By Brad Heath, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Billions of dollars in federal aid delivered directly to the local level to help revive the economy have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election.
That aid — about $17 billion — is the first piece of the administration's massive stimulus package that can be tracked locally. Much of it has followed a well-worn path to places that regularly collect a bigger share of federal grants and contracts, guided by formulas that have been in place for decades and leave little room for manipulation.
More Here
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Well, the good news is that Mark Sanf...
Dear Liberal Voter,
I quit! As of today I am resigning as head cheerleader of Chesterfield county for the Conservative movement. It really is a breath of fresh air. No longer do I have to worry for the future. I will be heading to the welfare office in short order to sign up for assistance. As well, I plan on defaulting on my student loans because the economy is so bad. Perhaps some HUD assistance is in my future as well! A new house partially paid for and secured by others sounds great!
It will be great to start watching American Idol and MTV rather than reading background and perspective information about world events. No more hours spent backgounding Iraq, Iran or Terrorism. I can't tell you how psyched I am to watch my first episode of "16 and Pregnant" on MTV! Also, the only "foreign affairs" I will worry about will be the Mark Sanford kind! I hear liberal women on TV love his romantic letters to his mistress. COOL! Liberal women here I come!!!
I plan to fully support Obama. I of course will not research any positions. I will just do it because he is black and I feel guilty as a white person, and he is clean cut and speaks so well, and a lot of smart sounding people on the news seem to love him! If the TV says it, it must be true, right?
The gun store I run will of course immediately be shut down. Guns kill people. That is bad. I don't want to be bad. I want to be good. So no more guns. WOW! That overly simplistic liberal pseudo-logic is amazingly easy to get into! I of course will have to purge some information already in my head like the fact that guns DON'T actually kill people. Just like pencils don't misspell words. Or that there are over 2 million defensive uses of hand guns every year and comparatively only 50,000 gun deaths (including legal uses and legal police killings). I will crowd out this interfering data with global warming propaganda.
I am also super psyched to completely loose perspective of the world around me and live my life according to bumper stickers! No blood for Oil! Bush lied people died. Corporations (that employ millions) are bad! America is bad! John Stewart is funny! 9-11 was an inside job! We deserved to be attacked by terrorists! This way of thinking of course will be difficult, but my new pot habit should help dull my sense of reason.
Best of all my downward spiral into liberalism will not change my voting habits, it seems I will be able to continue to vote Republican! Thank you Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford!
Finally, in an effort to streamline the movement of your money to my pocket, I am going to fore-go the formality of taxation and the redistribution of wealth. I am just going to show up at your house and help myself to whatever I think is necessary and proper to feed, clothe and house myself. Oh, and I want a new video game console and some rims for my car!
YES! I welcome the sweet bliss of ignorance.
Benjamin Cook
Former Right-Wing Propagandist and Local Arms Dealer
I quit! As of today I am resigning as head cheerleader of Chesterfield county for the Conservative movement. It really is a breath of fresh air. No longer do I have to worry for the future. I will be heading to the welfare office in short order to sign up for assistance. As well, I plan on defaulting on my student loans because the economy is so bad. Perhaps some HUD assistance is in my future as well! A new house partially paid for and secured by others sounds great!
It will be great to start watching American Idol and MTV rather than reading background and perspective information about world events. No more hours spent backgounding Iraq, Iran or Terrorism. I can't tell you how psyched I am to watch my first episode of "16 and Pregnant" on MTV! Also, the only "foreign affairs" I will worry about will be the Mark Sanford kind! I hear liberal women on TV love his romantic letters to his mistress. COOL! Liberal women here I come!!!
I plan to fully support Obama. I of course will not research any positions. I will just do it because he is black and I feel guilty as a white person, and he is clean cut and speaks so well, and a lot of smart sounding people on the news seem to love him! If the TV says it, it must be true, right?
The gun store I run will of course immediately be shut down. Guns kill people. That is bad. I don't want to be bad. I want to be good. So no more guns. WOW! That overly simplistic liberal pseudo-logic is amazingly easy to get into! I of course will have to purge some information already in my head like the fact that guns DON'T actually kill people. Just like pencils don't misspell words. Or that there are over 2 million defensive uses of hand guns every year and comparatively only 50,000 gun deaths (including legal uses and legal police killings). I will crowd out this interfering data with global warming propaganda.
I am also super psyched to completely loose perspective of the world around me and live my life according to bumper stickers! No blood for Oil! Bush lied people died. Corporations (that employ millions) are bad! America is bad! John Stewart is funny! 9-11 was an inside job! We deserved to be attacked by terrorists! This way of thinking of course will be difficult, but my new pot habit should help dull my sense of reason.
Best of all my downward spiral into liberalism will not change my voting habits, it seems I will be able to continue to vote Republican! Thank you Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford!
