Out walking one night I came upon an alley, and when I looked down it I saw a bunch of thugs beating the hell out of my Uncle Sam. The thugs saw me and came toward me. I was way too much in shock and awe to run. One of the thugs reached into his pocket and handled me $600 and told me to get lost. I took the money and ran.
That’s what the Bush administration and congress did on Thursday to the people of the United States. The president thinks that borrowing an estimated 150 billion dollars and throwing it at the people will solve the economic problems of this country. How?
Well we’ll find out on January 28th with his last State of the Union address. Now like presidential candidate John McCain I can tell you I don’t understand economics, but I think I have some common sense.
Some of the details of the speech seem to involve households receiving tax rebates of between $300- $1,200 and $300 for each child that they have. Another part of the package involves tax cuts for businesses, giving firms incentives to invest in new facilities, development, upgrades, employment,…. Small companies will see lenient laws on expense write offs, and companies in financial difficulties will get rebates for taxes already paid.
If the expectation is that the average citizen will go out and buy more “toys” manufactured in China, who probably will finance the borrowed $150 billion, I truly hope they are wrong. The best thing anyone could do with this “one-time rebate” is pay off bills or sock it away. If we are in so much trouble as a nation, then throwing more borrowed money at it won’t work.
If we all go out and spend this “one-time” rebate on more consumer goods, who benefits? It’s not the person buying this stuff – it’s the corporations and stock holders! Unless you plan on going into a Wal-Mart or Target and buying products manufactured in the USA --- well, first off good luck finding something made in the United States.
That’s the point! That rebate money won’t even go back into your community! If there’s unemployment, housing, and infra-structure problems going on, the money should be put into programs to solve these issues, so people will have financial security to purchase more toys.
No wait – that’s a Franklin Roosevelt concept. This is an administration and congress that prefers Herbert Hoover. They prefer to sell off everything like a yard sale.
Maybe looking at it from a religious perspective would be better because our government loves that; you can give a person a fish to eat or teach him to fish.
Jake Drew
For All the News Fit to Cartoon - Come sign up at http://www.LivinginLethargy.com
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
“Shoot’em Up!”
How does a gun make anyone feel safer? Please – I dare anyone out there to explain it to me. What is it in the make up of the United States that we have to have guns? Better yet – why do we think guns solve the problems here and in the world? Of course, we use much bigger guns in other parts of the world. Yeah – yeah – I know all about the second amendment. You have to provide a better reason than that one.
The shootings at Virginia Tech University were a tragic incident. An incident – an occurrence - an episode. It will probably never happen there again. These occurrences happen all over and not very frequent considering the gun craziness of most of the United States of America.
If being armed makes a person feel protected, we should arm everyone because who knows when you might be involved in a shoot out. Personally I have never been in a shoot out. Heck – I’ve never seen a handgun, except on the hip of the police, which makes me feel safe enough. I live in a high crime area of my city too, so it’s not because I’m a satellite dish suburbanite.
Texas Governor, Rick Perry, thinks that students should carry guns on campus. “It makes sense for Texans to be able to protect themselves from deranged individuals.”
I’ve been to Texas – he’s right! The place is full of deranged nuts. My only concern is for the lower grades – the innocent children. It seems most of school shootings happen in grade school or high school situations. Some congress person in Wisconsin a few months ago came up with a brilliant idea – arm the teachers! Yeah – and I bet teachers could get a kid’s attention a lot easier with a gun. Think of what it could do for the educational system. Heck – no need for parent/teacher conferences anymore. You are in my classroom now and what I say is the law around here.
“Where’s your homework, punk?”
“Don’t give me that old story about your dog!” Click!
I know the University of Utah allows students to carry handguns, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a gun battle on their campus. Though I don’t think they are a good testing ground. I’d assume the lack of shoot ups there is because of the highly religious morals of the students. Mormons are a heck’uva lot less violent nowadays than in the past.
So the best that I can come up with is that unless everyone is armed in the USA we can never reach the level of security that we all want.
- Jake Drew
Come JOIN US at http://www.LivinginLethargy.com
The shootings at Virginia Tech University were a tragic incident. An incident – an occurrence - an episode. It will probably never happen there again. These occurrences happen all over and not very frequent considering the gun craziness of most of the United States of America.
If being armed makes a person feel protected, we should arm everyone because who knows when you might be involved in a shoot out. Personally I have never been in a shoot out. Heck – I’ve never seen a handgun, except on the hip of the police, which makes me feel safe enough. I live in a high crime area of my city too, so it’s not because I’m a satellite dish suburbanite.
Texas Governor, Rick Perry, thinks that students should carry guns on campus. “It makes sense for Texans to be able to protect themselves from deranged individuals.”
I’ve been to Texas – he’s right! The place is full of deranged nuts. My only concern is for the lower grades – the innocent children. It seems most of school shootings happen in grade school or high school situations. Some congress person in Wisconsin a few months ago came up with a brilliant idea – arm the teachers! Yeah – and I bet teachers could get a kid’s attention a lot easier with a gun. Think of what it could do for the educational system. Heck – no need for parent/teacher conferences anymore. You are in my classroom now and what I say is the law around here.
“Where’s your homework, punk?”
“Don’t give me that old story about your dog!” Click!
I know the University of Utah allows students to carry handguns, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a gun battle on their campus. Though I don’t think they are a good testing ground. I’d assume the lack of shoot ups there is because of the highly religious morals of the students. Mormons are a heck’uva lot less violent nowadays than in the past.
So the best that I can come up with is that unless everyone is armed in the USA we can never reach the level of security that we all want.
- Jake Drew
Come JOIN US at http://www.LivinginLethargy.com
Monday, April 30, 2007
“Bizarro World”
When I was a boy reading “Superman” comics I ran into an alternative universe, Bizarro World”. Quite a few times in my adult life I have felt that I’ve entered that alternative world. I’m having those feelings now.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel have been wearing themselves out by trying to get the message out about global climate change, and that message is being received by the United States as the crazy uncle that you were told to ignore as a kid. We have until 2020 to reduce carbon emissions by eighty percent. That’s less than fifteen years!
By 2050 around a billion people will face food and fresh water shortages. Sea levels will rise, and major populations around the world will be relocated inland. New Orleans was a testing ground for things to come. Anyone who thinks that the government’s reaction to Katrina was about incompetence should realize that they realized that there was no point in salvaging or rebuilding the city. It’s just going to be worse next time and then the next time. So why invest in rebuilding what could be considered the United States version of Atlantis.
The president has finally or kind’a admitted that global climate change might, well, maybe, be caused by humans. What a giant step for the oil man! Now, of course, he’s all for regulations and trying to counter attack the emissions issue, but only as long as it doesn’t have an effect on the economy.
Well I don’t see how it can’t have an effect on the economy. It might be a good move for the economy by developing new technologies as new markets that will replace the old. Though I don’t think things are moving fast enough to create this new economy. We aren’t going to make it because consumerism is so embedded into everyone’s brain.
This leads me back to Bizarro World. We are going to have to start thinking in terms of the Bizarro World where everything is the opposite. Used is good, new is bad. There was a movement during the Great Depression and into World War II where people were involved in saving scrap or recycling clothes and other items, bartering with others, neighborhood gardens, and on and on. We can learn a lot from that generation and time. The attitude has to adjust that old things are coveted, and buying new is wasteful or only okay when necessary.
People are going to have to change:
“I don’t have an air conditioner.”
“Wow! That’s impressive.” They responded.
“I figure it helps prevent black outs and allows people that need the air conditioning to use it.”
Or:
“I’ve been biking to the grocery store. I have to make two trips, but it’s good exercise!”
“Me too. I used to drive my car to the fitness center, but I realized that it lacked some
common sense on my part.”
See what I mean? Write me with a scenario of your own.
