Category Archives: Politics

Rethinking the Possibilities

15 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by in Politics

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After a response from friends here and around the world, I have decided to let them know what my plans would be if I chose to run for President of the United States. Because most Republicans have followed the crazier right wing of the Republican Party and the farther left wing of the Democratic Party has suddenly become attractive to many potentials, I have decided on a new centrist party. It would be called the “Change for Sanity” Party.

Unlike those running in the major parties, an independent party does not need to participate in primaries and waste money while destroying each other. An independent party can take ideas from both.

I would make sure my appointments were on the same centrist path as I am. Because a third party President will not have a natural support in the legislative branch, working with both on a bi-partisan basis is essential to doing what is absolutely necessary to balance the see-saw. Even little kids understand it doesn’t work if one kid holds the board down. Right now we have a lot of kids on the down side but less than before. Too many are not being paid attention to by either side and are either sitting in the middle on standing around looking for another game. The “Change for Sanity” independent party could put the center sitters and the large number of standers on another board which rocks back and forth a little.

We have made being President a personality contest with catering to the lowest common denominator being what wins elections. My policies would be to benefit the country as a whole instead of a few friends and donators to my campaign. When compared to the rest of developed world we’re only on top when comparing military power. When we are near the top in individual incomes and first in GDP we should be near the top in other categories and not at or near the bottom.

The country needs a President who can let others in the administration have most of the screen time and doesn’t tell a constant stream of lies, half-truths, and whacky ideas to get in front of the camera. My administration will be listening to scientists and those people with real knowledge and not what some talking head reading off a script says. I would dip heavily into the professionals in the state department for ambassadors instead of who donated the most or is a friend. The best examples of incompetent ambassadors are Joe Kennedy who supported and promoted Hitler and the woman who okayed Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait.

If any reader has a suggestion for Vice-President, send the name and reason for suggesting the person to the Editor.

Other planks will be forthcoming.

Buy the White House

11 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by in Environment, Politics

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The President just made it harder for any government agency to interfere in building pipelines. Only the most egregious plans have a chance of being blocked now. One of Trump’s first executive orders was to allow the Dakota access pipeline to be built under Lake Oahu. The lake is the only water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Thousand had protested getting worldwide media and support. Many environmental groups had filed suit. His order to the Army Corp effectively eliminated the legal hold-ups.

Why did he allow it? The Energy Transfer Limited Partners was the builder and he was a stockholder and a close friend of CEO Kelcy Warren. One reason he doesn’t want his tax returns made public is the K-1 from ETP would show a conflict of interest and breaking the constitutions emolument clause.

ETP had invested hundreds of millions in a pipeline that Warren wouldn’t reroute a few miles. He thought every place had the Texas “Don’t Care” philosophy. Failure to complete on time was costing ETP millions. This ruling opens up the way for ETP’s Pennsylvania pipeline from the Marcellus gas fields and saving millions.

Packing the district courts with regulation adverse judges makes law suits harder to win. People are now being forced to have pipelines in their backyards without recourse in courts. American is criss-crossed by pipelines older than me. They are leaking.

Oh, Warren donated $100,000 to the Trump campaign and $250,000 to the inaugural. Who says you can’t buy the White House?

In full disclosure, I own some shares in ETP because it bought a company that bought the company I originally bought shares in long ago. Although the company’s morals concern me, a 16% tax qualified distribution is hard to sell.

Why Come to America?

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in Immigration, Politics

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Every year during the cooler seasons thousands of people leave Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras and start north towards Mexico and the United States in hope of a better life. Many won’t make it to Mexico because of the crime and corruption around the Mexican border. Some will be caught and sent back by Mexican border guards while others will decide to stay in Mexico for various reasons. Some will have enough money or indenture themselves to coyotes to transit Mexico and the U.S. border. Estimates are less than one-fourth of those who started will make it without being caught or die in the desert. Many will come as a group for protection.

