kimbutgar
kimbutgar's JournalToday I came out against California's three strikes law
I was coming home on the bus and ran into one of my old students. She lives around the corner from me. Her grandmother had a stroke recently and I asked about her. Then I mentioned I haven't seen her dad for awhile. She told me he committed suicide on Easter Sunday. Her father had been in jail for drugs during the 80's. He was about my age and even though we didn't go to the same high schools we had mutual acqaintances. When I met his daughter he had just come out of jail and was cleaning up his life. He had re-finished the library benches in the classroom and he was painting houses. I was going to have him paint my house as he did a beautiful job on one of my neighbors. I didn't ask why he was in jail again but he found out that he was going to be in jail for the rest of his life because of the 3 strikes law. The guy was not a violent man just had a drug problem which he admitted but was working on straightening out his life and being a good father and son. I got choked up and speechless. I asked his daughter if she was seeing a therapist. She said yes but I think she is holding back as she was so calm. She's 17. She showed me her prom pictures. Her friend she was with seemed to be her support rock which was a good thing.
But how sad that someone would feel so lost and desperate to take their life in jail. Poor Ed. I am not religious but I will say a prayer for his soul. I'm sorry I ever supported this law and will work to overturn the law for the poor Eddie's of the world.
I've been without the internet in my home for the last 2 weeks
I'm staying late a work to be on the internet. Hopefully AT&T will show up at my house tomorrow so I can be on the internet again. It's very strange not to have the internet. It's been 15 years since I have been on the internet and I forgot how different it was before. I have to look at my books at home to get information. So far almost 3/4 of my life has not been on the internet and now I am complaining about 2 weeks without!!!! I have become so spoiled!
Are there any polls out there in North Carolina about how the people feel about the religious/
corporate take over of their state?
I was in North Carolina about 5 years and was impressed about how integrated it was. I went to 2 malls and saw a lot of kids of different races hanging together. The people were very nice and I had good feelings about North Carolina. But now hearing the stuff coming out of their legislature and Governor I wonder if the people who live there are starting to get angry or are they ok with this takeover of their rights.
National Review subscription pitch.
Got a mail advertisement from my rich boss again this one from National Review. My boss is a Democrat and liberal but he is rich so he is on these types of mailing list. He told me to throw this out. I couldn't resist passing this one on.
Dear Friend,
The fate of America hangs in the balance. Dim-witted liberals are leading the country half cocked in dangerous directions.
(Me A little projection here righties?)
If we let liberal dreamers and foggy "reformers" have their way, the values, character, and determination that made America great will be a thing of the past.
Me: So the New deal was bad? We liberal s have no values, character or determination? The people trying to destroy what makes this country great are sending out this ad. Another more projection righties!
The conservative movement that brought Ronald Regan to the White House and Republican domination of the House was forged between our covers. Now we're rebuilding the foundation for a new conservatism to take back America, Please join us.
Me: No you people with your republican domination beginning with Ronald Reagan is destroying this country. You're not into rebuilding this country you're into destroying it to benefit rich people and corporations with your free market ideology.
National Review. It's a haven for thinking conservatives. It's traditional American values. It's less government. It's religious freedom. It's an oasis in a cultural desert. It's razor-sharp prose. It's the truth about liberal do-gooders. It's where the new conservative movement is being born.
Me: Thinking and conservatives are not to be used in the same sentence. Blah blah, traditional American values, please! Less government (unless it wants to get up in your uterus) religious freedom (just like North Carolina is currently proposings like some insane guy on the corner screaming the world is ending. And hey what's wrong with being a do-gooder? The conservative movement is dying in this country.
Benghazi - Was the UN Ambassador Susan Rice's lame explanation an Obama-Administration cover-up or simple incompetence
Me: I still can't get over that the only thing she did wrong was report on the intelligence that she was given.
Immigration Policy- It favors people with family already here.It should favor those with skills, education, and the ability to speak English
How to win next time - Republicans must be willing to take action that bucks the caricature that they don't care about people.
Me- Like Cantor coming out today saying they should do away with overtime pay for workers I call it the Walmart on steroids policy. The caricature fits people. You are cold and heartless. You want to throw Grandma out in the street and cut her social security and medicare to give corporations a big tax breaks. You are for corporations fouling our air and water, looking the other way when oil spills destroy your community. Call gay people who want to make a loving commitment to their partners bad people. No you people are really doing it to yourselves.
The coming leftist Court - More than one Justice could retire before Obama leaves office. Look for a replacement who will spark a new era of aggressive leftist judicial activism
Me: YEAH couldn't happen soon enough maybe Scalia and Thomas need to resign so they can spend all that money they have stashed away in offshore bank accounts. Please proceed go go go
In a lunatic world coming apart at the seams, you need National Review more than ever.
Me: Yeah the only lunatics are the people at the National Review
P.P.S. Conservatives love us because we tell them the truth. liberals hate us because we tell the truth about them. See what I mean.
Me: The truth is not being told by the conservatives because all they do is lie to forward their anti people pro corporate agenda. They really want us to be all slaves.