Oh yeah and anything plastic should be shunned! Jake Drew
Come join US at http://www.livinginlethargy.com/
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel have been wearing themselves out by trying to get the message out about global climate change, and that message is being received by the United States as the crazy uncle that you were told to ignore as a kid. We have until 2020 to reduce carbon emissions by eighty percent. That’s less than fifteen years!
By 2050 around a billion people will face food and fresh water shortages. Sea levels will rise, and major populations around the world will be relocated inland. New Orleans was a testing ground for things to come. Anyone who thinks that the government’s reaction to Katrina was about incompetence should realize that they realized that there was no point in salvaging or rebuilding the city. It’s just going to be worse next time and then the next time. So why invest in rebuilding what could be considered the United States version of Atlantis.
The president has finally or kind’a admitted that global climate change might, well, maybe, be caused by humans. What a giant step for the oil man! Now, of course, he’s all for regulations and trying to counter attack the emissions issue, but only as long as it doesn’t have an effect on the economy.
Well I don’t see how it can’t have an effect on the economy. It might be a good move for the economy by developing new technologies as new markets that will replace the old. Though I don’t think things are moving fast enough to create this new economy. We aren’t going to make it because consumerism is so embedded into everyone’s brain.
This leads me back to Bizarro World. We are going to have to start thinking in terms of the Bizarro World where everything is the opposite. Used is good, new is bad. There was a movement during the Great Depression and into World War II where people were involved in saving scrap or recycling clothes and other items, bartering with others, neighborhood gardens, and on and on. We can learn a lot from that generation and time. The attitude has to adjust that old things are coveted, and buying new is wasteful or only okay when necessary.
People are going to have to change:
“I don’t have an air conditioner.”
“Wow! That’s impressive.” They responded.
“I figure it helps prevent black outs and allows people that need the air conditioning to use it.”
Or:
“I’ve been biking to the grocery store. I have to make two trips, but it’s good exercise!”
“Me too. I used to drive my car to the fitness center, but I realized that it lacked some
common sense on my part.”
See what I mean? Write me with a scenario of your own.
Oh yeah and anything plastic should be shunned! Jake Drew
Come join US at http://www.livinginlethargy.com/
Monday, April 9, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Heck, Fight’em Over Here!
I’m a big fan of westerns, and it seems that this administration is too. They talk in cowboy lingo and their idol, Ronnie Reagan, starred in a number of them before becoming president. I’ll admit I’m not a Reagan fan – I like Randolph Scott better as a western star. The United States government should screen a few western movies to help with that “War on Terror”.
Now I admit I have trouble with what “the terror” is or who the terrorists are that are trying to get us and what they want to get us for. Plus Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to one heck’uva a wagon train of terrorism recently. Considering all the things he confessed to being involved with I’d take the plural out of terrorists.
The “fight’em over there” concept escapes me too. We can’t really pin down who the terrorists are. The United States might know who a few of these terrorists are and has the names of organizations that are a threat to us, but we don’t know where they are. If we are sending out our troops to wipe out terrorists, I think it might be better to wait for them to come here.
Now I might seem politically incorrect in this next part, but I’m only referencing what I’ve seen in Hollywood westerns. If a fort was under attack by “the Indians”, “the cowboys” never ever throw open the gates and run out to the enemy. They waited for the fort to be attacked and fought off the enemy from high up on the inside of the fort’s walls.
I know Hollywood and reality are two separate things, but what about the wall we want to build along the Mexican border? This is really no different than a movie set. The fence doesn’t solve the problem – it only creates an image. So wouldn’t it make more sense economically to bring the troops home and post them all over the country? You could have troops on city buses, walking the streets, the borders, using electronic surveillance. Heck – I’d love to see one of those big old army tanks coming down my street.
Considering there is no thought to when this “war on terror” will end or where the terrorists are or who they are. It just makes sense financially and for the well being of the military to bring them home and let them patrol the streets. If we have 130,000 troops in Iraq, that would be 2,600 troops stationed in each one of the fifty states. While the military is in our cities they could take care of the gang members or any illegal activities too. There’s enough of this type of terrorism to make the country look like Tombstone or Dodge City of the late 1800s.
Shoot a letter to your congress people and let them know how you feel.
