A Perfect Storm is Brewing !

Right up until the elections of 2004, you could have pigeonholed me into the "Conservative" category and you wouldn't have been wrong. I think I even thought of myself exclusively that way until recently. That definition changed for me when I took a good hard look at what either major political party had to say and how they were saying it and I realized that I really didn't fit comfortably into either party's dogma. There are things they both say and do that just piss me off they are so stupid.

I have always been somewhat of a political junkie and have been following politics since I was old enough to read. When other kids were groaning about the President being on all three channels, I would think "Cool", and then race to the TV to listen. My youngest brother used to think I was nuts, probably still does.

A storm has been brewing for the last several years, and we are starting to see the evidence of its arrival for the last 18 months or so. Individually, many events have occurred, which if not taken as a whole , don't seem like much to think about. My view is that we are fast approaching a "perfect storm" in America and if we don't understand it and recognize it and do something different than we are doing right now, then we are in for some very rough times ahead.

Right now is rough enough, what do you think it will be like if things get worse?

We are in the eye of the hurricane, the lull before the real storm. Enough platitudes. Enough generalizations. Here is our perfect storm and its gonna be painful and won't miss many of us because of the depth and breadth of the damage that is coming.

Where to start?

Frankly, it doesn't matter because the order in which it occurs doesn't really matter all that much, because all of it is so interconnected to begin with.

Any of these trends will start the decline.

1. When interest rates begin to rise once again the shock to the economy will be as devastating as the burst of the housing bubble was. