You get to choose between a Wall Street fanboy that supports gay marriage and one that doesn’t.
Decision 2012 in 20 Words or Less
1 Reply
Category Archives: US Government
An Open Letter to Mitt Romney
Dear Mr. Romney,
How are you? I am fine. I hear you need a vice president running mate for this election. Lots of Republicans are saying they do not want to be your running mate. Some are refusing, flat-out, and others are trying to get someone else to be your running mate. It’s like nobody can man up and take one for the team in the GOP.
Usually, when there’s a job nobody else wants to do, but has to be done, I volunteer to do it. Mr. Romney, why don’t you accept my request to be your running mate in the 2012 election? Face it, if you’re going to win or lose, it won’t be because of who your running mate is. Unless it’s Sarah Palin. She was scary.
As your running mate, here’s what I promise to do:
1. Dress up nice, but not in clothes purchased with campaign funds.
2. Smile and wave a lot by your side.
3. React with surprised, yet folksy laughter at every awkward question, followed by a smile and a “what do you think?”
4. Get Joe Biden’s name right in the VP debate.
5. Not get involved in any scandals.
6. Be a source of clean, comic relief on long bus tours.
That way, win or lose, I’ll be a class act, which is the best a VP can do. Nobody will accuse me of having my hand going up your back and using you as a puppet, neither will I cause concerns over my hiring of illegal aliens. I’ve only hired one guy to do yard work, and he’s about as American as they get. Drives down to his hometown every weekend to support his high school’s football, basketball, and baseball teams. He’s my “Joe the Plumber.” He’s “Jim the Yard Guy.” Just don’t put him on camera after he’s been stiffed by one of his other clients, or he may say some things that we would classify as “spiteful” and “political Kryptonite.”
Seriously, though, Mr. Romney, you’re not going to win based upon anything other than the US economy and whether or not there’s a war with Iran. If the economy gets better or Obama attacks Iran in mid-October to take advantage of the new moon just prior to the election, you’re toast. If the economy gets worse, you’re in like Flynn. With gas prices going down right now, things don’t look good for you.
That’s why you need me. The GOP leadership senses that 2012 may not be their year, after all, and anyone that runs on a failed presidential ticket will see his or her political career circle the drain and then go down. Since I have no political career, I can step in and lend a hand. I can be a Jack Kemp to your Bob Dole, a Bob Dole to your Gerald Ford, an Earl Warren to your Thomas E. Dewey.
Actually, being the Earl Warren of this generation wouldn’t be so bad: his VP bid flopped, but he went on to be on the Supreme Court. I could get used to a gig like that. So, yes, Mr. Romney, my hat is in the ring. Give me a call, and I’ll be the best running mate you could possibly have.
Sincerely,
Dean Webb
UPDATE: At the urging of my friends, I have sent this request on to Mr. Romney’s campaign: here is a screen shot of my offer to volunteer for his campaign:
Click on the image for full size…
An Open Letter to Barack Obama
Dear Mr. Obama,
How are you? I am fine. This will be a short letter. I hear that there were some bad things done by the Secret Service in Colombia. The news media are going a little overboard in their reporting, but I am glad that people are going to be punished for bad things that they did.
Could you please do the same thing for the bankers that wrecked our economy in 2008? I would like that. Also, please get the guys that wrecked the economy in 2007, as they are as much to blame. I think you should also go after anyone that wrecked the economy in 2009, 2010, 2011, and this year. They did bid things, worse than arguing with a Colombian lady about $40. All the energy we’re using to go after the Secret Service should also be directed against the financial people that did worse things to our economy than the Secret Service did to the Colombians.
I know many of them are your biggest political backers. That’s OK: They’re also Mitt Romney’s biggest political backers. Going after them can be a sign of bipartisan unity in a sadly divided nation. It will also lay to rest the rumors that both you and Mitt have been bought and sold by the financial industry and will do whatever they want, even if it means destroying the nation. I know I would like those rumors laid to rest. I hope you do, too.