Everytime I hear a conservative on CPAC or Fox one of my brain cells dies
The lies, the misrepresentations, the bigotry and ignorance causes me to have a brain fart.
My husband likes to torture me by turning on Fox and this weekend he had Sarah Palin on with her lying screechy voice. The stuff she was saying was so wrong and so stupid I could feel my brain cells dying. I know I should be able to listen to the other side but they sound so out there and live in an alternative universe from us in the reality based world.
These are the people who say, "how dare you attack the millionaires who pays me minimum wage with no benefits " and is happy the house voted down an increase in the minimum wage. They are so dumb they don't know they are getting screwed.
It appears the lobbyists are gearing up to thwart raising the minimum wage
This appeared in the SF Chronicle letter to the editor today. I think this has also appeared in several papers today:
"Instead of digging up a statement from the National Association of Manufacturers from the 1930s, Andrew S. Ross ("Good timing in push to lift minimum wage," Business, March 6) should have paid attention to recent history. A lot has happened since the 1930s - we cured polio, put a man on the moon, and discovered that the minimum wage has a harmful effect on jobs.
For instance, a study by David Neumark (UC Irvine) and William Wascher (Federal Reserve) found that 85 percent of the most credible economic studies on the minimum wage from the past two decades point to job loss after a increase.
It's not hard to understand why this consensus exists. Businesses that hire entry-level employees and pay them minimum wage, or the tipped wage restaurants or grocery stores, for example, keep 2-3 cents in profit from each sales dollar, and can't just absorb the increase.
Raising prices on cost-conscious customers isn't an option, because sales fall as a result. Businesses are instead forced to provide the same service at a lower cost - meaning more self-service and fewer job opportunities for the same people that the wage increase is intended to help.
Unlike Ross' argument, this isn't simply a matter for historians - it's a fact."
Michael Saltsman, research director, Employment Policies Institute, Washington, D.C.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/letterstoeditor/article/Letters-to-the-editor-March-8-4337892.php#ixzz2MyrtPfaT
Did a little search of this cretin and guess what?
Michael Saltsman, research director for the conservative Employment Policies Institute in Washington, D.C.,
Another one of his nuggets:
Paid Sick Leave Laws Can Hurt Employees, New Study Shows
http://www.crbizjournal.com/news/article_37317466-7077-11e2-8a8a-0019bb2963f4.html
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/02/11/saltsman
This little cretin is a paid troll who writes this stuff for his corporate masters. I wonder who fund the Employment Policies Institute?
http://epionline.org/
This pisses me off that this little paid troll can write this rubbish on a letter to the editor and regular people can barely ever get their letters published.
Heritage Foundation fundraiser request sent to my rich boss part 2
My boss is a wealthy man who has a charitable foundation and gives generously to charities all the time. I think he voted for President Obama because he told me Rmoney was a jerk. He is rich and the Heritage probably brought the mailing list of people that are wealthy. I get his mail and he told me to throw this away.
Anyway here is the rest....
Heritage's idea helped spark the 1994 revolution that brought a conservative majority to Congress. Our experts (me- the ones they brought and paid for) played a leading role in providing conservative candidates with the intellectual
ammunition (me-INTELLECTUAL my ass) they needed to give us a balanced budget, tax cuts and a historic welfare reform that was the first reversal of liberal big-government program in modern times.
(Here's the kicker next line) We provided the intellectual firepower that helped the TEA PARTY and other grassroots activists launch the conservative revolution of 2010. (Me- Proof the tea party was bought and paid for the wealthy people and the uneducated Faux brainwashed dummies brought it hook line and sinker)
Now we've created a blueprint for the conservatives in Congress that will help them block the liberals' big-government agenda.
Heritage wouldn't have been able to accomplish any of this without the moral (me-WTF moral and heritage are antonyms) and financial support of our members. As a member you will represent one more conservative who has chosen to take a stand against the liberals' disastrous agenda. (Me that liberal agenda from 1930 to 1980 gave us the middle class and prosperity for a lot of Americans of all races, religions and provided upward mobility)
Heritage's conservative blueprint (me I guess this is what they have in store for us is they get control again)
To fight back against the left's assault on economic freedom (me- ripping off people, paying low wages, destroying unions walmartization of the country)and the Constitution (me- I doubt they ever read the Constitution because what they are calling for this fundraising sounds kinda treasonous to me), Heritage created a conservative blueprint that will guide the movement for the next decade (me heaven help us if they succeed !)
It starts with our bold budget plan called Saving the American Dream. (Ironically their policies are destroying the American dream). Unlike any other proposal, our plan balances the federal budget within 10 years without raising taxes (me bullshit bullshit, do they have a magic wand? After reading in Mother Jones today about how Florida is screwed over by tea party policies I say HELL NO!) ensuring that we don't burden our children and grandchildren with crushing amounts of debt. (Me -what about today's kids?)
We're also showing members of Congress and the American people how urgent it is for America to return to the principals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution through our First Principles Initiative. As part of this effort, we've given out pocket Constitutions to over 4 million conservatives around the country. (Me -Wow I wonder if it's different from the one I got from the ACLU?)
