March 25, 2012

Thanks, American Motorists!

Dear American Motorist,

As a an oil speculator, I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know how much I appreciate the extra money. Your many contributions to my free enterprise success profits have "raised my boat." In fact, I just got a new one. It's called Sea Mitten. I named it after Mitt (heh heh, gotcha buddy!). But seriously, Mitt knows I respect him. His contributions to the world of finance are every bit as admirable as my contributions to the energy industry.

I was sorry to read that many of you are feeling the pinch at the gas pump, but I want you to know I am grateful for your courageous and willing sacrifice. It takes character to bow to the rights of others. Your respect for my right to make money without regard to how I do it...well (I'm choking up a little)...well, it's just swell. And look at it this way. That Big Mac, large fries, and large mocha Frappé weren't going to do your "bottom line" any favors anyway. Heh heh, burn!!

Some people would be angry at me, but not you. In some quarters I won't mention there are people who want to coat me with chum and throw me in the ocean. I'm glad you aren't like that, all bitter.

In closing, I just want to add a shout out to my true loyalists. You know who you are. You are the solid, salt-of-the-earth folks who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me every time you fill up. You, my friends, put the blame on Obama. You get that inexplicable something about him. Well, it saves me boo-coo dollars in Republican SuperPAC contributions, and I just wanted you to know that it "works for me." I know I speak for Iran too.

Stay in touch "y'all". Heh heh.

Your Pal,

JSU IV

March 23, 2012

"They" are taking something from you and giving it to "somebody else"

The idea that someone is taking something from you and giving it to someone else is a big play in the Republican handbook. It's one of the keystone techniques in the Republican "sales pitch." Since it is a technique and not an argument, the information payload need not bear any resemblance to reality. It has a gut-level appeal that bypasses real thinking. "Government is taking my hard earned money and giving it to welfare cheats." Simple syntax, simple idea, sonorous, easy to remember, emotionally charged with anger, miniscule grain of truth...it is a beautifully constructed little mental virus. You can even skip the grain of truth and it will work on a lot of people.

So Romney can say Obama wants high-priced gas and to destroy Social Security, and Republicans in general can deny global warming with impunity—as long as they get the chord structure of the jingle right. It is very easy to push people's minds into gut-level mode and then just basically tell them anything you want to tell them. It's a shame, because normally, if the Republicans were not willfully lying to try to retake power, gut-level thinking can be a good, healthy thing.

In a sense, Dems need to take a page from the Republican playbook and fight fire with fire. I definitely don't mean we need to start lying, because I fervently believe the Republicans are going to get severely gigged for it in November. What I mean is that we should not forget that it is primarily the Republicans and the people who are funding them who are taking something from Americans and giving it to someone else. We can and should sometimes use the gut-level technique Republicans use except with the truth as an information payload instead of lies.

For example, if we are talking about global warming, we can talk about how Republicans and their backers are denying something that is taking the "good climate" away from some people's land and giving it to others. Republicans and their backers are standing by and even blocking action. They delay while climate change happens before their eyes, creating a devastating and permanent form of wealth redistribution.

When it comes to jobs, Dems can talk about how Republicans and their backers twist the true meaning of capitalism in order to "justify" taking away American jobs to give to other countries. Republicans parrot capitalism in the same way the Devil quotes the Bible.

When it comes to energy, we can talk about how Republicans and their energy corporation backers are selling more and more of the world's oil to other countries. We are paying more for gas because other people are using the jobs that Republicans and their backers took from Americans to buy up gas.

We can even talk specifically about the truth itself. We can talk about how the level of lies Republicans are currently using in their politics deprives Americans of their traditional sense of honor and even their ability to trust their own gut. We can talk about how a climate of trust is important, and how people should not have to be vigilant against boldface lies. Lies ruin golf, basketball games and countries.

Finally, we can even talk about the government bugaboo that Republican politicians so much want us to fear and hate. Far from taking things away from Americans, that government is actually the vital check-and-balance needed to prevent Republicans and their backers from taking away jobs, oil, and Social Security and giving the proceeds to themselves and to foreign countries.

March 16, 2012

By talking about Maher, the Republicans are defending Limbaugh.

It's a lame defense of course. Take your average woman and have her watch a few cases of Bill Maher calling bomb-throwing "Mama Grizzly" Sarah Palin a naughty name for laughs. Then have that same average woman watch several minutes of Rush Limbaugh over three or four days—piggish, snarling, mean, and far from funny—going for the jugular of an average woman.

I guess some Republicans are trying to bet their political careers on women not noticing the difference. In short, some Republicans are idiots. There is absolutely no way they are going to make that sale.

But why are they trying to make that sale at all? We need to stop and ask at this point why so many Republicans are grasping at straws and dissembling to defend Rush Limbaugh after what he did. Kind of shows you how they think. Kind of a true colors moment.

March 10, 2012

Stop saying Republicans are acting against their own interests.

The argument that Republicans act against their own best interests is a loser. It actually makes them feel better. Acting against their own interests is what Republicans like to think they are doing. It's what they wish they were doing. It's what they want other people to think they are doing.

They are so not.

The real tragicomedy of middle and working class Republicans is that, through the magic of psychology, their bone deep frustration, vanity, and selfishness transmutes into an inner drama of selflessness and dignity. Dostoevsky would love them. Republicans feel like heroes and martyrs. Their suffering only sanctifies their inner anger, and tickles their vanity no end.

The only way to get middle and working class Republicans to stop creating George W. Bushes, unnecessary wars, job-exporting corporations, and Great Recessions is to stop playing into their broken inner drama. Republicans aren't hurting themselves in some long-suffering act of selflessness. They are gorging on heaping doses of self-worship and self-pity. They are acting selfishly and vainly, and in a way that can no longer be hidden from themselves and others.