Latin America’s mess is mostly our fault because of our government’s actions and American’s addition to cocaine and marijuana. We have corrupted their governments, economies, and peoples. My best friend from the fourth grade through Junior College was employed by an arm of the CIA building “schools” where they were built with thick concrete walls looking more like block houses on Honduras’s border. He spent most of the 1980s and 1990s going from one of the three to another depending on which our government was backing that day.

We are the reason why the drug trade has destroyed the national, district, and local governments. The narco-terrorists bribe or kill those who try to arrest them or seize their drugs. We have trained the National Police in the methods we used in South Vietnam where we moved people from villages, burned their homes, swept in at night picking up people who complain and “losing” them. The gangs just lop off heads in front of families. With the army, police, narco-terrorists, and the gangs harassing, extorting, blackmailing, and murdering both the rich and poor, it’s no wonder they want to come north for safety. The rich hop a plane and the poor walk.

How did the MS-13 and the Barrios-18 gangs get started in the three countries becoming so dominant? We deported them from Los Angeles in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. When they arrived in Honduras they quickly organized, spread out to other weakened countries, and with imported weapons became the dominate groups they are today.

No wonder those people want to come to a “safe” country instead of living in a country where torture, indiscriminate murder, kidnapping, extortion, and “losing” are common. The more a business grows the more it is “taxed”. If people don’t pay family members die. Pre-teens may have to join a gang to save a relative. We have no concept of the life these people are running away from and our country is the primary cause because of our drug habit and poor regional strategy. Isn’t that karma?

Not Running

05 Friday Apr 2019

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In spite of all the urging over the years to run for president, I have decided not to run. People have said since I know so much I should be President. During the last two years I have found intelligence and honesty is a hindrance to be the leader of the American people.

Any scientific knowledge stands in the way of forming the most idiotic policies imaginable. I am camera-shy and today one must feel the need to say something in front of the daily gaggle of reporters and cameras at the front gate.

I would bring in very politically neutral people to present ideas for me to consider instead of getting my policies from Fox And Friends each night. I would not tell an average of ten lies a day because I don’t have a clue and have a need to be the center of attention.

I think we need friends around the world and would not destroy the friendships and alliances we have developed for decades. I would hope my personality would never be as abrasive or abusive as some of today’s politicians. I would hope that I would follow the moral integrity and politeness of the last administration.

The majority of Americans have shown they favor people like me but unfortunately too many idiots live in a few states allowing them to control who is in the White House.

More Is Not Better

29 Friday Mar 2019

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I thought I had heard the most idiotic ideas coming from Washington D.C. until I heard Utah’s Senator Mike Lee’s idea. He says we can solve all our problems by having more babies. I do admit his idea is the most unintelligent, childish thing I have heard coming from the mouth of someone people elected. I can only guess he is hoping to use that ridiculous statement in a run for President because it sounds like a Trumpian idea.

I did notice he said it in Washington D.C. where recreational use of marijuana is legal and not in Utah where the strictness of the Mormon religion has sensibly restricted it.

Did anyone ever tell him we have a world population explosion? He thinks lot of babies, especially American babies, will solve all our problems because they will be better educated. This, at the same time his party wants to cut educational subsidies. How he thinks having more babies will solve the population explosion is beyond my comprehension. Chairman Mao and Prime Minister Gandhi understood it.

Senator Lee proves that an idiot can become a member of one of our most “esteemed” legislative bodies. His tops statements coming from the White House. Makes me wonder who’s making the Kool-Aid and what’s in it.

Cut the Debts

14 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by in Deficits, Politics, Taxes

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I just ate at a Chinese Buffet and my fortune cookie said “Blessed are the children for they will inherit the National Debt.” I would add state debt. Why do we elect people who kick the can down the road and blame the other party? We all need to complain to the gutless legislators in D.C. and Springfield that are more interested in getting re-elected and padding their own pockets than decreasing debts.

Fixing the problem is easy if the people we elected had guts and weren’t full of crap!

FIFTEEN AN HOUR – NOT THE SAME

11 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by in Economy, Illinois Finances, Politics

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I was born and raised about 265 miles south of Joliet and we go back to see relatives a few times a year. My grand niece is a fifth grade teacher. Her school system is getting some support from one of the few coal mines in the state. The starting pay in her school is $34,702 per year. Starting pay for Minooka grade school is $42,073.