And we are continuing the fight to control our borders, strengthen our national defense, support American families (me- by cutting funding for schools, unemployment, Wanting to get rid of social security and medicare and anything that helps the working American families)and defend a range of other conservative values.
America is at a practical (me -devils pitch fork if we go their way)fork in the road. The path we choose will decide our nation's course for decades to come. And Heritage is working harder than ever to spread our conservative (filth, propaganda etc) to as many Americans as possible. But the Heritage Foundations staff rely on the financial support of our members to complete our crucial work (Fleecing the yokels with their racket of ripping off the suckers on fixed incomes)
To help ensure our success, I invite you to become a member. When you join with a contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more, you'll make a powerful statement that you reject the liberals' failed policies and support our agenda
to save the (me- destroy) the American dream. ( Me- The American dream was destroyed starting in the 80's with the election of Reagan, incomes fell, unions declined, people got screwed over big time) Sincerely, Steve (Fucking) Forbes.
Now I need a drink and a shower I feel slimed after reading this crap.
I work for a wealthy guy and he got this from the Heritage Foundation today
Dear Fellow Americans,
Today our country faces the biggest challenges I can remember. As you read this letter, liberals are working to carry out their plans to radically change America. Their ultimate goal is to transform us into a European-style welfare state.
(Me- that might not be a bad thing!)
Look their record. In only four years, they've added trillions of dollars to our national debt, destroyed jobs and crushed the economy with crippling taxes and regulations - putting millions of Americans out of work - and drastically weakened our standing in the world
(Me- No you republicans have done what you are accusing us liberals of)
Yet instead of admitting the failure of their policies, President Obama and his liberal allies doubled down, spending more, creating bigger and more intrusive bureaucracies, slashing our military budget, and showing deadly weakness int he face of our enemies.
(Me - What administration created the homeland security and what also destroyed our standing in the world?)
Why I'm inviting you to join Heritage - Typical blah blah blah stuff to boring to pass on
Since its founding in 1973, Heritage has been a fierce defender of conservative principles, promoting free enterprise, limited government (me like when they want to control a woman's reproductive rights?) individual freedom (Me- how about legalizing pot? no we can't because it would hurt the tobacco companies profits) , traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
(Me like only conservatives want that stuff?)
In 1980, Heritage created a blueprint fro the Reagan administration called Mandate for Leadership. President Reagan and his staff implemented hundreds of our policies and ushered in a new era of conservatism - rescuing America from the decline, weakness and demoralization of the Carter years.
(Me- Yeah things have been F'ed up for the American worker since 1980 when Reagan did his mandate and the decline in the country was because Nixon the crook got caught, the only ones demoralized were the republicans for Nixon getting caught in Watergate and having to resign.
Part 2 to follow if you guys are interested. Retyping this crap makes me want to vomit in my throat but I will do it if anyone is interested.
The republican party has become a terrorist organization hell bent on destroying our country.
A hidden coup in going on in this country by the republican party and the rich monied interests (Koch's, Singers etc) Chris Matthews is right about them wanting to overthrow this government by crashing the economy and blaming it on President Obama. And I just read that the SCOTUS is going to hear another case to do away with campaign finance limits. They (the republicans) know they have nothing to offer the American people. They have basically thrown out any sensible thinking old time conservatives and now only have the fire breathing crazies in their party. The only way they can win is by lying, stealing and cheating. People showed in 2012 that all the money spent by the rich didn't change the outcome in their favor. The republicans had to gerrymander in their republican states to win the house. And all these tea party governors from the 2010 debacle who are slashing and burning their states and giving tax breaks to the rich are in for a real rude awakening in 2014. People are pissed and they will come out in droves to vote them out of office. No amount of horrible commercials radio ads and mailers are going to save them except in those states with uneducated ignorant voters who will get what they deserve. Fox, Rush and the right wing media are slowly in the conscious of the American people becoming laughing stocks with their over the top lying caraway reporting.
That said, I think the SCOTUS will not go along this time. Legacy is beginning to affect them, I see Roberts and Kennedy joining with the more liberal wing of the court affirming campaign limits and maybe taking the bite out of citizens united. But in the meantime we have to do everything in our power to get more people registered and get them to vote out these crazies in 2014 before they destroy this country or overtake in a monied coup.
Today's extreme right wing republican party and their followers are connected to the Borg
I can't help but think about a conversation I had with a right wing nephew recently. There was no way I could get my point across, he told me I was wrong when I pointed out several points that contradicted with his Rush/Fox/Hannity etc beliefs. All he did was say President Obama was taking away his freedoms and the Democratic party was communists out to ruin this country. My husband works with a bunch of right wingers and there is no way to have a civil conversation with them. I used to think they were brainwashed but now I think they are a collective Borg from the Star Trek series with Captain Picard. The Borg sucks the life out of people and make them no longer able to think for themselves. These weak minded people are being advantage of just like what the Borg does.
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Gender: FemaleMember since: Fri May 20, 2011, 11:28 AM
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