulated anonymous money from unknown corporations. Secret corporations as allowed by our far right Supreme Court. Remember, corporations are now treated as people. Anonymous and with no limit on their donation amounts. Thanks to Citizens United and the Koch Brothers. They have the freedom of expression and their expressions have unlimited cash flow.

Grover Norquist, the Koch Brother, and Citizens United are the anti-patriots. Anti-American. Traders of the worse kind. Free enterprising terrorist. Malicious enemies of the American people. Appalling individuals beholding only to the quest of raping and devastating the national resources of America.

They are skunks and slithering snakes of the worse kind. Low down and intent on hijacking the Constitution. Holding it hostage until they have the last dollar bill left in America. Real Caca heads all of them for sure.

Myths about baseball and taxes.

Remember the movie Field of Dreams? “Build it and they will come.” Meaning build a baseball park in a field of corn and people will come from miles around to watch deceased baseball legends play ball. However, just Fantasy and fiction. Just a movie.

Now, here is another myth. Cut taxes for the rich and corporations and jobs will follow. Oh really? Where are they? Why are there still millions out of work?

Congress and the government have cut taxes many times for the well off as well for corporations. So. Where’s the jobs. Why are many Americans still not working?

Both the rich and corporations have been on a tax holiday for about ten years now. But, unemployment is still high. Many without wage or benefit. Many out of their former homes. Some living on the streets. This policy is not a job creator. More like job killers.

Many many GAO studies show what money corporations and wealthy individuals have gained, were not used to create jobs. But money put in the bank or used to pay off personal or corporate debt. Thus proving tax cuts for the rich creates jobs, is a myth. More like a hoax. Fantasy and fiction. Just a political concept to lure in unassuming voters. “Cut taxes and the unemployed will work,” is a bunch of left field hooey and fantasy baseball talk.

It’s now time for Grover Norquist and the Koch Brothers to go play in the field of dreams and let government get back to work. We need less tax holidays and more taxes assessed from the rich. No more free rides. Pay up you rich dreamers!

Was Ronald Reagan a champion of "One Percent?"

This is an excerpt taken from a Rolling Stone article written by Tim Dickinson

Dickinson wrote: The president, mindful of soaring deficits, is pushing bold action to shore up the nation's balance sheet. Cloaking himself in the language of class warfare, he calls on a hostile Congress to end wasteful tax breaks for the rich. We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share," he thunders to a crowd in Georgia. Such tax loopholes, he adds, "sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary - and that's crazy. Preacherlike, the president draws the crowd into a call-and-response. Do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver," he demands, "or less? The crowd, sounding every bit like the protesters from Occupy Wall Street, roars back: "MORE! The year was 1985. The president was Ronald Wilson Reagan. ILLUSTRATION BY MATT MAHURIN Today's Republican Party may revere Reagan as the patron saint of low taxation. But the party of Reagan - which understood that higher taxes on the rich are sometimes required to cure ruinous deficits - is dead and gone. Instead, the modern GOP has undergone a radical transformation, reorganizing itself around a grotesque proposition: that the wealthy should grow wealthier still, whatever the consequences for the rest of us. Modern-day Republicans have become, quite simply, the Party of the One Percent - the Party of the Rich. The Republican Party has totally abdicated its job in our democracy, which is to act as the guardian of fiscal discipline and responsibility," says David Stockman, who served as budget director under Reagan. They're on an anti-tax jihad - one that benefits the prosperous classes. End of excerpt.
Taken from Dec 3 Stones mag

I want the money to come up here, not down there.

To give some clarity to my earlier post, I must mention a few more things.  Congress is resisting to grass root jobs programs because of many things.  Almost too numerous to mention here.  But, I’ll mention most of them anyway.

First you must understand Congress and big monied interest are sharing the same bed and both are consenting adults.  Right?  Absolutely a quid pro quo relationship.  Sort of like Congress standing by the road with a sign saying, “Will work for good money.”  Doing almost anything corporations, banks, and Wall Street ask Congress to do.  And for sure in return for cold cash for reelection campaigns and a bit more.  So you know for sure money is involved in this illegitimate relationship and willing hands to take it.  Something like Congress suckling the breasts of the adulterous lobbyists.

