Iraq is like Deja vu All Over Again

The first time Weird Wally heard the phrase “military advisors,” he was still in high school and President Kennedy had just announced that he was sending an additional 1000 military advisors into South Vietnam.  But what Wally, and many others at the time, did not know was, we’d be aiding a corrupt and repressive government, held in contempt by its citizens.  And what started out as a handful of military advisors in 1955, in support of a corrupt government, turned into a full scale war on March 8, 1965 when 3500 Marines landed at China Beach and joined up with the 23,000 military advisors already in Vietnam. 

And for Wally, sending military advisors to Iraq is like Déjà vu all over again.   Here we are propping up a corrupt government that doesn’t like us, has shat upon many of its citizens and, with a military that’ll cut and run, even when they outgunned and outnumbered the enemy.  Back in 1955, it was the Domino Theory that justified our intervention in the affairs of other countries.  Today, it’s Terrorism.  

In Wally’s eyes, what’s happening in Iraq is a religious, civil and cultural clash with a lot of bloodshed that dates back to the year 632.   By aiding one side against another, we’re getting involved in something that is absolutely none of our business.   And when the shit finally hits the fan, as it surely will, our well intentioned interference may cost us dearly.

When asked what he thinks the eventual cost might be, Wally is said to have replied, “Fuck this shit!  I’m going fishing.”

  

3 Questions for Hillary

As far as Wally is concerned, one thing is certain; Hillary Clinton will never sit for an interview for his blog.  And it’s not his fair, bold and keen questioning that she fears so much as the fact, that even on a good day, Weird Wally’s Worldview may score only a handful of readers.  He also realizes that the mere title of his blog may be a bit off-putting to some people.

For now, at least, Wally is a Hillary fan and thinks she is kicking ass responding to the Benghazi bullshit put out by the Republicans.  On the other hand, Wally doesn’t really give a fuck about the Benghazi distraction and instead, would ask about Glass-Steigall, Free Trade Agreements and the current negations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  “Fuck a bunch of Benghazis!” he is rumored to have said.

Glass-Steigall:  Also known as The Banking Act of 1933, prevented commercial banks from acting like casinos and risking their clients’ money on risky and opaque investments.   This regulation, according to the New York Times was, “enacted as an emergency response to the failure of nearly 5,000 banks during the Great Depression.”  In 1999 Glass-Steigall was repealed and then President Clinton, was a champion for that bit of banking deregulation.  In April, 2010, the former president admitted he was wrong and made a public apology for his previous stance.

WW:  Madam Secretary, President Clinton was a major player in watering down regulations for Wall Street and banks.  Giving the current situation on both Wall Street and the banking industry, would you be in favor of changing monetary policy and banking rules under which these institutions operate?

In Wally’s mind, at least, that would be a good question to ask a possible future president.  But what about those fast track Free Trade Agreements?

WW:  During the Clinton Presidency, Free Trade Agreements seem to have flourished.  In retrospect it may have caused massive job losses in this country as well as making sovereign nations subject to laws imposed by multinational corporations, via the World Trade Organization (WTO)?

Although this isn’t meant to be a trick question, Wally is very aware that President Clinton was a big fan of these agreements.  But it was George H.W. Bush who actually started the ball rolling.  However, the 500 pound gorilla in the room right now is, The Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Weird Wally wants to know, what's up with that?

WW:  Many feel that the super-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership currently being negotiated will outsource more American middle-class jobs and even make us even more subject to laws imposed by the WTO.  Do you think this partnership is a good idea?

Who knows, maybe these kinds of questions will come later.  Meanwhile, we must be content with Republican distractions until they realize that we are a lot smarter then they think we are.

And remember, Weird Wally Sez:  Fuck a bunch of Benghazis!

What's Up With Iraq? We Haven't a Clue and Neocons Least of all

Although Wally made a solemn vow to keep silent about anything having to do with Iraq, there is so much distorted spin and misinformation put out there, he is having trouble remaining silent.  But what Wally really finds maddening is that the very people who got us into this crisis in the first place, are now telling us how to manage the damn crisis.  Fact is, the people who first got us into Iraq are losers who need to backup and look at themselves.  Maybe even admit they made some serious errors in the past.  Until they do, folk like Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and other verbal neocons, have zero credibility.  Neocon is short for neoconservative, but neocon fits best because most of what they say is a con.

And most everybody knows it except, it seems, the neocons, because their new story is the same old shit as their old story.  Back when Russia sent undercover troops to Crimea and threatened to do the same in other parts of Eastern Europe, they said, “send troops.”  But now that that situation is on the back Burner and Iraq has stepped up to the front, we once again hear, “send troops.”

But even Wally knows better than to do that.  That whole area seems to have changed in the time of a heartbeat and we don’t even know the difference between frenemy and enemy.  In short, we haven’t a clue.  Those neocons have made a mess of things and won’t shut up.  Worse yet, in spite of the evidence right in front of Wally’s face, Wally is supposed to believe the cons rather than his own eyes.  For Wally, it is an insult to run the same tired game over and over again.  It’s like the neocons have a form for every situation and all they have to do is to fill in the blanks. 