Finally, in an effort to streamline the movement of your money to my pocket, I am going to fore-go the formality of taxation and the redistribution of wealth. I am just going to show up at your house and help myself to whatever I think is necessary and proper to feed, clothe and house myself. Oh, and I want a new video game console and some rims for my car!
YES! I welcome the sweet bliss of ignorance.
Benjamin Cook
Former Right-Wing Propagandist and Local Arms Dealer
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Neda
This young lady was at a protest in Basiji was shot and killed.
WARNING: This is heart wrenching. This is her last few moments of life.
I am not posting this for any reason other than to memorialize why she was at the protest that day, what she gave her life for. (She was well aware of the shootings that had already taken place.)
She was there protesting that a single but nonsufficient part of liberal-democracy had been taken from her and her brethren. That is the VOTE.
While a "vote" doesn't make a democracy it is a necessary part of one. It is the starting point.
As we waste and marginalize our democracy here in the US let us remember that we once fought, protested and died in the streets for our freedoms. Let us also remember those who are doing the heavy lifting of democracy and liberty today all over the world and especially in Iran.
WARNING: This is heart wrenching. This is her last few moments of life.
I am not posting this for any reason other than to memorialize why she was at the protest that day, what she gave her life for. (She was well aware of the shootings that had already taken place.)
She was there protesting that a single but nonsufficient part of liberal-democracy had been taken from her and her brethren. That is the VOTE.
While a "vote" doesn't make a democracy it is a necessary part of one. It is the starting point.
As we waste and marginalize our democracy here in the US let us remember that we once fought, protested and died in the streets for our freedoms. Let us also remember those who are doing the heavy lifting of democracy and liberty today all over the world and especially in Iran.
Hey LOOK... I was wrong!
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/366123.html
Looks like I was wrong about Gov. Sanford. He was a politician after all.
This is a major set back for Republicans and worst of all for Conservatives.
Looks like I was wrong about Gov. Sanford. He was a politician after all.
This is a major set back for Republicans and worst of all for Conservatives.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
My Naughty Sense of Humor.
Sorry. But every once in a while I need to break the yelling and screaming with some humor.
Nice Headline...
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=475584&publicationSubCategoryId=63
If you don't get it, you are probably a better person than me...
Nice Headline...
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=475584&publicationSubCategoryId=63
If you don't get it, you are probably a better person than me...
Friday, June 5, 2009
On the Dole
On the Dole
I was sitting back today thinking about when and where I might have been on the government dole. Where in my life have I received a hand out or a hand up from the government? Student loans come to mind... but I am paying that back with interest. Perhaps something I used or need was subsidized? I can't think of it if it was. So, other than student loans I have never used unemployment, food stamps, social security or any other government social program. I am now becoming quite the rarity. (Before we move on let me say I am a believer of "social safety nets" and find them wholly indispensable.)
According to recent reports (Particularly one from USA Today.) one of every six dollars in America is from the government. That is $17,000 per person. Food Stamps, Unemployment, Social Security, Medicare, etc are all on the rise. Not just because more people need it, but also because less people are ashamed to use it. I can't count the number of people I know that are scamming the system. People who count themselves as "Republican" and "Conservative" as well. On the dole when they could be working. Sure, they tell themselves that they can't find work or are too injured to work, yet they some how are able to live normal lives with out a job, get around everyday and are mobile and productive?
I know it is hard not to want your $17,000 from the government. Heck I can relate. I have many things that $17,000 would go a long way toward accomplishing. But, I also am a healthy person who was raised to think that one should always have a job, always be working. My Grandfather is 90 years old and is still a State Farm Agent in Kershaw. Not because he wants the paycheck... but because it is part of who he is. A man, who works. Things were not always so good for Granddaddy. I remember him relating a story where his family lived for two weeks on a bushel of peaches that someone had given them. That's it, just peaches.
Times like that instill in a person the need for work, the importance of job security and of a man's reputation. All of us at one time will fall on hard times and have to make tough decisions, even have to ask for and accept help. But, with the charity of others comes responsibility to take only what you need, never what you want. Also, the responsibility to pay ones own way as soon as you are able. How can we as a national community or a local community accept that so many are taking government aid? Why is that ok? Why does it seems so much worse now that it once was?
The answer is quite clear to me. It is the loss of two families. The first family is the traditional family of a man and a woman. This two-person team represents the best chance any of us have to grow up safe and with enough stability to become a contributing member of society rather than a consuming member of society. The lack of these two-person teams has resulted in the need for a surrogate that must help us when times overwhelm.