Second of all congress and their Sugar daddy organ grinders prefer any money spent be filtered through the upper tiers of big banking and Finance.  Absolutely not down at the grass roots.  They lose control of the money that way.  Free money is slow coming if perk elating up from the roots.  It has to pass through too many hands resulting in lesser amounts of money making it to the top.    Big Biz prefers the trickle down method instead.

Let me explain the bubbling up method.  A new hire worker is paid, he or she goes to the store to buy something, a retailer receives their money from purchases, some goes to pay the retailer’s hired help and overhead, tax money is skimmed off and sent to the city or state, wholesalers get their share, and then if anything is left bankers get the remains.  Leaving a lesser amount to add to the big bankers savings account.  So, you can see why Big Money Bizzes haven’t ever liked federal program jobs down at the grass roots level.  It takes the control away from Big Finance and Banks and leaves them with less.  Less than if they got the money first.  Are you following me?  Good.  We’ll continue this discussion later.

Letter to our local editor

Letter to the Editor: Bullied by tea party. M.K. Marlow, Broken Arrow. Finally, retribution for bad behavior: The U.S. House of Representatives, bullied by the tea party, has finally seen what can happen when you think yours is the only point of view. It took a credit rating agency to pull them up and slap them. Even after a downgrade in the rating of U.S. credit, the tea party and all of its lackeys in Congress are clueless. They will probably come back after their "deserved" vacation time, not admitting to anything having to do with their failures. I hope, and will help in any way I can, to throw them all out at the next election. This is not Democrat or Republican. This is integrity versus sleazy, "what's in it for me" behaviors. We taxpayers deserve more from people to whom we pay a pretty comfortable salary, plus major benefits. Unfortunately, it took an outside party, Standard & Poor's, to bring to our attention the ridiculousness of the behaviors of the people we actually voted for to be our representatives in Congress. Are they really speaking for the rest of us? I hope not. I am mad as heck. You should be, too. Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com..

We need strong heavy lifters

Hurricanes, fires, floods, Tornados, earthquakes, and more.  How can we deal with the enormity and depth of these horrific events?  Often times it’s more than the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other national organizations can possibly handle.  Some of these disasters exceed normal comprehension.  How to we all grasp and react to these bigger than life disasters without larger and resourceful assistance?

So the question is, who is going to do most of the heavy lifting?  Who did the heavy lifting after hurricane Katrina?  Who did most of the heavy lifting after the floods down the Mississippi over the past few years?  Who did the heavy lifting after the Joplin Tornado, Who did the heavy lifting after the fires in California and Colorado?  Who was there with FEMA, the Coast Guard, the National Guard, the National Border Patrol, the Corps of Engineers, the Small Business Administration, the National Weather Service, National Flood Insurance, etc. etc.  Who was that?

The answer is, The United States of America.  Otherwise known as you and I.  The taxpayers of America.  The Federal Government.  Yes the same Federal Government that Grover Norquist, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann want to drown in a bathtub.  All obviously anti-Americans.  Certainly the opposite of American patriotism.  For sure no friend to our America.

Are these the people you want to run America.  Are these the people you want to run your future?  Do you trust people who in the past wanted to pull out from the United States?  Do you want a president who wants to take away your Social Security and Medicare?  Do you want a president who wishes to return America to a narrow bigoted Confederacy?  Most of all do you want someone who doesn’t know Elvis’s birthday from the date of his death?  No.  No.  And No for sure!  None of the afore mentioned people is fit to run the United States of America.  God save America.

The voters vote and the lobbyist get the ear.

When are we going to realize our congressional leadership is beholding to the very rich?  Beholding to the very incorporated.  The very polluted.  The very unregulated.  The very self-serving.  The very lobbied.  When?  When will we realize this simple fact?  Huh?

And what this means, ladies and gentlemen, is they value their special interests more than their constituency.  Reelection money is more important than good laws or good government.  In other words, money talks.  Not only does money talk, it barks.  It bites.  Special interest money gets between you, me, and the voters best interest.  It separates us from good representation. 