Although the neocons, a bunch of rich old white men, think Wally, and others like him, are stupid, Wally, and others like him, actually know better.  And they have tried to inform the neocons, but the neocons never listen.  And that’s another thing Wally, and others like him, know about neocons; they listen only to themselves.

TGIF, I Think

It’s Friday the 13^th and Weird Wally (WW) wants to know where the party is?  The Republican Party, that is.  Meanwhile, Sgt. Bow Bergdhal has returned home, but he still ain’t talking and, oddly enough, WW finds himself not really giving a shit.  There’s a lot more here than meets the eye and this may be one of those cases, according to WW, where the sum of all truths is actually less than the total of the part-truths which make up the whole.  To prove his point, WW mentions that Mitt Romney is scheduled for Meet the Press, this Sunday.

John McCain

John McCain, the verbal and Elder Senator from Arizona, is obsessing on the situation in Iraq again, and insisting Obama fire his national security team, replace them with former Bush team members, and send in the troops, just like last time.   But then, like most all Republicans, McCain seems to follow the advice of author Tom Robbins, when it comes to Murphy’s Law; “If anything can go wrong it will go wrong and, it can be used to your advantage, provided of course, things go wrong enough.”  And if McCain and those of his ilk can make things go wrong enough, they might win their first few battles against demographics and Mother Nature.  But in the end we all know that you can’t beat either one.

Orange is the New Black and Cuckoo’s Calling

WW is very happy that he only finished almost half of the thirteen episodes, of Orange is the New Black.  And although he continues to deny ever having been in prison, WW does admit to having many felons and former inmates as friends and acquaintances.  “Everything seems so real,” he said and can’t wait to see how the two prison yard alpha females, Vee and Red, work out their differences.  Shit’s getting deep.  “Kind of like a good book you can’t put down and it's way past your bedtime,” he said.

Speaking of books, WW tried, but never got into Harry Potter.  But he is reading, “Cuckoo’s Calling,” by Robert Galbraith, a pseudonym for J.K. Rawling.   Although he just started this novel, Wally speaks highly of its author.

Weird Wally Sez:  “Lifelong learning is very cool.  Even on weekends.” And he is insisting that we can all learn a little something from the wildlife with whom we coexist.  By learning a simple lesson from the honey badger, for instance, WW feels that we can come to better understand our politicians and the world they inhabit. 

You Can't Fix What's Already Fixed and the Complex Under Plunder on Wall Street

It wasn’t until late 2005 that Weird Wally (WW) gave much thought to Wall Street.   But when President Bush announced his intention to privatize Social Security, WW sat up and started paying attention.  And from what little he understood at the time, one thing was obvious: Bush’s idea of a secure and happy retirement for all Americans was for us to each create a private retirement account and send our money off to Wall Street.

Like many of us, in his minds’ eye, WW imagined cigar smoking fat cats sitting in their offices figuring out which corporations were good bets and which ones weren’t.  And like most the rest of us, his minds’ eye had it totally wrong.  Instead of a noisy and chaotic stock exchange floor with masters of the universe, studying charts and screaming into cells at their minions on the floor to either buy or sell, we might now see small rooms with tech folk and programmers working on secret coding and information infrastructures.

What Wall Street has been about for the past several years has to do with complexity and speed.  According to Michael Lewis, in his recent book, “Flash Boys,” Wall Street is all about adding layer upon layer of complexity onto an already complex situation.   And upon each layer of complexity, there exists corporations and people whose only job is to extract wealth, resources and energy from this complexity, without adding of value in return; kind of like a disease.

But at the very bottom of this complexity are the tech guys (mostly men), the guys who write the code and design the infrastructure along which information travels at unbelievable speeds from one point to another.  And although the speed of a blink of the eye is considered slow in this fast paced world, billions of dollars have been made over the information arriving faster than the blink of an eye, at one place, before it arrives elsewhere.

These tech people at the bottom are often graduates of  MIT, Princeton or other high prestige universities.  People who might have otherwise gone into research and added something of value to society, were instead drawn to Wall Street, where they hooked up with MBAs from Harvard, and such, and are now both are making billions a year without having to add value to anything but themselves.  It’s much like a perfect marriage where a brilliant techie meets up with a brilliant sociopath and they both go into business.

Weird Wally is rumored to have found this book in, well, the Business section.  For a more traditional review of, “Flash Boys,” click Wall Street Secrets Revealed.

Justice For Oligarchs?

Oligarchs trump everything, so forget about it!

Having spent ten years as an adult probation officer in New York and Arizona, and another twenty plus years as a child protection caseworker in Denver, before retiring, Weird Wally (WW), tries hard not to think  about anything connected with criminal justice or adults raping children. But in the interest of full disclosure, it should also be noted that WW is an incest survivor himself, but that’s a whole other story.

