Republican Party Crushed By Own Performance

Well you could say hindsight is 20-20 or they reaped what they sowed but the republican party is all but crushed by it's own recent track record.

The recent migration of Senator Arlen Specter is a bell tolling just how out of whack with mainstream America the GOP has become.

I mean really...how bad does a political party have to be to have your own vanguard members leave it's ranks? Arlen isn't some pissed off drunk in your neighborhood bar changing parties...he is a Senator.

Of course the conservative media is going ape shit about all this, like Senator Specter killed, butchered and ate an infant child on the Senate floor or something but the sad truth is the Republican party brought it on itself.

Religious ideals ( in this case conservative but applies to liberal as well) as basis for legislation goes against everything this country was founded on. PERIOD.

Separation of church and state has been nothing more than a motto since this country's inception.

Even the founding fathers thought of religion as having absolutely no place in a modern government and that was over 2 centuries ago.

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"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies."

"Lighthouses are more helpful then churches."

-Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, author, and inventor

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"History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose. " – Thomas Jefferson to Baron von Humboldt, 1813

"The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites."

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity." –Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782.

"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors." –Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823

"Religions are all alike – founded upon fables and mythologies."

"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

- Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat

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Some other notable persons views on religion:

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"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."

-Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor

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"There is so much in the bible against which every insinct of my being rebels, so much so that I regret the necessity which has compelled me to read it through from beginning to end. I do not think that the knowledge I have gained of its history and sources compensates me for the unpleasant details it has forced upon my attention."

-Helen Keller, American lecturer

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"Faith is believing something you know ain’t true."

"If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be -- a Christian."

"It (the Bible) is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies."

"A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows."

"Our Bible reveals to us the character of our god with minute and remorseless exactness... It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that exists in print anywhere. It makes Nero an angel of light … by contrast."

"I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious -- unless he purposely shut the eyes of his mind & keep them shut by force."

"If there is a God, he is a malign thug."

"'In God We Trust.' I don't believe it would sound any better if it were true."

"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

"Man is a marvelous curiosity . . . he thinks he is the Creator's pet . . . he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea." [Letters from the Earth]

- Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist (1835-1910)

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"I was born a heretic. I always distrust people who know so much about what God wants them to do to their fellows."

- Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist (1820-1906).

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"I do not believe in the divinity of Christ, and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe."

- William Howard Taft, U.S. President

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"Religion is all bunk."

"I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul.... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life – our desire to go on living … our dread of coming to an end."

- Thomas Edison, American inventor (1847-1931)

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"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."

- Abraham Lincoln, American president (1809-1865)

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I could go on but you get the point or are red faced with rage and sputtering profanity by now...

Either way you should be awake to the fact that the pretty picture that has been painted by the conservative media and politicians of the Norman Rockwellian image of America and Americans has NEVER existed as they would have you believe.

Republican conservatives have ruined much of this country by forcing conservative policy and agenda at the cost of human intellectual and national prosperity advancement that will be felt for decades at least.

Still ask why Senator Specter left the GOP?



Welcome To Detroit

Detroit at 22% Unemployment - A Depression

Say what you want about the slightly seedy ads in the back of the Metro Times (unless of course you like and need transgendered massages) but they hit the nail on the head again with their most recent cover story.

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During the worst of the Great Depression, unemployment in the United States peaked at 25 percent. That was in 1932. Today, that number is at 8.5 percent. Even if you accept what the critics say — that current statistics don't truly reflect how many people are out of work or underemployed — we still have a long way to go before we see Depression-like unemployment.

Unless you live in Detroit.

Even in a state that's the worst in the nation in terms of unemployment — 12 percent at last count — Detroit's situation is catastrophic by comparison, with a rate of more than 22 percent.

More...

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Source

Welcome To Detroit

Dick Cheney's Daughter Waterboarded

Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney has urged the CIA to release memos which he says show harsh interrogation techniques such as water-boarding work.

His comments follow the publication of memos written by Bush administration lawyers which justified the techniques.

Mr Cheney said that the decision to publish the memos was a mistake.

And it was misleading, he said, because the documents did not include those demonstrating that harsh interrogation delivered intelligence "success".