- Jake Drew
Come VIST US at http://www.LivinginLethargy.com
Now I admit I have trouble with what “the terror” is or who the terrorists are that are trying to get us and what they want to get us for. Plus Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to one heck’uva a wagon train of terrorism recently. Considering all the things he confessed to being involved with I’d take the plural out of terrorists.
The “fight’em over there” concept escapes me too. We can’t really pin down who the terrorists are. The United States might know who a few of these terrorists are and has the names of organizations that are a threat to us, but we don’t know where they are. If we are sending out our troops to wipe out terrorists, I think it might be better to wait for them to come here.
Now I might seem politically incorrect in this next part, but I’m only referencing what I’ve seen in Hollywood westerns. If a fort was under attack by “the Indians”, “the cowboys” never ever throw open the gates and run out to the enemy. They waited for the fort to be attacked and fought off the enemy from high up on the inside of the fort’s walls.
I know Hollywood and reality are two separate things, but what about the wall we want to build along the Mexican border? This is really no different than a movie set. The fence doesn’t solve the problem – it only creates an image. So wouldn’t it make more sense economically to bring the troops home and post them all over the country? You could have troops on city buses, walking the streets, the borders, using electronic surveillance. Heck – I’d love to see one of those big old army tanks coming down my street.
Considering there is no thought to when this “war on terror” will end or where the terrorists are or who they are. It just makes sense financially and for the well being of the military to bring them home and let them patrol the streets. If we have 130,000 troops in Iraq, that would be 2,600 troops stationed in each one of the fifty states. While the military is in our cities they could take care of the gang members or any illegal activities too. There’s enough of this type of terrorism to make the country look like Tombstone or Dodge City of the late 1800s.
Shoot a letter to your congress people and let them know how you feel.
- Jake Drew
Come VIST US at http://www.LivinginLethargy.com
Monday, March 12, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
SUCH A GOOD BOY!
Last week President Bush sent strong-arm Cheney to tell the president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, that he better step up the hunt for Al Qaeda operatives. If Musharraf didn’t, those Democrats in congress would cut his funding. The Democrats urged the Bush administration to squeeze Pakistan some because American commanders claimed that a number of Taliban were resting easy in Pakistan.
General Musharraf should react because President Bush is looking to give Pakistan $785 Million to help eliminate Islamic radicalism. That’s right $785 Million, and the best part is Pakistan is currently the fifth largest benefactor of U.S. aid. President Musharraf is a smart guy, and in his book that came out in the fall he referenced the “prize money” paid out to him to fight this war of terror, which estimates claim to be around $10 billion in the last five years.
So like a kid being threatened that he won’t receive his allowance unless he cleans up his pig sty of a bedroom – Musharraf came through like a good teenager. Within a day or so of the congressional threat the Pakistanis arrested Mullah Obaidullah, a senior leader in the Taliban. That should satisfy Mother Liberty for awhile or until the next allowance is needed to be paid out.
Write your congress people because there is no excuse why Pakistan is receiving this kind of money. We are being played like absent parents.
- Jake Drew
Come Visit us at http://www.LivinginLethargy.com
General Musharraf should react because President Bush is looking to give Pakistan $785 Million to help eliminate Islamic radicalism. That’s right $785 Million, and the best part is Pakistan is currently the fifth largest benefactor of U.S. aid. President Musharraf is a smart guy, and in his book that came out in the fall he referenced the “prize money” paid out to him to fight this war of terror, which estimates claim to be around $10 billion in the last five years.
So like a kid being threatened that he won’t receive his allowance unless he cleans up his pig sty of a bedroom – Musharraf came through like a good teenager. Within a day or so of the congressional threat the Pakistanis arrested Mullah Obaidullah, a senior leader in the Taliban. That should satisfy Mother Liberty for awhile or until the next allowance is needed to be paid out.
Write your congress people because there is no excuse why Pakistan is receiving this kind of money. We are being played like absent parents.
- Jake Drew
Come Visit us at http://www.LivinginLethargy.com
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