While working child protection, a large part of WW’s job was appearing in family court, where most clients either had court appointed attorneys, or public defenders.  Rarely could a client afford their own layers, but whenever it happened, staff from other family court rooms, would come watch the show.  But whenever a very rich family came through, everybody in the building wanted to get close to them.  Even judges, assistant district and city attorneys always seemed, to WW at least, to treat the very rich in very special ways.  The few times WW was involved in those cases, he is said to have told close friends that, “People were getting in line to kiss the rich family’s ass.  Made me want to puke.”   And in criminal and civil courts, WW felt that the same laws seemed to apply.   A very rich and should be, convicted felon, for instance, was CEO of a company which admitted to fourteen felonies and paid a $600 million fine, went on to become Governor of Florida.

Inside his head, WW could not believe such a thing was possible, but outside his head, he knew it was.  And it made no sense.  Yet over the months, WW had noticed more and more, how money trumped everything, as far as the courts are concerned.

The first oddity got his attention in early February of this year (2014).  A Texas teen was sentenced to ten years’ probation and ordered into treatment, after his drunk driving caused four deaths and two serious injuries.  Although, according the judge, “affuenza” had nothing to do with her decision, WW and millions of others were truly amazed at how bizarre American justice can often be.

Not long after the teen travesty, in very late March, WW and millions were stunned to learn that a respected billionaire, Robert H. Richards, who repeatedly raped his three year old daughter, got probation with no jail time.  The sentencing judge said “he would not fare well,” if locked up. But wait, there’s more!  In 2010, he was also investigated for having sexually abused his toddler son.  Upon hearing all of the details for the first time, WW is rumored to have said, “This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to shit!”

But it wasn’t until yesterday that WW learned of a Wisconsin billionaire who got only four months jail time after repeatedly raping his twelve year old stepdaughter, over a period of three years.  Worse yet, his legal moves involved victimizing the victim even more.  This went along with a potential public shaming by demanding that both the child and her therapist testify about what happened in open court.  And this is the very sad story behind it all. 

These are the kind horrible situations that leave many feeling overwhelmed, beaten and powerless.  For Weird Wally, at least, it’s like the more he knows, the less powerful he feels.

Friday Wrap-up: June 6, 2014

Not much real stuff in the news this week, only more Republican talking points about Obama making a deal with the Taliban on the release of Bowe Bergdahl, an American Prisoner of War, after being held by the Taliban for over five years.  Thing is, Republicans were for the deal, up until the president did it.  No real news there.  And speaking of news, Joyann Ried is turning out to be WW’s favorite anchor on MSNBC.  Granted, her Facebook page seems kind of hokey, but her show is top shelf and makes even WW give something a thought or two.

Meanwhile, “Orange Is the New Black,” comes out on Netflix today and Weird Wally (WW), will be turning off his cell until he’s finished, at least, five of the thirteen episodes.   Although WW abhors violence, he is said to have felt some serious gratification while Piper Chapman was beating the crap out of the woman who had kept bulling her.  Great way to end the first season.

First book on WW’s summer reading list was, “Natchez Burning,” by Greg Iles.  WW sez this is a “No Skim Zone,” story and hard to put down.  That there are so many characters often gets confusing and the ending, though satisfying, is far to action packed.  In short, WW insists that Natchez Burning, would probably make a better movie then it did a novel.

WW just started, “Flash Boys,” by Michael Lewis, a non-fiction account of the corrupt under plunder in which many Wall Street players are currently engaged.   To outsiders, some of the concepts may seem foreign and difficult to understand, but readers will get a definite feel for how Wall Street is ripping them off.  Although this book will piss people off, they will soon realize that there is no real solution.  A lot of very smart sociopaths are finding their way to Wall Street, and like brilliant computer hackers, neither security nor regulators can stop them.  And the way they see it, their job is to rip the rest of us off.

Weird Wally Wants to Know:  While using one of the public restrooms in a Denver area Whole Foods, WW noticed the usual sign reminding employees to wash hands before leaving.  Problem is, with Whole Food’s effort to always conserve energy and water, it takes the water about twenty seconds to come out in small streams for three or four seconds, before pausing for another twenty.  And so goes the water cycle in that particular restroom.  Been that way for five years now and WW can’t help but wonder why no one has ever complained?

Don't forget to checkout the Asshole of the Day blog.

And Weird Wally Sez:  Always remember to talk about voting every chance you get!

Secret Interview with a High Level Republican Operative: Part II

This is Part II of an interview that took place over the Memorial Day weekend between Weird Wally and a high level Republican operative, whom we call Dick, as he wishes to remain anonymous.  To learn how this unlikely conversation came about, click here for Part I of this interview.

WW:  I understand all of that, but by scaring the crap out of white people might help you guys in 2014, by 2016, things will be different.  Minorities, young people and single women will come out and droves and you guys won’t stand much of a chance.  Besides, only twenty-five percent of voters are so far right that they actually give a shit about when a fetus become “life,” and who is allowed to marry whom.

Dick:  Don’t kid yourself Wally, if things go according to plan, those people who didn’t give a second thought to the mid-terms of 2014, might not have a vote in 2016.

WW:  I don’t think so, Dick.  I know your plan.  Take enough state houses and kick as many Democrats off the voting rolls as you can.  But the administration will defend their turf with help from the ACLU, NAACP and a lot of others.

Dick:   Obama will be too busy defending himself because, if we take over the Senate, game over.  Your president will be impeached and we may have enough Senate votes to actually remove him.  And with a Republican House inciting investigation after investigation, your boys will be too busy with no will left to fight for their turf.

WW:  And all this will happen because my side won’t bother to vote.

Dick:  We’ve done a lot of polling and focus groups.  We know for a fact that content voters don’t vote, while the scared and angry do.  And that is how us few old and powerful white men will fight and win against shifting demographics.  Then too, polls also show that the current white majority, even liberals, are a bit nervous about the coming shift and fear being treated like the minorities they will soon become.

WW:  So everything hinges on my side not voting this election and you guys taking over state houses and . the U.S. Senate.

Dick:  Ancient Chinese proverb, Wally.  "You snooze you lose."   By the way, what did you say the name of your journal type blog is?

WW:  Weird Wally’s Worldview.

Dick:  I like the name, shows a total lack of class.  You should consider coming to work for my side.  An African-American man, such as yourself, could make a mint blogging for us conservatives, here’s my card.  Think about it.  Remember, you snooze you lose.

Thus ends the Secret Interview with a High Level Republican Operative: Part II.  Meanwhile, WW is said to have a major announcement in the coming days.  Stay tuned and click here for updates.

Weird Wally Sez: Question Authority!

And happy Monday

Shit Really Does Roll Downhill

And how Veterans Affairs (VA) came to find itself in such deep shit

Everyone who has ever had to work for a living knows about how shit rolls downhill.  Nothing unfair about it, that’s how gravity works.  And those who actually started the shit have either retired in luxury or moved onto bigger and better possibilities.

Meanwhile Veterans Affairs is left holding the bag.  When the war first started, not only was it supposed to be short, it was to have paid for itself with predicted income from Iraqi oil.  Ten years and $1.7 trillion dollars later, who would’ve thought.  Worse yet, vets are owed an additional $490 billion in promises and benefits that could reach over $6 trillion over the next forty years.  

And our returning warriors, many of whom are wounded, after the longest war in U.S. history, are in dire need of medical attention.  Like that quick war that should have paid for itself, the VA finds itself steeped in all kinds of shit.  No one was prepared for the huge influx.

Usually, someone high up sees a swarm on its way and they meet with other higher ups and write memos to those below them.  No matter what the agency or business, these memos all tend to say the same thing; “Do more with less,” and, “Think outside the box.”  In other words, be creative about it and don’t bother me with the details.  And even when someone has the nerve to disturb them, they may say something like, “More is less.”   After all, they are the boss and must be right, even when what they say is bullshit. 

But the shit doesn’t stop and eventually, people near the bottom, without power or money for a lawyer end up drowning in everyone else’s shit.  In the case of the VA, however, it’s both painful and irritating.  The people near the bottom get blamed, when the politicians, bosses and CEOs, started everything rolling in the first damn place.  The Upside is, while shit rolls downhill, the smell tends to waft upward.

How it Works...

Maya Angelou and Branford Marsalis, "I know Why The Caged Bird Sings."

Nothing else need be said...

Secret Interview with a High Level Republican Operative

 

This Weird Wally (WW) Exclusive happened quite by accident.   The long and short of it is that Wally managed to capture an image of a very conservative and high level Washington insider, exiting a Denver, Colorado, pot shop with a hot young woman on his arm, during the Memorial Day weekend.    Not only did the insider purchase Wally’s cell, he sent his friend off to more shopping and agreed to a chat over lunch.   The insider, who must remain anonymous, shall be known as, Dick.

WW:  Thanks for both lunch and the chat.  I really appreciate it.

Dick:  You have me at a disadvantage, Wally.  But this could be fun.  What do you call yourself, again?  Liberal, is it?

WW:  Progressive, Mr. Dick

Dick:  No need for formalities, Wally.  We’re both equals here.

WW:  Good point, Dick   But more to the point, between you, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Koch Brothers, there’s a lot of negative shit being thrown about.  And considering the shifting demographics, do you really expect to win elections with that kind of strategy?

Dick:  We only need to win one, and that’s the next one.  It’s no secret that in an off year elections, most liberals don’t vote, you guys think that the presidential ones are the only that count, but us conservatives know better.  We get most of congress, governors and state houses with us, we can kick any president’s ass and nothing anyone can do about it.

WW:  Why do you think my side is working so hard to get minorities, young folks and single women to the polls.  Besides, I got minimum wages and a whole bunch of other issues on my side, Dick.

Dick:  Don’t mean dick, Wally.  I got money on mine and all we need do is appeal to our base. 

WW:  Who do think your base is?

Dick:  Old white guys, for the most part.  And their wives, of course.    The kind of people who like things the way they are, who see Obama as a sign of things to come and are scared shitless by it.  My base doesn’t give a shit about minimum wage or health care.  They’re scared of an unknown future and having lots of guns makes them feel safe.  My rule of thumb is, when people are scared shitless, that’s when they are most likely to come out and vote their shit.

WW:  You’re sounding like a cynic. 