"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is that they put out the legal memos... but they didn't put out the memos that show the success of the effort," Mr Cheney told Fox News.

"There are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified. I formally ask that they be declassified now."

The American people should have a chance to weigh the intelligence obtained alongside the legal debate, he said.

Source

________________________________________________________________

Nice Dick...real nice...

Let's play pretend again shall we?

Could we make your daughter admit she is really straight instead of homosexual by some simple water boarding techniques you condone?

I bet we could.

Probably would make you look like less of a hypocrite for being anti-gay and pro-torture if you killed two birds with one stone by torturing your own blood into being straight like God intended.

Lets face it, there was a reason these documents and memos were classified to begin with...it's anti-American to torture and you were afraid of what Americans...real Americans, would think of your policies should they have seen the light of day while you were in office.

Forget prosecuting the CIA for these crimes...prosecute Cheney and Bush...they signed off on it.




Welcome To Detroit

Why GM Is UnAmerican And I Buy A Toyota

I get a lot of ribbing, most light hearted but at other times threatening, about my choice to own and drive a Toyota.

Well here is why.

A) 3 recalls on the one new Ford I ever owned, AFTER repairs I made at my cost totaling to about 1/3 the price of the total vehicle because of poor, untested design and overall crappy manufacture.

B) The attempt by American automakers to put the spin of patriotism on their manufacture and my purchase.

C) The bureaucratic corruption and sense of self entitlement of auto worker unions.

And now....Ladies and Gentlemen I give you GM...yes the GM that was bailed out by your money...my money...your neighbors money...your employers money...

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GM ‘Likely’ to Build in China as U.S. Factories Close

General Motors Corp., shuttering U.S. plants in a bid to avoid bankruptcy, is “likely” to build a new factory in China on surging demand.

“Operations in China are profitable and in the future China can finance its own growth,” Nick Reilly, the company’s Asia-Pacific president, said at the Shanghai auto show today. He didn’t give a time frame for the new plant.

GM, the biggest overseas automaker in China, boosted sales in the country 38 percent last month as government stimulus measures spurred demand for its minivans. By contrast, the company’s U.S. sales slumped 45 percent on the recession, as it battles to convince the U.S. government that it’s still viable.

The automaker has also delayed expansion of an Indian plant for as long as two years as sales growth there has slowed, Reilly said. The company will seek to turn around sales in Australia and South Korea, he added.

GM is basing its business planning in Asia on the assumption that it will have to finance projects locally, insulating it from possible problems in the U.S., Reilly said.

“We won’t get money out of the U.S. into China,” Reilly said. Still, “we don’t need to because we have a very good balance sheet.”

China Sales

The Detroit-based car maker said April 9 it expects to double annual sales in China to more than 2 million vehicles over the next five years, with more than 30 new and upgraded models being introduced in that span.

GM makes vehicles in China through two ventures, both of which are backed by SAIC Motor Corp. Reilly said he wouldn’t comment on the possibility of Chinese automakers buying GM brands.

GM is trying to prove it’s viable in order to keep $13.4 billion in U.S. federal loans. The company is seeking to shed some brands, cut 47,000 jobs worldwide this year and close five assembly plants as it faces a June 1 deadline to avoid a U.S. government-backed bankruptcy.

Source
GM says it will expand in China despite U.S. woes
GM: 1,600 will lose jobs in next few days

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So there you go...your thanks for being a loyal buyer of GM...increases in employment in India and China while plants are closed in the US.

Feel good knowing you bought American while you drive your GM around town...while looking for work...you've earned it.



Welcome To Detroit

Sarah Palin Has Sex Without Consequences.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin doesn't get out much. Out of Alaska that is.
Gov. talks of her last pregnancy at anti-abortion gathering.

Last night, on her second trip outside the state this year, Palin reflected a bit on the experience of last year's campaign, repeated her call for energy independence and called on states to reject federal stimulus money.

But it was her emotional and personal talk about the birth of her son Trig that was most revealing.

In front of an audience of nearly 3,000 anti-abortion rights advocates in Evansville, Ind., Palin described in detail how she struggled with her fifth pregnancy last year and choked up when she spoke about Trig's birth.

"It was a time when I had to ask myself was I gonna walk the walk or I was gonna talk the talk," Palin said.