Good luck with rounding up the rogue mammonai,
Dean Webb
Why Do We Let Sarah Palin Speak?
I got a number of things on my mind this morning. First off, why in the world do we let Sarah Palin speak? Fox News, I can understand. They’re a propaganda organ of Rupert Murdoch’s empire of support for his cracker barrel version of hate and spite, so she fits right in with that crowd. My beef is with the other networks that play clips from her, quote her, or have her on as a guest speaker.
She is not an expert. She is not knowledgeable. She is not an elder statesman. She is a media-crazed spotlight hog with designer lipstick. The most dangerous place in the studio is between her and a camera. Giving her air time is like bringing an alcoholic to a brewery: it’s not good for her and it’s not good for society.
There are loads of better alternatives to Palin. Me, for instance. I clean up good and I have plenty of witty observations that will be controversial, but intelligent. Or do we not want intelligence on our news anymore? Is the nation that much of a smoke ‘n’ mirrors affair that Palin is necessary to keep us uninformed? Agh, what a nightmare world we live in!
Please, if you’re in the news business, boycott Palin. Please. I know I’m not the only one that’s done with her.
Is Your Bank About to Murder You?
Strange times we’re in when that’s a legitimate question. Here’s the proof behind the question mark:
Citibank arrests people for withdrawing money legally: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/15/nypd-arrests-occupy-protesters-non-protester-at-citibank-branch/
Goldman Sachs execs preparing for the Muppet Apocalypse: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2009-12-03/arming-goldman-sachs-with-pistols-alice-schroeder-correct-.html
Citibank kills a guy for not paying his credit card: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/in-indonesia-scandals-tarnish-citibank/2011/07/14/gIQAoHJrJJ_print.html
Does the list go on? Yes, yes it does… http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/derivatives/bank_exposure.html Read the whole page.
The banking industry is behind the campaigns of both Obama and Romney. Whichever man wins, they want him under their control. Why is that?
Well… ask yourself… what happens to you if you decided to just quit paying your credit cards? Would your bank decide to make an example of you? Maybe not by having you whacked by a hitman, but there are other ways these guys can rain hell down on you, all 100% legal and taxed at a rate of 0% or less.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: interest on debts of any amount is a tool of oppression, a tool of the devil. Jefferson was absolutely right when he said banks were more dangerous than standing armies in terms of threatening our liberties.
Violence Will Not be the Answer
While I say violence will not be the answer, it doesn’t mean that others will try to see if it will be the answer. If history is any guide, and it most assuredly is, then the United States of America will be entering a period of heightened violence. It may be directed inwardly or outwardly, but it is going to be much, much more violent in the near future. It will either be a revolt against those who are both too wicked and too rich, or – more likely – a diversionary conflict with a high body count that may well be the fight of the nation’s collective life.
No war, no violence will solve the problems of a nation. People yearn for peace, trust, and quiet: things that are impossibilities in war. If possible, a people should leave an area of conflict and put distance between themselves and a potential aggressor. If not possible, then that people should defend itself and trust in God for deliverance.
That last part is important. It demands that a nation be righteous, that it be honest, and that it be virtuous. It demands that the nation is led by people that use their power to comfort the afflicted, not to comfort the comfortable. It demands that a nation be guided by principles of sacrifice and not personal profits. To trust in God means a nation cannot have its leaders enmired in the pursuit of profits and powers with an eye towards self-aggrandizement. A nation that trusts in God will face trials, but it will emerge from those trials all the better for having endured them. Trusting in God for deliverance implies that dangers and perils will arise and may nearly overwhelm, but that God will see the nation through those trials. Men and women will make sacrifices, even ultimate sacrifices, but the nation will endure in faith and humility.
A nation that does not trust in God for deliverance will instead play the devil’s game and kill before it is killed. It will exist as a paranoid entity. It will exploit the weak for its own game and assert that all is fair when the fittest are about the business of surviving. Darwinism is dangerous not in the biological sciences, but in the social fields – where it does not belong. In its lack of trust in God, it embarks on a history of violence.
