Tea Party Experiment

I thought I would combine two of my activities into a little study.  Maybe I would learn something substantial or maybe the results or data would not tell me much in a scientific way.  Either way I would probably learn something.

I have written about my thoughts toward our ineffective government.  I have written about the homeless situation.

I had been taking notice of how vocal members of the Tea Party seemed to be.   Was this true compassion for the people of our nation or was this just talk?  Perhaps little more than climbing on a band wagon of some sort?  Perhaps a desire to be a part of something ... anything?

I decided to reach out to a number of them directly.  I would use twitter and look at #teaparty and #tcot.

I asked each of them to take a few moments and help the homeless in our country.  They could pass along the word, pass along a link, feed five folks for $10 via a quick cell phone text or go to places like http://www.urm.org/ where they could learn more or help in many ways.

I have not seen a single re-tweet.  I have not seen a single mention.  I have not had a single reply. 

Perhaps as time passes this will change.

 I can only look at this in one way.  Not a single #teaparty member that I contacted lifted a finger to help the homeless.  Ineffective?  Only tuned into their own agenda whatever that might be?  Perhaps I am drawing an improper conclusion?

I will let others draw their own conclusion but I will continue to send out requests for help to these folks and continue my study.  If there is anything to report or mention I will update this post.

If you are one of the people who have received a post from me on twitter which sent you to this link and if you have helped in some way, please let me know.  I would love to post your twitter ID here or website, name, or whatever you wish.  Prove me wrong.  You can pass the URM link, donate to URM via the above link or the homeless shelter in your own area or if you are in a real hurry but wish to help you can do this: 

To donate $10 to Union Rescue Mission, text the letters URM to 85944. You will receive a confirmation text message. Reply with the word YES to complete the transaction.  Takes less than 30 seconds and will feed a family of five.  Feel free to leave a comment on this post telling me I was wrong .... at least in your case.

To be fair it has only been a few days since I reached out to Tea Party folks.  Perhaps I will have to eat my words as they prove me wrong.  I would not mind at all if I had to eat my words as that would mean that some homeless people would also have something to eat as well, perhaps even have a place to sleep for a few nights rather than on the street.

Side note?  When I sent the same request to Democrats and Republicans there were responses, re-tweets, mentions, questions, donations, friend contact adds and information was passed along.

Thanks to the folks below that are proving me wrong by passing the word.  Hopefully the list will continue to grow.

8/10/11

@hughhewitt - thank you for the RT.  You are the first,  @Jackson902, @marinemajor, @mahilena, @foundersweb, @dansden, @TheRiverWanders, @seriousfun830

8/18/11

@GrowlGirl

S&P Downgrade?

Finally some slight credibility from somebody in our country.  S&P steps up to the plate and states in their own way that the Emperor has no clothes.

Last night on the news there were stories of argument and blame in Washington that ranged from who is at fault to stories faulting the S&P for not using accurate figures when they made their call.

I said slight credibility above because I feel the downgrade from AAA to AA+ was a step in an accurate direction but not accurate.  This nation deserves a much lower credit rating.  The reason we should have any credit rating at all would be based on goods already in inventories and the spirit of the American people, NOT on the leadership, performance or action in Washington in America.

For those who want to argue the point let me ask you this.  If you were looking at a business or corporation to invest in yourself would you pick one who had a track record of such bad performance which continues to decline?  A company with a board of directors who put all effort into their personal agenda rather than in the company?  A company where nobody could or would work together in concert for the good of the company?

Next week we will probably hear many stories on why the move by the S&P should be challenged. 

The S&P pointed out that it is dark.  The folks in Washington are now starting to argue how this was calculated based on the time of dawn and dusk.

To you assholes in Washington, open your eyes.  It is dark.  It matters little if the hour is late and the sun went down or if you are stuck in a closet and cannot find the door.  Bottom line, it is dark and the reason does not matter anymore.

8/9/11 update - US Closer to Junk Bond Status Than Triple-A: http://t.co/HrQ6jtg

Something uplifting for a moment

286424_10150277528014887_518559886_7416655_7471593_o, originally uploaded by myles111us.

I thought I'd take a moment and write this quick little blog post with a photo from yesterday from Dr. Tim Wilkin, Michael Burks manager.