She said she learned she was pregnant with Trig while she was out of the state at an oil and gas conference.

"There, just for a fleeting moment, I thought, I knew, nobody knows me here. Nobody would ever know. I thought, wow, it is easy. It could be easy to think maybe of trying to change the circumstances. No one would know. No one would ever know."

Ultimately, Palin said she realized she had to stay true to what she'd been saying for years -- that "life is valuable because it is ordained."

"I had just enough faith to know that trying to change the circumstances wasn't any answer," Palin said.

But the governor said the experience gave her an appreciation for what women and girls facing unwanted pregnancies go through.

"I do understand what these women, what these girls go through in that thought process."

The Vanderburgh County "Freedom for Life" banquet bills itself as the largest anti-abortion rights event in the nation.

Source

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Wow...she understands how women could do it...she understands how women without the financial or emotional support of friends or family can get abortions.

Sarah understands how women who have no income, no means of successfully raising a child in a healthy environment surrounded by people who will love and cherish a child can get a abortion.

Sarah understands how victims of rape or incest can get consider a safe and legal abortion.

Sarah understands how women whose very lives are medically threatened by a unwanted or unexpected pregnancy can get abortions.

Sarah understands how easy it is because it is currently legal and that none of these women have to go to back alley abortion clinics to have medical procedures performed in unsanitary conditions by uneducated, unqualified persons at great personal risk.

Sarah must really understand the difference between what the privileged in this country expect and get and what the under privileged expect and get.

"It was a time when I had to ask myself was I gonna walk the walk or I was gonna talk the talk"

No it was time to assess whether or not it would come back later to haunt your political career.

What a frigging hypocrite...her daughter gets knocked up out of wed lock by a boy who wants nothing to do with the Palin family and Sarah understands...the only reason Sarah understands is that if either she or her daughter had actually practiced safe sex this wouldn't even be a concern.

So Sarah had the fleeting idea that if she dared to get abortion and have it found out later it would have been political suicide.

Or career abortion if you will.

Can you imagine that?

Your mother advising you to have your child out of wedlock because the alternative would mean career suicide for her?

Nice ethical values.

And WTF are "3,000 anti-abortion rights advocates"?

If someone wants to take away rights they are NOT rights advocates!

Let's play pretend...Imagine Sarah in an alternate universe, unemployed, alone, homeless, no support network of friends or family, her life threatened by giving birth to a child because she chose not to use birth control...in her own words..."in would be so easy...no one would know."



Welcome To Detroit

Foreclosures 46% higher in March than a year ago

The number of homeowners facing foreclosure surged in March as lenders lifted temporary moratoriums and resumed legal actions against delinquent mortgage payers.

Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 341,180 properties in March, 46% more than a year ago and 17% above February's total, RealtyTrac reports today.

One in 159 U.S. housing units received at least one foreclosure notice in the first quarter, for a total of 803,459, according to RealtyTrac, which lists foreclosed properties around the country.

The sharp increase in foreclosures comes as the Obama administration is launching an effort to help as many as 9 million borrowers avoid foreclosure by modifying their loans or refinancing mortgages. Many lenders put a temporary freeze on foreclosures late last year while the administration prepared its program.

Much of March's activity was in new foreclosure actions — bank repossessions fell 3% from February. With most of the moratoriums now lifted, bank repossessions are likely to start rising again.

Source

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And so it returns with a vengeance...foreclosures by banks that are in bankruptcy themselves.

Next you can watch the credit card supplying banks raise rates to their legal maximum before the new regulations go into effect next year.

This is nothing more than last ditch gouging by financial institutions that are unable to conduct business that legally produces profit and should be required by law to fail.

Watch your credit card rates skyrocket this year as banks that are losing money attempt to make you pay for their risky mortgage investments.

Banks aren't going to pay for their losses...you are.


Welcome To Detroit

Unemployment - MICHIGAN IS THE WINNER!