The pay scale for state workers is the same in Chicago as in Cairo. A state senator or representative is the same anywhere in the state. The Democrats in Springfield want to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. In most of the upper part of the state $30,000 is going to get the wage earner off of any state aid but into food pantries or living at the parent’s home. Try raising a family on that much. Granted it will not get that high until 2025 and inflation will have raised the actual cost-of-living.

One proposal is for the minimum wage to be based on a geographical tier. The farther south a wage earner lives the less the minimum would be or the longer it would take to reach that $15 per hour. Both are sound and fair proposals since the living costs are less in the south end of the state. A fair living in northern Illinois is what is called living high off the hog in southern Illinois.

One complaint about a-shoe-fits-all approach is the businesses will have trouble earning a profit when the labor costs rise. The obvious solution is to raise prices a little. Most places can do that but a manufacturing business I brokered a deal on might not be able to compete. Others in the area are competitive because their labor costs are close to those in Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky.

Will a tiered system for minimum wage be enacted? Maybe this is because the poor don’t contribute to campaign chests or are politically active. Two other reasons are pay for state workers. Tiering state workers would cause union unrest. I know of no state which does that but it would make good sense for Illinois. The other reason is if the legislature tiered the other workers, wouldn’t we think it was a great idea to tier our senators and representatives salaries?

One cost savings to the state should be a reduction in state aid to those making minimum wage. Savings would be partially in rent, food and other subsidies. I doubt any additional revenue will come from taxing the higher wage because it will probably be offset by a reduced net income from businesses.

With all the pluses and minuses involved, I believe we should fully support the raises and hopefully on a geographically tiered salary schedule.

MIGRATION IS A MONSTER OF OUR OWN MAKING

11 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by in Immigration, Politics, Wall

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Americans seem to have a problem with repeating history. We have never learned from world, European, or American history that people will move away from problems or towards a better life. The Irish fled Ireland because of the Potato Famine. Various religions sailed the Atlantic for a place to peacefully practice their religions. Most probably came to make more money. The first people across the Bering Sea may have come for adventure. The Africans came without their consent. We move to other states for many of the same reasons.

Often people go back to where they left because the conditions there changed. I think most of the Syrians that left for Europe will return when the fighting is over. Some will go back to help in reconstruction. Others will wait until regular life has returned. When, and if, conditions and economies of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of Mexico improve, I think a large number of Central American migrants will want to go back to their origins.

Why do the people want to leave their ethnic home and move to Mexico, United States, and Canada? One reason is to make more money for themselves and their families. Another is the governmental corruption in their home country allowing rampant terrorism and preventing economic growth is the most stated reason when applying for entry. We may be at least partially, if not mostly, responsible for these problems.

Over the past century we have displaced democratically elected presidents and installed dictators who have terrorized and robbed their people. We helped the Panamanians to rebel against Columbia so we could build a canal and meddle in their politics until Bush I was forced to invade and capture our former spy asset Manuel Noriega.

My best friend built concrete “school houses” in Honduras, just yards from the Nicaraguan border. We supported the Nicaraguan rebels with guns from the Iran-Contra scandal.

We have supported American companies in those countries by bribery, political pressure, and rebellion. The term “Banana Republic” came from our help to keep Dole and Chiquita Bananas in business and not taken over. Peasant workers were little more than slaves causing anti-American hatred.

Violence in most of Central America would be the usual rebel and army retaliation with CIA or DEA implications. The Panamanian involvement with cocaine was so the DEA could track it. President Trump often talks about the MS-13 gangs coming across our southern border. He may not know MS-13 was born in Los Angeles and exported to Guatemala and other countries by our justice department.

Yes, the migrants want better lives for themselves and their families. Instead of trying to stop them at the border, maybe we should spend that wall money on fixing the problems our CIA and State department created. Maybe the people still there might stay and the caravans would be moving south instead.