Michael Burks (Iron Man) is playing one of his two new Empire amps from the folks over at http://www.65amps.com/

If you don't know who Michael is, check out the Michael Burks website at http://www.michaelburks.com/

Pretty amazing player and pretty amazing fellow.

Michael Burks - fast hands

Invest in Gold?

Personally, I think investing in gold is not the best idea.

I think the price has gone too high due to panic and uncertainty in our government.

Personally, if you want to invest in metal you may want to consider an investment in another heavy metal - lead.

Support Our Troops

Members of Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul conduct a key leader engagement with village elders in Arghandab, Afghanistan, July 30, 2011. PRT Zabul's mission is to conduct civil-military operations in Zabul Province to extend the reach and legitimacy of the Government of Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Grovert Fuentes-Contreras)

This photo can be looked at in very different ways. If one is in support of America's actions or against our actions.

I strongly support our troops. That does not mean I support our government.  These are two very different things.

I have written more on the subject of our troops and veterans -
http://la-economy.blogspot.com/search/label/military

For me, this photo took me back to my days in the military when young children dressed in local attire, while I was dressed to kill, would look up at you with eyes that questioned why this was happening to them.

I had no answer then and I have no answer now.

The shot above was taken by a cool fellow and friend, Grovert Fuentes-Contreras.  He has taken a lot of terrific shots and I keep an eye out for his work.  Side note .... just because you carry a camera and are in the Air Force it does not keep you out of harm's way.  All it means is that you have one more piece of gear to carry and one more job to do.

The slide show below - from the jungle to the desert over five decades

America - a brief history

Many Americans have lost all faith in our government whether Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Independent or whatever. 

People such as John Boehner have shown no leadership and there have been many pieces published which point to the facts. 

Some of my own thoughts on the economy can be viewed from the link - http://la-economy.blogspot.com/search/label/economy

The video at the bottom of this piece shows many of the points which are of concern to Americans.  In the end, the video turns out to be a political statement.  I overlooked the political aspect of the video and just let some other aspects of the video stand on their own. 

 

I prefer pie

DSCF1855, originally uploaded by myles111us.

Some folks stop to smell the flowers. I prefer pie.

Last night I slept with a roof over my head

IMG_0678, originally uploaded by myles111us.

Be thankful today if last night you had a roof over your head as you slept.

Check out http://urm.org/ to learn how you can help or if you want to learn more and be informed with real facts.

Shame on our government

Disclaimer:  This piece is intended as satire.  I believe that all human beings have value.  I also believe that our government in Washington is very ineffective and their recent actions in regard to the debt ceiling are petty, childish and irresponsible at best.  If you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Tea Party or any form of the current government in Washington all I have to say to most of you is shame on the lot of you.


My intention here is to voice my level of concern in regard to the recent actions of our elected officials.  If I offend anybody in this piece in regard to harvesting them for body parts I apologize.  That is not my intention as those who know me can attest.  I do not apologize for my expression that I feel our government is ineffective, harmful, not to be trusted.  

If anybody has their own thoughts on how to help our government feel free to leave your idea as a comment.  Please feel free to pass this link along to others.

I have an ongoing post at http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2011/05/financial-repression-coming-to-america.html which is continually updated with one news items after another in regard to the worthless job our elected officials in Washington are doing. 

One shot in the dark after another.  One stupid idea after another.

I have suggested a few of my own ideas and some of these are in the post referenced from the above link. 

At one point, The Speaker of The House even referenced my blog piece in his own blog.  Perhaps one man in the street was being listened to?  Seems that was not the case.

Today 7/28/11, there was a news item:   The final kill shot to the trashed housing market? Mortgage tax break eyed to help cut debt - http://t.co/PPVUA4O

I thought, it looks as the folks in Washington are grasping at anything as long as does not raise taxes on record setting profit level corporations or those in the highest tax bracket.  The last part of the American Dream being taken away by those in Washington.  Shame on all of you no matter what your political party.  This country has never been closer to collapse in the entire history of America.  America has also never been closer to revolution in her history.

I realized why some of my ideas were being ignored after looking at their latest thought to attack the problem of the economy from the above story.  It was obvious!

My prior ideas were not thoughtless.  My ideas were not insensitive.  My ideas lacked bad taste and poor judgement. 

My ideas lacked a basic foundation in key elements such as taking away something that people had already paid for such as Social Security or put more Americans in harms way at extreme cost to the American people even though we have the technology to wage war remotely.