Do you feel sorry for the special interests?  Does special interest feel sorry for you?  Not to likely. 

So, why do we continue to support the political partisans that take money for favors?  They easily take money from lobbyists and large corporate interest because they can’t raise their reelection campaign money otherwise.  Their valid talking points are few and far between.  Necessitating taking and accepting large cash donations (more like bribes) in order to save their failing reelection campaign.  Which means we get a mediocre representative without representation.  His or her reelection cause is to be reelected.  Just that simple.  Just a corporate automaton taking care of their corporate sugar daddies.  Is this the type of government you want?  Well, sorry to say, this is what we have now.  Should we continue to reelect them?  Lets hope like heck not.

Blame and shouting does not a job make

“Cut taxes for the rich and jobs will follow.”  Yeah right.  A mantra often proclaimed by many conservatives.  Oh really?  So, where are the jobs? 

I know this coming 2012 campaign season once again will have its share of the partisan battle cry, “Jobs Jobs Jobs.”  As if we’ve never heard this before.  Remember 2010?  It was Jobs-jobs-jobs into infinity.  Spouted mindlessly by hollow headed candidates.  But quickly forgotten once a candidate took office and then started their reelection campaign fund raising just days after swearing in. 

Well, if you haven’t been paying attention, taxes have been cut long ago.  The rich have been on a tax holiday for the past ten years.  And most recently the rich have been given an additional year of tax-free frolicking through the daisies.  All the while their savings are stacking up in large vaults like Scrooge McDuck.  But as a result, no new jobs.

So, where are the jobs that the well meaning congressman and the rich had promised?

TEA partiers, where are the jobs?  Mainline conservatives, where are the jobs?  The very rich, where are the jobs?  Don’t give me that shallow excuse, “Well Obama hasn’t created jobs.  The president doesn’t create jobs.  Congress has to act on any proposal the President suggests.  You know the freaking drill.  Stop excusing yourselves and blaming others.

It’s the TEA party stupid!  It’s the conservatives stupid!  It’s cutting taxes for the rich stupid!  All job killers stupid!

Pledge to ignore pledges. Huh?

Certainly there are those who think they are the maker and keepers of the rules.  Mostly partisans by self-appointment and feel obligated to make up the rules for the rest of us.  “Do we need more rules and pledges?”  Contrived rules to suit their own political partisanship.  Certainly Grover Norquist comes to mind (such as he is).  But anyway, fabricating pledges, promises, contracts, and the list goes on and on.  Why?

Never the less, we Americans already have our rules set in place.  It’s called the United States Constitution.  Well thought out and benefits all Americans.  We don’t need some half-cracked knucklehead lobbyist to tell us what we should do or not. 

TEA partiers go stuff it.  Far right radicals go study the Constitution.  Far left gadflies, take ten deep breaths and sit down now before you wet your pants.

All this postulating and blowviating is just to serve one’s own special interests.  If they don’t like something, then they will change the rules on the fly as needed.  Then start a way out in left field pledge or die campaign.  Then trash their opponent with half-truths and misleading social media rhetoric.  “Oh, I might be wrong but my worthless opponent is Adolph Hitler’s mother!”

The best way to throw water on this spin is to stop listening to talk radio and questionable shallow contrived cable news.  The best alternative is to read the daily newspapers.  It worked well for Will Rogers.  Remember?  Newspapers have more reliable information than a lobbyist or hopeful candidates Twitter or Facebook page.  Certainly you must know if the candidate or lobbyist writes his or her own press releases, it’s really gotta be pure processed baloney.  “Reader, Beware of Dogma.”  And for sure, don’t believe every blogger.  Blogging is entertainment.

The House of Congress is now a soup kitchen for the rich

The TEA party turned into a soup line. Thanks guys.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 7:32:48 PM | Chuck Ayers

So our credit rating has been deflated. Our borrowing power lessened. Our international reputation train wrecked. And, our own self-worth sent to rehab for lengthy psychotherapy. Why? How did this happen?