Get High — Just Not Here

07 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by in Drugs, Illinois, Politics

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Soon our Illinois Legislators are going to be asked to vote to make marijuana a legal recreational drug. Their stated reason is so much illegal drug is already being used, we might as well legalize it and tax it. I knew making medical use legal was letting the camel’s nose under the tent. Would cocaine be nest?

Many of those same people that are now looking to vote Aye have professed moral issues in the past. Voting to legalize an illegal drug just so the state can get more tax money is immoral. Our legislators have used taxes to keep us from hurting ourselves. Heavily taxing tobacco products is good and put $353 million into the treasury in 2017.

People are going to drink alcoholic beverages in spite of some people damaging their livers and their lives. The state taxed us for $171 million for getting drunk. The police have a road side test to check for consumption.

Gambling is considered a sin but we have allowed a fleet of riverboats to ease the feeling by taking a piece of the action for $270 million. Why a riverboat is less of a sin than a casino in Chicago is a mystery. The lottery netted the state $720 million that wasn’t spent as promised.

The four taxes totaled over $1.244 billion in 2017. Some of the proponents of legalizing marijuana say it will net the state over $250 million, either the taxes are going to be extremely high or Illinois has a lot more druggies than believed.

Now we are considering throwing another moral out the window for taxes. This time we should consider the possibility of netting a few million while creating tens of thousands more users isn’t a good trade. Marijuana users get used to the high and many will go on to other illegal drugs.

The marijuana plants of today are not the potency of twenty years go. It has been genetically enhanced. The edible drug was just credited with being the reason for a husband killing his wife. Many other instances have shown today’s drug is dangerous. That is not what Illinois needs with all the guns in the hands of so many cowboys.

My niece and her extended family voted no in Colorado and they cite the same results as a documentary. The taxes haven’t offset the costs by law enforcement, traffic accidents, and emergency room visits. The citizens have been paying higher insurance premiums. Illegal marijuana is still available and at a lower cost than legal.

The winners in legalized are the grow companies, the retailers, and those with overflowing campaign chests. Let’s do something right and moral for Illinois and tell your legislators to vote Nay!

XXV Amendment Section 4

06 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by in Politics, President Trump, U.S. Constitution

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Imagine President John F. Kennedy wasn’t killed by the bullet in the brain. He is in a vegetative state so we did not have someone who can legally carry out the powers and duties of the President. Some way was needed to keep America from having a President Woodrow Wilson situation again. Amendment XXV was proposed by Congress on July 6, 1965, only twenty months after JFK died, and was ratified on February 10, 1967.

After the amendment was enacted several Presidents have used Section 3 to turn over power to their Vice-President during an operation or procedure. It is a way of continuing the government during the hours when the President is unable to do so. The President signs a letter and copies are given to the Speaker of the House, the President Pro-Temp, and the Vice-President. When the President is able to resume his duties he writes another letter saying so.

Section 3 is simple and easily understood. Section 4 must have been written by a stadium of lawyers because it is full of legalese and hundreds of words. Why is it so important? It’s because it specifically details how to remove a President from office without their consent. I am sure the original intent was for a Wilson or surviving Kennedy scenario. However it can be used to remove a President who is mentally unfit to carry out the powers and duties of the President.

President Ronald Reagan stated to lose it before his second election as he demonstrated during the campaign. During his last year there was some discussion about whether he should step down on his own accord. I don’t remember any discussion of Section 4.

Now we have a President who demonstrates a moral unfitness and possibly a mental illness. He has lied over seven thousand times often telling conflicting lies during the same day. His narcissism is legendary. He treats women as toys for his own amusement. His boundless ego has created a fantasy world where he sees himself as emperor and able to bend everyone to his way of thinking. His lack of concentration and retention are well documented and perhaps caused by ADHD.

In his fantasy world, the realities of his intelligence community’s assessments are wrong. He thinks bullying people will always get his way and when it doesn’t, he lashes out. Lashing out when one has a nuclear trigger is scary.

Maybe Trump can be kept in line by the threat of the Cabinet or Congress unseating him with Section 4. It would be a huge step to utilize it but his thirst for absolute power may require it.