March 4, 2012

Why don't Republicans object to Tricare (military health insurance) covering birth control?

Tricare covers contraception. That can only mean one thing. Our nation's military has been infiltrated by sluts and prostitutes who expect Republican people of faith to pay for their recreational sex. It is a good thing that Rush Limbaugh is carried on the armed forces network. That way he can harass these sluts and help to promote a climate of hostility toward them. Then maybe they will go back to their red light districts.

http://www.tricare.mil/mybenefit/jsp/Medical/IsItCovered.do?kw=Birth+Control

February 4, 2012

Immigration is a great alternative to outsourcing, imo.

I'm in IT, and it seems to me like outsourcing changes everything. I'd much, much rather have foreign workers working and living in the U.S. than in their home countries. When they are here, they pay income and Social Security taxes. They buy houses. They buy goods and services. They build our GDP.

With a secure immigration path in this country, highly skilled tech workers will be able to demand higher pay, unlike those with L-1s and H-1Bs. We could eliminate those visas altogether. It might be more difficult to undermine the wages of citizens without those.

Business people are probably not wild about the effect of outsourcing either, by the way. Business processes outsource too. They go where the talent is, so maybe we should move the talent here.

America has this great thing going for it: It's America. We can take advantage of that.

January 26, 2012

Republicans constantly put down the business-worthiness of the country and their states.

Today I heard a Republican "leader" in Missouri (my home state) say the following on NPR:

“The courts have made Missouri the worst place in the nation to be sued if you’re an employer," Lager saidl "No employer is gonna move to a state or substantially grow in a state where their risk of being sued is greater than anywhere else in the nation.”

http://www.news.stlpublicradio.org/post/workplace-discrimination-bill-being-blocked-mo-senate

Why are we not sick of that? Why are Republicans being given a free pass to level insult after insult on the business-worthiness of our country and our home states? Has anyone stopped to think that it might be, oh, just a little bit counterproductive when the country and the states are desperate for jobs?

Picture a team of foreign business people visiting Missouri. They want to know whether they should locate a plant here. Then they turn on NPR and hear some dumb-ass Republican "leader" shooting off his mouth about how bad the state is.

Of course they do the same thing to America as a whole too. I don't know when the last time was that I heard a Republican say "You know, the United States is a great place to do business."

Assholes.

January 16, 2012

Why won't Republicans let people buy healthcare from the government?

Why won't Republicans let people buy healthcare from the government? It's my money! Why won't Republicans let me spend my money the way I want to spend it? I might be able to save a good chunk of cash by buying into a plan run by Medicare, for example. It is a lot more efficient with health care dollars than private insurers, and it has a lot of clout in keeping costs down. All that we would need is to make Medicare purchase-able. It's sitting right there.

If the Republicans would get out of the way, and stop interfering with my buying options, I could spend my money the way I want to and even save some of it.

January 11, 2012

This whole dynamic (H1-B, L-1, illegal immigration) could be changing.

Jobs now flow to where the people are, so maybe we want the people here instead of "there." I'm in IT, and I have been against H1-B and L-1 visas. But outsourcing changes the equation. Even H1-Bs and L-1s have to compete against outsourcing, for example.

A main reason H1-B, L-1, and "illegals" take less pay is that they are insecure in their citizenship path. If they were given a solid path to citizenship, the vast majority would take it. And they wouldn't be beholden to, let's say, "bargain hunters" who take advantage of their immigration status to shortchange them in wages. Somebody in IT who knows they can stay, easily change jobs, etc., is going to want more money.

Also, they would have to buy real estate, shop for goods, buy services, etc., right here in the good old USA. That's not to mention Social Security contributions, political power impacts, etc.

I don't know. It doesn't seem so obvious to me any more. I also understand from conversation with Indian IT workers that wages are on the rise in India as well--big time...so. The USA might be better off brain- and skill-draining our competitors. Bring all their good players over here.

January 2, 2012

Cantor belongs in showbiz.

I saw Cantor's 60 Minutes performance yesterday.

He's just got a great mix of central casting bad guy characteristics and behavior, although he would not be appropriate for a star-level bad guy role, at least not at first.

For instance, I don't think Cantor would be able to convincingly affect the mommy problems needed for a remake of Psycho. And he doesn't look intelligent, campy, or flamboyant enough to be a Bond villain. He's not masculine enough even to play the Ralph Fiennes character from Schindler's List or bad-seed-crazy-childish-looking enough to play the guy from Inglourious Basterds. Introverted, repressed sadism is not enough for a big screen villain.

Could Cantor star in a Tom Delay biopic? I don't think so. Prosthetics could make him look sufficiently inbred, but Cantor's rage seethes beneath the surface, unlike Delay's. Cantor acts more like a healthy, determined, angry rat than a rabid one.

Caligula? Not really. The megalomania and sadism might be in range for him, but I'm not seeing the sexuality or extroversion.

I think a Dexter villain is Cantor's best bet for an acting play. He would do it justice.

I'm not saying Cantor is really like any of these bad guys, of course. Playing an ass would be in his wheelhouse, because that is what he appears to be in real life. But he could also play a sadist effortlessly using the remaining range of expression he demonstrated in his 60 Minutes appearance. Cantor struck me as a guy who knows he has done wrong, revels in it, but doesn't want anyone to pin it on him in a way that prevents him from continuing to do it. He's a good foreman for the Tea Party Republicans, in other words. But I think he could make a modest living in regular showbiz too.