Dick:  Just being real with you, Wally

Anyway, after a longer than planned for lunch, Wally found himself actually liking the guy.  But Wally was also mindful of the fact that he’d never met a sociopath he didn’t like.  Here ends Part I of the secret interview.

To Be Continued.

The Nocebo Effect???

It’s all in your head: Scientist now believes his pioneering work on gluten allergy was wrong (via Raw Story )

The researcher whose work led scientific credence to claims that those without celiac disease — which causes an immune response in the small intestines in the presence of gluten — still benefit from a gluten-free diet has performed another, more…

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Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend

It’s Friday of a three day weekend and not much going on, as of this writing.   The Veterans Affairs Administration (VA) needs to clean up its act, but things have gotten to the point where it’s going to be a long and painful healing.

Meanwhile, Weird Wally is ready for the weekend.  Besides visiting with friends, he’s reading Natchez Burning, by Greg Iles and might even do a Star Trek: The Next Generation, mini marathon.

But having just read a scary story, the very next thing Weird Wally will do will be to kill the Facebook app on his smart phone. And here’s why, The Scary Story (a must read).  Enjoy your weekend.

Facebook Microphone Update: Electronic Surveillance Experts React To Smartphone Mic Data Collection

Facebook Microphone Update: Electronic Surveillance Experts React To Smartphone Mic Data Collection

High Demand = High Tolerance

Cyber Crime, Weed and the FBI (via The Moderate Voice)

This is pretty funny: Comey: FBI ‘Grappling’ With Hiring Policy Concerning Marijuana But FBI Director James B. Comey said Monday that if the FBI hopes to continue to keep pace with cyber criminals, the organization may have to loosen up its no-tolerance…

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Vote Like Your Life Depends On It

At some point soon, it just might.  

Weird Wally (that would be me) didn’t get serious about blogging until 2007.   And that was about the time he got his head out of his butt and took a look around.  Something was up, but not yet obvious and Wally took to blogging to help him figure it out.  Although nothing more than an online journal, he learned to question authority, and in the process, finally started paying attention.  A lot of other people also started paying attention, but we could not believe what we were seeing.

Besides the irrational tax cuts and big bank deregulation that no one really wanted, we also saw a gigantic increase in corporate welfare, billion dollar no-bid government contracts, and a senseless war in Iraq.  And not too long before the financial crises of 2008, President Bush and other Republicans were pushing hard to privatize social security and hand the money over to Wall Street.  Fortunately, that didn’t happen.  But would President Obama be sitting in the Oval Office today, were it not for the financial meltdown of September 2008?  

For a while, we believed that our votes actually made a difference, but as Obama’s first term progressed, he didn’t stand up for much and many began forgetting what he once stood for.  Nobody from Wall Street went to jail, foreclosures continued, wages remained stagnant and the rich kept getting richer.

Meanwhile, with the help of a super-secret society, known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), many states were busy finding ways to keep minorities, single moms, seniors and single women in general, away from the polls, and voter suppression was just a start.  ALEC also promoted cutting state taxes for large corporations, fighting unions and keeping worker wages as low as possible.

In Washington, DC, things were equally as bad.  The Supreme Court had gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, immigration reform stalled and in Congress, the House voted over 50 times to repeal “Obamacare” and Republican politicians cowered to talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and people on Fox News and denied that they were all just bunch of women hating racists, anyway.

But as things started getting uglier, Wally could not yet believe how ugly things already were.  Black men and women who were unarmed were getting shot by cops and regular citizens alike.  Seems like, if you shot and killed an African-American, all you have to say is, that person was “black and I feared for my life,” and if you’re white, you might just get away with it.

Even as Obamacare shows major signs of success and the president is getting his mojo back, no one from Wall Street has gone to jail and the “too big to fail banks,” continue to keep private their profits and make public their loses (by way of the tax code, monetary policy and government subsidies), I’m pissed, but will vote this November in spite of it.

Had Romney been elected in 2012, he and his administration would have ignored ALEC and its attempts at voter suppression and a lot of states would be throwing people off voter rolls unhindered.   As it is, it’s an uphill struggle. 

So if we don’t vote in November, there’s a good possibility we won’t ever have to stress about it again.  A lot can happen in only two years.  Meanwhile, keep an eye out and please pay attention, because you never know.

Wall Street Secrets Revealed

Wall Street Has Always Been Corrupt Or About To Be Corrupted (via Market Shadows)

Courtesy of Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform Wall Street Has Always Been Corrupt Or About To Be Corrupted “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair – I, Candidate…

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Corporate Welfare Really Sucks!

Are we screwed?

At first glance, everything looks so boring that it’s hard to care.

And that’s the secret.  When we don’t care, we don’t give it a second glance and that’s how a lot of crap gets by us.  Meanwhile, while we’re not looking, there is a lot going on and massive underplunder is afoot.  Worse yet, we can’t even believe what we think we’re seeing.