The lack of the second family, the church, is also to blame. Now this will be controversial but it is very true, the church is largely to blame for this. By church I mean organized religion of any sect or denomination. Churches have become too political both locally and nationally. They are judgmental and quick to cast aspersions on those that do not or can not hide their short comings well enough to be accepted. They continue to allow themselves to be ridiculed as unreasonable and affronts to history and science. They judge others by the verse rather than by the Word. This family used to be the social safety net that was looked to second before we looked to the government third. If a family was on tough times the church came together and helped that family. If things were too tough for the local church community to handle a larger community was asked to help.
Now we invoke the THIRD tier of help as the first. We ask not of ourselves and our family, not of our church or community but from the government. What is more, we are increasingly asking help from the furthest removed form of government, the federal government that we have the least control over. The government we are now expecting is called Socialism. We are now, already Socialist. We have abdicated our means of production over to the government. We rely on our governments to provide for us from cradled to grave. We have lost any expectation of help from ourselves and our more local community and are now relying on our least local governments to provide for us. This way of comporting ourselves is completely unsustainable and will be our ruin if we don't take quick and corrective action.
So, the next time you think "there aught to be a law" or that "someone should do something" or that "it's not my responsibility" think of who is waiting in the wings to take on that responsibility in a horribly inefficient way that has generational repercussions. Think twice before handing over all of your rights and responsibilities to the government.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-03-benefits_N.htm
I was sitting back today thinking about when and where I might have been on the government dole. Where in my life have I received a hand out or a hand up from the government? Student loans come to mind... but I am paying that back with interest. Perhaps something I used or need was subsidized? I can't think of it if it was. So, other than student loans I have never used unemployment, food stamps, social security or any other government social program. I am now becoming quite the rarity. (Before we move on let me say I am a believer of "social safety nets" and find them wholly indispensable.)
According to recent reports (Particularly one from USA Today.) one of every six dollars in America is from the government. That is $17,000 per person. Food Stamps, Unemployment, Social Security, Medicare, etc are all on the rise. Not just because more people need it, but also because less people are ashamed to use it. I can't count the number of people I know that are scamming the system. People who count themselves as "Republican" and "Conservative" as well. On the dole when they could be working. Sure, they tell themselves that they can't find work or are too injured to work, yet they some how are able to live normal lives with out a job, get around everyday and are mobile and productive?
I know it is hard not to want your $17,000 from the government. Heck I can relate. I have many things that $17,000 would go a long way toward accomplishing. But, I also am a healthy person who was raised to think that one should always have a job, always be working. My Grandfather is 90 years old and is still a State Farm Agent in Kershaw. Not because he wants the paycheck... but because it is part of who he is. A man, who works. Things were not always so good for Granddaddy. I remember him relating a story where his family lived for two weeks on a bushel of peaches that someone had given them. That's it, just peaches.
Times like that instill in a person the need for work, the importance of job security and of a man's reputation. All of us at one time will fall on hard times and have to make tough decisions, even have to ask for and accept help. But, with the charity of others comes responsibility to take only what you need, never what you want. Also, the responsibility to pay ones own way as soon as you are able. How can we as a national community or a local community accept that so many are taking government aid? Why is that ok? Why does it seems so much worse now that it once was?
The answer is quite clear to me. It is the loss of two families. The first family is the traditional family of a man and a woman. This two-person team represents the best chance any of us have to grow up safe and with enough stability to become a contributing member of society rather than a consuming member of society. The lack of these two-person teams has resulted in the need for a surrogate that must help us when times overwhelm.
The lack of the second family, the church, is also to blame. Now this will be controversial but it is very true, the church is largely to blame for this. By church I mean organized religion of any sect or denomination. Churches have become too political both locally and nationally. They are judgmental and quick to cast aspersions on those that do not or can not hide their short comings well enough to be accepted. They continue to allow themselves to be ridiculed as unreasonable and affronts to history and science. They judge others by the verse rather than by the Word. This family used to be the social safety net that was looked to second before we looked to the government third. If a family was on tough times the church came together and helped that family. If things were too tough for the local church community to handle a larger community was asked to help.
Now we invoke the THIRD tier of help as the first. We ask not of ourselves and our family, not of our church or community but from the government. What is more, we are increasingly asking help from the furthest removed form of government, the federal government that we have the least control over. The government we are now expecting is called Socialism. We are now, already Socialist. We have abdicated our means of production over to the government. We rely on our governments to provide for us from cradled to grave. We have lost any expectation of help from ourselves and our more local community and are now relying on our least local governments to provide for us. This way of comporting ourselves is completely unsustainable and will be our ruin if we don't take quick and corrective action.
So, the next time you think "there aught to be a law" or that "someone should do something" or that "it's not my responsibility" think of who is waiting in the wings to take on that responsibility in a horribly inefficient way that has generational repercussions. Think twice before handing over all of your rights and responsibilities to the government.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-03-benefits_N.htm
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