Rank	State	Rate
1	WYOMING	3.9
2	NEBRASKA	4.2
3	NORTH DAKOTA	4.3
4	SOUTH DAKOTA	4.6
5	IOWA	4.9
6	UTAH	5.1
7	NEW HAMPSHIRE	5.3
8	NEW MEXICO	5.4
9	OKLAHOMA	5.5
10	LOUISIANA	5.7
11	KANSAS	5.9
12	MONTANA	6
12	WEST VIRGINIA	6
14	HAWAII	6.5
14	TEXAS	6.5
16	ARKANSAS	6.6
16	VIRGINIA	6.6
18	MARYLAND	6.7
19	IDAHO	6.8
20	VERMONT	7
21	COLORADO	7.2
22	ARIZONA	7.4
22	CONNECTICUT	7.4
22	DELAWARE	7.4
25	PENNSYLVANIA	7.5
26	WISCONSIN	7.7
27	MASSACHUSETTS	7.8
27	NEW YORK	7.8
29	ALASKA	8
29	MAINE	8
31	MINNESOTA	8.1
32	NEW JERSEY	8.2
33	MISSOURI	8.3
34	ALABAMA	8.4
34	WASHINGTON	8.4
36	ILLINOIS	8.6
37	MISSISSIPPI	9.1
37	TENNESSEE	9.1
39	KENTUCKY	9.2
40	GEORGIA	9.3
41	FLORIDA	9.4
41	INDIANA	9.4
41	OHIO	9.4
44	DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	9.9
45	NEVADA	10.1
46	CALIFORNIA	10.5
46	RHODE ISLAND	10.5
48	NORTH CAROLINA	10.7
49	OREGON	10.8
50	SOUTH CAROLINA	11
51	MICHIGAN	12

Welcome To Detroit

Those Responsible Few.

I recently read a great article in the Feb. 23 2009 issue of Time.

This lists the 25 people most responsible for the financial meltdown in recent months in this country...or as I like the call them, the treasonous, greedy few.

These are the archetypes that more often than not like to consider themselvesas masters of the universe types from years gone by, rail barons, oil magnets, land owners, etc, etc.

Except these people really don't produce or manufacture anything for society on the whole...just push paper and I.O.U.s back and forth for profit.

Here let me name the top 14 of them so you and I can direct your empty stomachs and guilty gaze upon them.

1. Aneglo Mozilo - Why haven't you ever heard of him? Because he is way richer that you can ever dream of being. Founded Countrywide mortgage. Gave money to unqualified borrowers as standard operating practice. Sold Countywide to Bank of America which now has to settle the $8.7 billion in legal charges filed against Countywide by 11 states.

2. Phil Gramm - Chairman Senate banking committee 1995-2000
Repealed those pesky laws invented during the depression to separate commercial banks and Wall Street.

3. Alan Greenspan - Federal reserve chairman.
Alan just knew that financial institutes could be trusted to regulate themselves, advised the government in just such a manner.

4. Chris Cox - Former SEC chief, people tried to tell him about the Madoff-Ponzi scheme, it fell on this man's deaf ears.

5. American Consumer - Time states we are rall esponsible for living beyond our means, I don't agree with this. Time Magazine hasn't been to my house for Friday night baloney and water dinners.

6. Hank Paulson - Treasury Secretary in 2006, convinced Congress to throw $700 billion at the financial problem with zero effect...good job with my money Hank.

7. Joe Cassano - Got AIG involved in Credit Default Swaps. In layman's terms, convinced AIG to bet heavily that people will spend beyond their means forever and ever and ever. That cost us about $150 billion so far to keep AIG afloat.

8. Ian McCarthy - CEO of Beazer homes, they were leaders in predatory lending practices from 2000 and on in this country, but don't expect to see Ian in court anytime soon. Criminal law is for the unwashed masses, not Ian.

9. Frank Raines - Ran Fannie Mae, left during an accounting scandal and investigations into sub prime securities, he won't be going to court anytime soon either, he worked for Bill Clinton.

10. Kathleen Corbet - Standard and Poors AAA ratings came from this lady and apparently she handed them out like tic-tacs on Halloween. Her crime? Obliviousness and under qualification.

11. Dick Fuld - My personal favorite, Dick directed Lehman deeply into the sub prime lending business. Which is all now toxic debt and mostly responsible for creating "zombie banks".
Why is Dick my personal favorite? Because he got paid $500 million to help put his country into a financial tailspin that may take decades for it's poorest citizens to pay their way out of.
This guy makes the Grinch look like Tinkerbell....what a turd. You won't see him in prison anytime soon either, why? $500 million buys a lot of lawyers.