We are told, for instance, that society is mainly composed of makers, takers and the rest of us.  The makers are the job creators and we should be grateful to them and praise their very existence.  The takers, on the other hand, are busy living off everyone else.  Meanwhile, the makers are hard at work creating jobs and prosperity for all.  Even as the takers just sit around all day getting high and making babies.  And those people, we are told, are not to be pitied.  If anything they need to be taught a lesson, even if it hurts them badly.

Welfare queens, pimps, drug addicts are usually thought of as brown or black.  People of color.  And they are unlike most of the country.  They are, after all, minorities; well, at least for now.  But everyone seems to know what they're up to.  Even Cliven Bundy, the infamous “welfare cowboy,” wants to tell all who will listen,that he knows “something about the negro.”

And even while grazing his cattle for free on government land, he looks down on, what he sees as, the takers, never realizing that he too, is a taker.  Difference is, he thinks he owns the land.

Even the so-called takers look down on other takers.  The elderly and physically challenged tend to look down on the mental and emotionally challenged, who in turn, look down on people who sit around all day making babies.  But regardless of category, all who depend on government for either income or subsidy will get hurt.  Its budget cutting time and let’s screw the takers real good.  They deserve it.

But who are the real takers?

Ever hear of “corporate welfare?”  Such a thing exists, and it is huge.  In 2006, the government spent about $59 billion on traditional social programs like food stamps and housing assistance, while spending $92 billion on corporate subsidies.    And it’s gotten worse every year ever since.

Corporate subsidies take many forms, from tax breaks to free money for big banks, and a lot in between.  A good example of corporate welfare is the $52 billion “Uncle Sugar” gave to the oil, gas and coal industry alone, in 2013.  In return, the government received absolutely nothing.  No-thing.

So while some politicians are busy trying to convince us to piss all over those beneath us, we might try looking high up, for a change.  At the very people whom we are distracted from ever thinking about.  Those who can afford lobbyist, accountants and high end law and public relations firms.  And although we might have to strain our eyes, if we look high enough, we just might see that that trickledown effect we often feel on the tops of our heads, well, for starts, it ain’t money.

When The Chimps First Went To War

Social networking study reveals four-year ‘Game of Thrones’-like chimpanzee war (via Raw Story )

Scientists at Duke University have applied complex social networking programs to peer into the mysteries of a vicious four-year war that took place between tribes of chimpanzees at Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park. The results, said New Scientist…

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Wall Street Pissed at Pope

Pope Francis urges governments to redistribute wealth to the poor — maybe even half of it (via Raw Story )

Pope Francis called on “legitimate redistribution” of wealth by the world’s governments to undo the “economy of exclusion” underlying capitalist society. The pontiff appealed Friday to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of major…

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Republicans dust off old scandals ahead of elections (via AFP)

Six months ahead of crunch US mid-term elections, Republicans seeking to capture Congress have rehashed well-worn political scandals that they hope will portray the Obama administration and Democrats as abusers of executive power. Republican leaders…

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An Open Letter to President Barack Obama

This Weird Wally Repost is happening because Weird Wally changed his mind.  Back in March when this letter was written, WW was pissed and going to stay home on Election Day.  But although the big banks are still coming up with new and barely legal ways of getting money for nothing, it will only get worse if people like myself, don’t vote.  Republicans are counting on minorities, single moms, unemployed, seniors, and the usual none voting suspects to stay home.  They figure we're so lazy and apathetic we’ll neither notice nor care.  But do you want the country and your life controlled by a bunch of miserly old white men who only want to stay in control?  If so, we’ll all get what we deserve.

FYI:  Keep an eye on the housing and rental markets.  Wall Street will make a mint and the rest of us will pay.

Dear Mr. President:

I have always been a fan of yours and voted for you in the two previous elections.  As the 2014 elections approach, however, it is very possible that I will sit this one out.  I realize how important this coming election will be.  If, for instance, the Republicans take control of both the House and Senate, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be wiped out and voted into nonexistence.  Worse yet, Social Security may well become privatized and Medicare, morph into a voucher system that is of little real use to us average citizens.  I won’t even bother to go into what they might attempt to do with foreign policy and voting rights.

Despite all of the above, I am so very unhappy with the way our government is working.  For one thing, I still don’t understand how the ACA works.  Had there been a “public option,” included in the ACA, I would have understood, at least, one thing about the ACA.  But without a public option, I understand none of it.

As a retired African-American male, I appreciate what your Administration is doing to fight voter suppression and your taking "Chained CPI," off of the table in future budget negotiations.  But Chained CPI, never should have been on the table in the first place. 

Having said all of that, I'm very upset over the fact that with all the corruption and illegal activities that happened on Wall Street just before your first election, no one of any significance has even been charged nor gone to prison.  Granted, a $20 billion dollar fine sounds like a lot of money, but to a company like JP Morgan Chase, it's simply a cost of doing business and not serious enough to change either behavior or the culture.   Now, had the CEO, Jamie Dimon, been sentenced to a minimum of 5 years, Wall Street might have finally paid attention and started cleaning up their acts.   And more to the point, why not push for a revival of something like Glass-Steagall?

Since I'm neither super smart nor super informed, I think there are other Americans like myself, just waiting to be inspired.  And a few CEO Indictments plus an even small possibility of a Glass-Steagall look-a-like getting to first base, would be more than enough to fire me up.