That violence will not solve any problems. It will only lead to the breakup and destruction of nations. Then, when there are no more fit targets for conquest, the remaining nations will exhaust themselves in a mutually destructive war. With nuclear weapons, that mutual destruction will happen at a faster rate than ever before.
I see the events in the world today, and while they are not good, I don’t think I’ll be overly troubled by them. I still trust in God for deliverance. I have my reasons for my faith, and they are sound in my judgment, and that is all I need as precondition for my faith. I do my best to keep honest, to do the best work I can do, and to forgive debts others owe me. If the leaders of the USA were of the same mind, I would not be writing this essay.
Cory Booker: The Kind of Leadership We Need
The Mayor of Newark made a headline for himself by rescuing a neighbor from a fire. When I heard it, I wasn’t surprised. I feel good inside, knowing that Mr. Booker is still keeping true to his principles.
I first saw Cory Booker in the film “Street Fight” – one of the best political documentaries, ever – which documented his failed bid to become mayor. Cory took on an old crony politician and nearly won, in spite of his opponent lying, intimidating, and using police state tactics to keep his hold on power. The sadness of that loss didn’t stop Booker. He came back and won his next election.
Booker resolved to live in the poorest part of town so that, as mayor, he would fix the problems of his people. When I saw this story, I knew he had kept to his principles for these last six years.
This is what we need: men and women, regardless of party, that use leadership to help their neighbors and to make sure that their neighbors are the ones most in need of a powerful friend. We don’t need a crew that feathers its own beds. We don’t need people beholden to rich men and their special interests.
I’m not saying Cory Booker needs to run for president: I’m saying the people running for president need to emulate Cory Booker. Senators, Congressmen, heads of agencies, all of them: live among the poor, put your kids in public schools, ride the buses, eat what we eat and do what we do.
That way, you’ll all start solving the problems *we* have and not all the problems of the richest 0.01% of Americans. Whenever a nation forgets its poor, its end is not long in coming. When a nation remembers its poor and exalts them, its greatness can be sustained.
Thank you, Cory Booker, for showing the way. I’m a fan, and I’m proud of what you’re doing. Thank you for keeping true and fighting that best of fights.
Individual Mandates and Constitutionality
Short version of the problem: Come 2014, I’m supposed to get insurance for my whole family. Looking at the government charts, I’ll have to spend at least $500 per month on a policy. Last policy I had didn’t pay for the square root of jack squat. Whatever policy I’ll have to get in 2014 probably will have the same huge deductible and no real benefits.
When a person in my family gets a major illness, I’ll have to cover that out of pocket. I make too much money to get free clinic stuff, but not enough to buy a policy that actually pays for hospital care. Being forced to buy insurance by the government does nothing for me, but everything for the insurance company whose lobbyist helped to write that part of the health care act.
Should I choose to do without, I can pay just shy of $2100 in a fine to some government agency. It won’t be a tax, technically, but it will go in to the USG’s coffers. So, come 2014, I can either pay $6200 per year for nothing or pay $2100 per year for nothing. Yeah… thanks for nothing, US Government!
This provision shows just how much control the lobbyists have over the President and Congress. They wrote a bill that doesn’t help poor or middle class people, it helps the interest groups that are already rich. I do hope the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate as unconstitutional. Congress should not have the power to require people to engage in acts of commerce, particularly when such acts are of no benefit to the purchaser.
By the way, this isn’t something that the Republicans are alone in hollering about. The liberal media is livid, as well. Michael Moore and Ralph Nader have both pooh-poohed this provision. While the left and the right may not agree on the solution for our health care problem, they can both agree that this ain’t it.
Rick Santorum: The Bad Sync and Glare Report
And, yes, I did my research…
Pete Sessions: The Badly-Synced and Glare Report
So named because of the bad audio-video synchronization and the glare on my glasses. If I could afford slick production values, do you think I’d be doing a political vlog? Yeah.