12. Marion and Herb Sandler - Bankers who got rich on Adjustable Rate Mortgages then sold the toxic debt to Wachovia..they made $2.3. Billion by bilking their fellow US citizens.

13. Bill Clinton - The prosperity he enjoyed during his Presidency was a side effect of his deregulation policies concerning financial institutes. Now either he knew that the bubble would pop one day or that he was just stupid remains to be seen but don't forget he did go on national TV and lie to every citizen in this country about a blow job.

14. George W. Bush - George embraced deregulation like the head of a $10 hooker. Actually blocked efforts by SEC head William Donaldson to regulate hedge funds, Williamson resigned because of it. George's inadequacy has done more harm to this country in 8 years than any attack by foreign forces has in 200 hundred years.

Time magazine once again did a great job on this...now when you hear the news about how the unnamed financial types did this to us you can put some faces on it.

Madoff is in the list too for obvious reasons but as far as I know the only one facing any serious media attention or criminal investigation because he fucked rich people and celebrity types...anyone who fucked the little people up the bunghole apparently gets away with it.



Welcome To Detroit

God Hates Detroit

And so the worm turns...

It's been a few months since I have posted but I have been very busy.

Firstly, Obama was elected president, cigarettes went up about a buck a pack, gas went down about a buck a gallon, unemployment in Michigan went from about 8 or 9 to an almost unprecedented 11.6% reported.

That is probably low, I mean those are the people reporting to unemployment that they are looking for work, it does not count those that unemployment has run out for and still can't find a job, illegal workers, those whose retirement fund is gone and being forced to return to work, etc.

If you were to press me for a guess I would say it's probably running at about 20% in Michigan in reality.

Of my 4 best friends and myself, 3 of us are out of work so that is a little higher than the state rates it. So 3 of 5 unemployed, of the 2 left one has been forced to take a pay cut and the other is the only guy left in his building, about 20 others at his employer have already been laid off.

Tales all too common in Michigan.

I found work but only for about 6 months, then laid of myself.

Michigan has to under go a massive renaissance to recovery.

Total abandonment of the auto industry as a partner in the future with Michigan.

State movement towards diversifying employment as to avoid economic susceptibility.

Massive price hikes in out of state hunting and fishing licenses and permits.

Blah, blah, blah I guess I could rattle of a hundred ideas but known are likely to come to fruition anytime soon. The Michigan state economy probably will not recovery for a decade or more at this point.

Which segues into my next point...the Detroit City council is inept and wholly responsible for the blight and plight of Detroit for the foreseeable future.

Some, not all, but some on the Detroit City council are the most bigoted, prejudiced, rude, under qualified idiots and national laughing stocks that God could supply.

God hates Detroit.

Perform a search at Youtube on the city council members and let the hilarity ensue.

Last headline I had the courage to read before the newspaper shifted from daily publication to a few days a week that we have now was that 109,000 left Michigan last year...nice...I feel like the last asshole to leave a party late AND miss my chance with the last drunk girl.

So its back to my search for employment, only this time I opened the net a lot farther.

I decided that if given the opportunity I will take my family and leave Michigan as well.

I have lived here my whole life and the last 15 years have been by far the worst, economically speaking.

This last sin tax for example, hardly fair.

Its been proven over and over that the lower the annual money making ability of a person the more likely they will be a smoker. THAT means this tax on cigarettes is directed at the least educated, lowest income citizens of the state.

Agree or not, that is exactly what it is.

Michigan has planned its budget relying on the fact that a certain number of its citizens will pay sin tax on cigarettes.

Now, people forced to quit because of economic reasons has left the state with a budget hole that had to be filled by....raising the tax on the remaining smokers.

Funny enough that is the same thing that is happening to the housing market here.

People are leaving Michigan, the homes are either turned into the bank or sold for far less than it's previous value and this creates a deficit in local governments that relied on housing to ALWAYS been in demand in their areas.

So when that tax base is suddenly lower?....just like cigarettes, the housing tax goes up to make up for the loss in budget dollars.

Only this time everyone is hurting

God hates Detroit.


Welcome To Detroit