Sincerely,

Walter Lide

US offers expert team to help find Nigerian girls (via AFP)

The United States offered Tuesday to send a team of experts to Nigeria to help find more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls amid a wave of outrage over their abduction. US Secretary of State John Kerry made the offer in a phone call to Nigeria's President…

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Stephen Hawking warns of possible dire threat to mankind from artificial intelligence (via Raw Story )

Author, physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking co-wrote a dire warning to the human race about the danger of unintended consequences from our current fascination with artificial intelligence (AI). In an open letter with three other scientists published…

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Video Proof That Elephants Never Forget

Although this video has been around since 2011, the staff at Weird Wally’s Worldview (www) didn’t see it until a few days ago.  Shirley and Jenny are two retired circus elephants who haven’t seen one-another in over twenty years.   When they are finally reunited at the sanctuary, all is caught on video.  It’s bad enough that these majestic creatures are held captive and chained while serving their time in circuses, but there are people who hunt them down and kill them, out of vanity or for ivory.  And that just puzzles the hell out of us.

    

Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters and Nick Mason call for Rolling Stones to boycott Israel (via Raw Story )

Two founding members of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd lashed out at fellow rockers the Rolling Stones on Thursday, chiding the Stones for scheduling an upcoming show in Tel Aviv, Israel. Salon.com published a column co-written by vocalist Roger…

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The group that kidnapped 234 Nigerian school girls and its murderous campaign against education (via http://interestinghmm.blogspot.com/)

A reader submitted article that chills one to the bone. The depravity of some withing the human species is just sickening,,, In 2010, long before the mass killing that now engulf Nigeria began, there was a masked man hoisting an AK-47, a stack of religious…

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Paul Krugman on Living in Ugly Times (via Moyers & Company)

Economist Paul Krugman recently joined Bill to talk about the new academic book rocking the best-seller lists: Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. In this clip, Krugman says that our debates on income inequality, and how to combat…

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Jon Stewart rips GOP’s ‘hilarious and misguided’ fear-mongering at NRA event (via Raw Story )

Jon Stewart took aim at the National Rifle Association convention on The Daily Show on Tuesday, pointing out that Republicans seemed a bit too eager to use the event as a platform to discuss national policy positions. “The NRA convention is like a…

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Will Economic Inequality Turn Us Into A Bad Science-Fiction movie?

We’ve all seen them a time or two.  Those science-fiction movies where everything is gloom and no one’s gonna get out alive, yet life isn’t quite worth living.  And with the exception of a few matriarchs or patriarchs of well-armed and sociopathic families and communities, there are no old people.  Everything is covered with grey ash while trash fires burn in the streets, as lone adults walk along with heads bowed and every man and every woman are for themselves.  All the children, meanwhile, have banded into small gangs just to survive and, there are no families, and bandits roam the country side.

Welcome to the freedom and free market loving of a possible New America.  Everything is privatized and out of reach.  There are no police.  Neither is there a post office.  If you wanna send a letter more than twenty-five miles you either hire a smuggler, or pay the matriarchs and patriarchs whatever they might demand.  And forget about healthcare.  If you’re in an accident or come down with an illness, you’re screwed. 

Back in the day, when politicians said, “if elected I’ll run this (country, city, state) like a business,” little did voters who did not possess a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), realize what that would eventually look like.  It only made sense that if you’re going to run things like a business, you might as well become a businessperson.  At least the mission and goals become clear and concise, increase profits for shareholders, first and foremost.

Those old science-fiction movies always seem to have the same theme, the rich separate themselves from the rest of us and, over time there is total separation.  The rich know nothing of our lives and we know little of theirs.  Now we are separated only by gated communities and distance.  Tomorrow, the rich may live in a ring of luxury, circling high above us, upon which we can gaze only at night. 

Right now, it may all seem like silly science-fiction, but that kind of future is possible.  Between recent Supreme Court decisions that allow states to take away rights, deny health care to its citizens and take away most all limits on how rich people and corporations (also said to be people) can spend their money in our political process, we may well be heading in that direction

But it would be both a sin and a shame, to have our democracy end up looking like something from a bad science-fiction movie. 

Another good reason to get out and vote.  And if you don’t, things will only get worse.

Walter Lide

Colbert: Clemency for crack offenders unfair to GOP because bankers only snort cocaine (via Raw Story )

On last night’s episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert addressed President Obama’s decision to seek clemency for non-violent drug users imprisoned when drug-sentencing laws were more strict. “Our criminal-coddling president doesn’t share…

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American dream is now just that for American middle-class — a dream (via Raw Story )

During the 2012 presidential election, Republican nominee Mitt Romney regularly liked to joke that President Obama wanted the US economy to look “more like Europe”. In the context of modern American politics, few insults are more stinging. To be…

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Is The U.S. Supreme Court An Oligarch's Best Friend?

Forget the zombies, it’s the oligarchs who’ll eat you alive.  And, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, the oligarchs are coming to get you!