My ideas did not have factors that made no sense.  I proposed a higher tax rate on corporations which are posting higher than ever profits as they lay off more workers.

Our government seems to miss the math that less workers mean less money paid into the tax base and fewer jobs equal fewer workers taking home a paycheck.

For my ideas to work I need to follow a few guidelines, very important guidelines.

1.  Lack of thought.

2.  Lack of responsibility.

3.  Lack of common sense.

4.  Need to be insensitive.

5.  Need to be unfair.

6.  Need to single out the wealthy from what is left of the middle class or blue collar work force.

7.  A requirement to make people upset at even the basic concept of the idea.

8.  A need to single out a group of people and target them.

9.  A requirement to be able to state that some issue was solved and be able to come up with statistics as proof.

10.  A simple and basic stupid idea where even the concept of the idea has no redeeming social value.

In short, the idea or concept needed to be stupid enough, offensive enough and thoughtless enough that no matter what the education level, background, position in the community or respect that an individual may have held in the past the basic proposal or thought of the idea alone carried enough negative value that they would be thought of as a fool.  This was the only way I would be able to match the tone level with our current government and communicate with them on their current level. 

After moments of thought I had a plan that would raise revenue, mostly from the wealthy AND solve a social issue.

There have been news stories about the laws in Arizona concerning illegal aliens.  My plan addresses that issue.

Tax the wealthy?  My plan addresses that issue.  The most wealthy can participate in the program and those with less wealth will automatically be excluded from the program.  Before you say that is illegal let me state that I am aware of no law that says that a person in a low income bracket cannot legally purchase a Bentley Turbo R or Ferrari.

Generate revenue?  You bet.

Here is the plan in all it's simplicity.

First we can create more jobs by adding numbers to our internal home defense forces.  They are not paid a salary.  They are commission based and paid on actual head count of people collected.  To use an old phrase from the sixties and my day in the military; body count.

Second, we round up all illegal or undocumented aliens using our new defense force. 

Before anybody goes of the deep end and panics due to worry about housing, feeding and caring for those rounded up let me put your mind at rest.  All detainees will be taken to the geographically closest hospital where they will be given 24 hours to prove they are a U.S. Citizen.  If proof cannot be shown there is no deportation or added expense.  They are terminated within the 24 hour period and all their organs are collected.

Third, the collected organs are put on eBay for sale.  The sale mechanism already exists!  No need for additional government expense or the creation of yet another agency of ineffective and worthless people who collect a salary for accomplishing little more than making the lives of millions worse each day. 

If you need a kidney you can have a kidney.... if you have the dollars.  Money would flow in from all over the globe!  We could get money back into the USA that went to China.  People that live in countries where jobs were lost to outsourcing would be a new revenue stream as well. 

OK.  It seems as if I covered all the aspects of stupidity while being insensitive at the same time. 

I was offensive as well yet address a number of problems while focusing on the wealthy to raise the money and dividing the wealthy from the remainder of the population. 

To our government, all parties.  You are an embarrassment for most Americans.  You act like school children as you argue and posture while you come up with one stupid idea after another. 

It matters little at this time whether our current President was handed a problem that took decades to develop.  It matters little at this time that previous administrations raised the debt ceiling multiple times during their administration.  It does matter to me that some people in our government are avoiding these facts to push their own agenda in spite of further damage to the economy.

To our government:  The American People are disgusted with the lot of you.

By the way, if you do go along with my idea I propose that before the illegal aliens are taken we first move upon our nation's Capitol and start the collection right there.

Joe Lieberman Says U.S. Should Cut Social Security To Pay For Fighting ‘The Islamist Extremists’ http://t.co/ftV8omo - move Lieberman to the front of the list for deportation from America.  I paid into Social Security based on promises our government made over my entire working career.

9/23/11 Update - seems as if they are at it again - Senate rejects House funding bill; shutdown looms http://t.co/1Xylav34

Photographs or Original Art?

What do you have hung on your walls at home?

Do you prefer photographs, original art, bare walls or?

We have all heard phrases such as "you are what you eat", "dress for success" and many similar phrases.  Some say some of us are defined by the car we drive.

What can be learned by what we hang on our walls?

There are some surprising pieces of information that can be discovered by observing what somebody wears, what they eat, what they drive or what they hang on their walls.  Especially if one reads between the lines.