Standard and Pores reduced our borrowing status down from triple A to double A-plus. In real terms, I really don’t know what this means. Since that was done, lots of shouting and blame has whizzed through the air but not much else. The stock market has had its ups and downs but what else is new?

Never the less, here is my opinion. It certainly all started a few months ago with the question about the debt ceiling. Right? Some members of congress wanted not to raise the debt ceiling. Some refused to raise new taxes. Some insisted allowing the rich to remain on a permanent tax holiday. A small cadre of anti-tax, antigovernment partisans, including the lobbyist Grover Norquist passionately encouraged congress to drown government in a bathtub. Right?

So with this in mind almost any debt was not going to be paid regardless. So the government had to get out it’s international credit card and pay the debt with credit. Take out a loan to pay off what we already owed. Forcing the government to “borrow and spend” once again. Certainly doing what has been the normal practice of international borrowing for the past 30 or 40-years. However, not really the best solution for retiring debt. Right?

What Mr. and Mrs. America would have to do to pay down their debt would be:
1 Cut expenses and stop buying non-essentials and save cash.

2 Sell the house or car. To raise cash

3 Get a second job for additional cash.

But the bottom line is come up with an additional cash stream. More money pays down debt. Paying it down because of obligation to do so. Owning up the debt. Not borrowing more money. Borrowing just makes the debt drag out longer making it also more expensive.

In my opinion the easiest and quickest way to pay down this debt is to raise taxes. Raising taxes on the rich would be okay. I see no problem here. Also cutting huge expenses over at the Department of Defense would work as well. Possibly bringing home from Afghanistan all military personnel. A huge cost saver right there.

All in the entire whole debacle started when the speaker of the house John Boehner bowed down to the TEA partier’s feet. Playing to the TEA partier’s wishes. Totally disregarding the wishes of America. Consequently holding the whole budget process hostage. All for a bunch of wrong-headed congressmen suckling the great lobbyist nipple; Grover Norquist. Indicating where the reelection money comes from. Grover Norquist and the Koch Brothers. A trio of control freaks anti-tax money mongers. “Take from the poor and give to the rich.”

Bottom line, it was the TEA party that brought down government. A few bad men hijacking the American process just for their own monetary benefit. Controlling America’s money and keeping it all for themselves. Now! Remember, it was the TEA party that wrecked our American treasury. Also, don’t forget, we Americans are the government. So stay away from Grover Norquist and bathtubs.

Here's our new life guard, Grover Norquist

Here is our new life guard, Grover Norquist.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011, 6:58:25 AM | Chuck Ayers

The nare do well Grover Norquist has mention he would like to shrink the size of the US Government to a size that could be drowned in a bathtub. Thus eliminating the entire American government. No military. No air traffic control or aircraft inspection. No White House. No bridge repair when bridges collapse. No regulation of broadcasting including what might appear to be offensive to some listeners or viewers. No head start programs. No Medicare. No Social Security. No Coast Guard to protect our shores. No Border Patrol to protect us from drug smugglers. No advanced warning systems to advise of unfriendly incoming aircraft or missiles. No national weather service to forecast inclement weather or hurricanes. No environmental protection. No safety standards for trucks and cars. No money for public schools. No money for police or fire safety personnel. No college education loans. Unemployment would press near fifty percent. And the list would go on and on.

Basically reducing our beloved America to a third world country like Haiti or Somalia. Both of which exist in a very corrupt political system. A system, which favors the very rich and disdains the poor. They have no middle class. We would be either very poor or very rich. And, if you are very rich, you better have a well-paid large army to protect your interest.

Our basic infrastructure would eventually crumble. Clean safe drinking water would become a thing of the past. You would have to collect rainwater for drinking. Our sewer system would stop up and we would have to resort to doing our business in an outhouse. Public health would decline. Life expectancy would drastically fall. Disease and epidemics would be the normal.

All of this and more would be true if Grover Norquist has his way. You can’t separate the government from America. It is one in the same. Drown the government and you drown America. Is this what we want? Tell old Grover to