Monthly Archives: May 2012

Super Pac Mumbo Jumbo; Sealing Wax and You

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Prepare yourselves dear readers for the most obstreperous and blatantly misleading political ads you have ever seen in this election year. The coffers will be opened wide as the giant political machine spews foaming masses of disinformation into our eyes and brains hoping to twist the truth into anything that favors the agenda of convincing us that there is no climate change, the poor deserve to be so and we should strip mine Canada for dirty shale oil just to name of few of the preposterous notions that are supposed to be good for America and will keep us on top of the industrial dung heap that our world is becoming. Don’t expect any truth out of these ads. Sadly their teams of lobbyists and lawyers are able to skirt any enforcement of the Truth in Advertising Laws as enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.

This is a very good time to be the national sales manager of any television station mind you. Television stations will have a very generous stream of revenue as has never been seen before from now until November. Unfortunately for the viewer the stations have little control over the content of the spew they will be airing. Obvious human sacrifice will be illegal of course but slow death by poisoning will still be par for the course. The most ridiculous solutions will be offered for very complex problems by spin doctors who have little or no conscience and but one goal in mind: To get their candidate(s) elected at any cost. Yes that reads ANY COST. Logic and principle will fall by the wayside. In their place will be reckless and unfounded facsimiles of such virtues.

It might be simple if it was only money that was motivating the hoped for results. Sadly it is more than that it is hatred. Hatred is what these warmongers will be spewing at us. Remember the candidate can now say that they have no control over the Super Pac and thus wash their hands with scented soap as the spin machine rolls on spewing poison. Dear readers guard yourselves carefully against propaganda. Keep in mind this is eerily similar to what brought the nazi party to power in the last century. The deficit this country has now is a direct result of the administration that started two wars and slashed the taxes for the rich. Don’t be deceived by disinformation. Hopefully, one day, this country will learn from past mistakes and lead the global community by example instead of imposing the will of the so-called Christian conservatives on the world. It is fine and just to adhere to moral principles but please make sure that they are just that: “moral”.

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax of cabbages and kings and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings.” — Lewis Carroll

“You don’t have to create it; You just have to reveal it.” — Paul Simon

Get off the cell phone and Drive! — Jake Shween

Facebook Fiasco; Wall Street Strikes Again!

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Once again Wall Street has proven it is quite alright to rip off the common investor. The old “hot dog on a string” routine has succeeded in ripping off thousands of small time investors while the big underwriters of the IPO for Facebook have walked off scot-free, for now! Morgan Stanley brilliantly decided to set the price for Facebook’s initial public offering at a lofty $38.00 per share. Now this decision is under question as Facebook shares closed at $32.00 per share on closing Wednesday. Well it seems like business as usual except for the fact that this was such a highly publicized IPO there may be a slight chance that an investigation may yield some form of stilted justice. What a field day for lawyers and regulators alike!

We anxiously await the legal morass and numerous loopholes that will most likely avail the public of little or no justice as usual. The lawyers are certain to make piles of money! Brace yourself for the ridiculous arguments that will proceed from such a clear cut case of the great American rip off. Imagine that! Bankers who are underwriters ripping off the public! As Yogi Berra would say: “It’s deja vu all over again!” How long can this obvious failure of our system of regulation continue? Will the Security and Exchange Commission show their compliance?  What will the fines, if any, be? A few million? What the heck another slap on the wrist to an industry that is rife with corruption. We like to think that China is corrupt and we are clean but please reserve that judgement. Let us see how this plays out. Nice to see it on such a grand scale! Bravo Facebook! Touche!

Thank goodness for the Occupy Wall Street movement. It is high time the American Public payed much closer attention to what goes on in the great world of finance. What will it take for true justice for the American Public? Will we ever really know how much insider trading and tip offs actually go on every single day? Alas, time will tell. Thankfully this has happened on such a grand scale maybe, just maybe the American Public will pay attention, particularly after our collective appetite has been whetted by the mortgage derivative disaster that threatened the banking system of the entire world. Beware of any politician who calls for less regulation! Their Superpacs are most likely being funded by faceless suspect entities with a vested interest in the great American rip off. The time has come for more people like Elizabeth Warren to enter politics. It’s time for honesty and integrity to become the new morality. This nation needs a healing.

“Be a terror to the butchers, that they may be fair in their weight; and keep hucksters and fraudulent dealers in awe, for the same reason.” — Cervantes

Get off the cell phone and Drive! — Jake Shween

Kick Boehner’s Can Down the Road!

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Once again the federal debt ceiling is up for debate. House Speaker John Boehner states: “The American people think we’re crazy.” That is quite correct Mr. Speaker. You absolutely have that statement correct. Of all the times you have falsely claimed to be in tune with what the American public wants and been completely out of touch this time you have it right. The American public is sick and tired of you and your cohorts windbag rhetoric. Your do nothing politics arguing about how to spin gold out of straw or medicare or food stamps is dreadful and punishes the people you should be striving to help as the public servant that you claim to be.

For once it would be merciful to see you and your band of idiots do the right thing. Tell Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell to get their giant heads out of their asses and follow suit. Here is what needs to be done: You must let the Bush tax cuts expire! Trickle down economics have absolutely no basis in reality. The theory simply does not work. George Bush Sr. himself admitted to that calling them: “Voodoo Economics”! Next you must trim the defense budget. That will not leave the nation defenseless mind you just trim the bogus operations like the F-22 Raptor boondoggle that wasted millions on a plane that is unsafe at any speed. Just those two simple steps would help this country immensely. There would be no need to stop helping the people who elected you for God’s sake! The same people who need help the most!