When they attack, however, it won’t be in mass hordes.  As a matter of fact, you’re not even likely to see them coming, but come they will, because they are already on their way.  Until the stunning Citizens United, Supreme Court decision of January, 2010, oligarchs have acted in the shadows, hiding behind public relations firms, front groups, lawyers and a bevy of brought and paid for politicians. 

But ever since the Court, first opened the village gate and decreed that corporations are people, with the same First Amendment rights of free speech as the rest of us, oligarchs, such as the Koch brothers, have been doing their war dances and sharpening their weapons.  Their main weapon being, unbelievable massive amounts of money with which to by media time and not have to be responsible for anything they say.  In other words, they can lie and get clean away with it.  Add to the mix their ability to finance and buy political campaigns and politicians, the rest of us may be defenseless against them.

The Town Hall has already been taken and on every state, local and federal level, the oligarchs are running amuck.  Some are even stepping out of the shadows and bearing their teeth.

Take Sheldon Adleson, for instance, one of the top ten richest men in the world who, along with a few others of the top 1 percent, are currently buying up the Republican Party.  And he recently hosted a diner for the top Republican candidates at his Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.

It’s amazing that we let them get away with it, but most everyone aspires to be rich; to be in that top 1 percent.  But one day, when we ask an average 10 year old what they want to be when they grow up, don’t be surprised when they say, “I wanna be an oligarch.”  That American dream goes pretty deep.

And even though the costs may far outweigh the benefits, it’s a lot like Walt Kelly once wrote, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Walter Lide

The Hungry Oligarchs

If you’re not scared of the hungry oligarchs yet, you haven’t been paying attention.

According to a study scheduled for release later this year, it’s the economic elites and well-connected business people who are running the country and us average voters don’t really count for much.

Worse yet, even when we organize into citizens and public interest groups, “we have much less influence than corporations or and business-oriented groups,” a Professor of Decision Making at Northwestern University, one of the study’s authors. Page and his co-author, Marten Gilens, a politics professor at Princeton University are hinting that our democracy may have morphed into an oligarchy without us even noticing. 

If recent efforts to enact background checks for potential gun buyers is any example, things are only going to get worse.  "The Supreme Court's recent decisions, which have removed most legal limits on big financial contributions to politics, are likely to increase the political clout of wealthy individuals and leave average citizens with even less influence than they have now," said Page. "I find this very troubling. The Court's view that political donations constitute 'speech' protected by the First Amendment opens the door to money-driven politics and a distortion of democracy."

Which brings to mind an old saying, “money talks and bullsshit walks.”  In the case of our devolving democracy, however, money may talk and our votes may walk; straight into oblivion. 

Walter Lide

World Bank Wants To Privatize Water (via http://bearebel.org/)

Humans can survive weeks without food, but only days without water — in some conditions, only hours. It may sound clichéd, but it’s no hyperbole: Water is life. So what happens when private companies control the spigot? Evidence from water privatization…

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Forget the zombies, it's the Oligarchs Who'll Eat You Alive.

Scroll down to learn more about how the oligarchs are coming to get you... 

Oligarchy Defined: Koch Brothers Worth $100 Billion, Buy GOP For Just $412 Million (via Breitbart Unmasked)

In the 2012 election, Charles and David Koch spent at least $412 million to swing elections across the country, an amount greater than the ten largest unions combined. Now Bloomberg reports that the Koch brothers’ combined net worth has exceeded…

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Bill Moyers: America is on the verge of being overrun by ‘mad dash’ toward oligarchy (via Raw Story )

Bill Moyers criticized both political parties on Friday for furthering the “protection racket” built to protect the mega-rich from paying their fair share of taxes while extending their influence over politics. “Sad that it’s come to this,”…

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The War on the Poor and Working Families

Study: Popular movements strangled by influence of the wealthy elite in Congress (via Raw Story )

A forthcoming study found that ordinary citizens exert little influence on the political process, even when they form coalitions to compete against corporate interests. A co-author of the study, which will be published later this year, said he was particularly…

 

Although I'm just kidding, how revealing might a "First Ladies Debate" be? Michelle vs. Miss Anne? There are a  A lot of historical, literary and emotional implications involved in that single and silly question. On the other hand, can you imagine what it be like to actually hear their answers

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Hartmann: It’s time ‘to abolish the institution of corporate personhood’ | Raw Replay

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Bernie Sanders for Presdant.

I'd rather vote for Bernie then Barack!

And that is just how I am feeling

Nothing else to say!

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Sen. Sanders: Koch bros. ‘want to destroy Social Security’ | Raw Replay

Sen. Sanders: Koch bros. ‘want to destroy Social Security’ | Raw Replay

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New bill ending federal ban on marijuana to be introduced in Congress | The Raw Story

New bill ending federal ban on marijuana to be introduced in Congress | The Raw Story

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Maddow: Mich. Gov. Snyder using new ‘Emergency Financial Managers’ law to assist corporate land grab from the poor | Raw Replay

Maddow: Mich. Gov. Snyder using new ‘Emergency Financial Managers’ law to assist corporate land grab from the poor | Raw Replay

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