Crazy to think that the people you do help are the one percenters! Yes the people who never fight in the war. Time and again we have heard you say that: “The American public have spoken” well then isn’t it time you actually heard us and did something constructive? Get off of the golf course, take the cigarette out of your mouth and do what’s right. It’s as simple as that. Make the rich pay for their protection like everyone else. The idea that the budget deficit will ever be solved by cutting every good program that has the potential to move this country forward is not only greedy Mr. Boehner, it is evil!

“Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” – P.J. O’Rourke

Get off the cell phone and Drive! — Jake Shween

Government Should Not Define Marriage

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Sadly yesterday the voters in North Carolina decided to narrowly and insensitively define marriage by approving Amendment One. It is rather preposterous that such an ideal should be defined by a public vote. The key word here is public. Marriage is a private matter. It should be up to each individual couple to decide on their own personal definition of marriage. In a broad sense, if you truly love someone and wish to devote the rest of your life to them, that is a very personal decision and not up for any vote or for any court to decide. How strange that in a country that was founded on the precept of freely practicing your religion of choice, without fear of persecution,  we should once again try to tell people how to think and how to behave. In a country that purports to be against bullying many of the population have turned into bullies!

Ironic too that one main source of this need to control and define the way people should behave and live comes from the Christian church. Dr. Franklin Graham was on television telling us how to vote. The very people that should be striving to emulate Jesus Christ have turned instead into sad and fear mongering vassals of insecurity and hatred of all that they do not understand and therefore fear. Jesus Christ preached tolerance, a detail that many of them conveniently choose to ignore. One passage that the pastor never ignores is the part of the bible which references tithing to the church. Fascinating how a book that was written by poor people scraping out an existence in the desert thousands of years ago and tripping on God knows what can be twisted and perverted in our day and age to confuse and confound so many people.

Doubt not that if Jesus Christ did indeed return to this earth amongst his followers he would be labeled a lunatic. Unless he seriously kicked some ass to protect himself, which never was his style one will notice, he would be summarily be shot by an enthusiastic member of the NRA or the John Birch Society. If he did seriously kick some ass he would be called out as the anti-Christ and the results would be the same.

Will mankind ever be civilized enough to resolve these issues of humanity by relying on logic and perception and not some microscopic view of the universe? The year is 2012. By now we should be seeing some hope of a new way of thinking. The world is indeed hungry for answers and not some skewed perceptions from small minded hate mongers. When the prophet arrives will it be too late? Or is the time of prophets past altogether? Perhaps a giant supercomputer can tell our feeble minds the answers we crave. Or maybe the prophet is a woman! Now that’s a controversial idea!

“I have no objection to any person’s religion, be it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other person, because that other person don’t believe it also. But when a man’s religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positive torment to him; and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortable inn to lodge in; then I think it high time to take that individual aside and argue the point with him.”
― Herman Melville

“Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying.” — Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Get off the cell phone and Drive! — Jake Shween

Rupert’s Folly; Newt Bites It

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Looks like the end of Rupert Murdoch’s reign as the head of the News Corporation. According to the parliamentary committee in London he is “not fit to exercise the stewardship of a major international company”. This calls to question: will this affect the credibility of his news operation here in America? That remains to be seen. His current cast of bozos seem to be in denial. Perhaps they all actually believe in their own twisted perceptions of reality. It would be bombastic if any of them could admit to the fact that their boss is a bully and no better than a mob boss. Even a pirate has more conscience than a man who would freely let his underlings hack phone lines and then deny any knowledge of their behavior. Oh how the mighty fall!

Not that long ago in March of 1985 Rupert embarked on his plan to establish a new network in the United States. His plan was bold and quite unconventional. Many naysayers thought that the network was doomed from the start with it’s assortment of untested shows that first aired in October of 1986. Many of those early shows met a quick demise but some survived as Rupert was not afraid to spend the money to keep talent. In October of 1996 he set his sites on a 24 hour cable news network. Almost immediately he resorted to tabloid journalism. The Fox News Channel now consists of loud mouth imbeciles who sadly spew doctrines of hatred and division endlessly. Sad that anyone in their right mind would subscribe to such blabbering which seems beyond right wing. In fact the opinions expressed on Fox News border on and fall into the fantasies of what you might call the lunatic fringe. What will Rupert’s next quest be? Well at 81 perhaps there is an opening for him as a consultant to Mitt Romney. Antique thinking seems to be the case for the GOP who want to return us to a pathetic bunch of brain bashing Luddites while they escape with all of our hard earned cash to their sterile fortresses.

Oh Newt how big you once talked! Now it looks like its back to the scum filled pond you crawled out of. (Sad that you share a name with a noble member of the amphibian species.) You will have to support Romney now! You said such nice things about him. It’s like you two guys could not get enough of each other. Don’t worry Newt! At 68 you can always hook up with Rupert Murdoch. Maybe you two can become the new Laurel and Hardy of the Fox News corporation. Now that would be a show we could all enjoy! The Newt and Rupert Comedy Hour exclusively on Fox News Channel. Has a nice ring to it. You could do a live broadcast every night of the week and compare notes and crazy rantings! Good luck Newt! We will miss your gay stay puffed marshmallow head spouting vague references to ill conceived notions and mean spirited but well meaning diatribes! Don’t forget to give Romney a big wet kiss as you depart!

“The Big Show is inside my head!” — Kurt Vonnegut

“I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name right.”— P.T. Barnum

Get off the cell phone and Drive! — Jake Shween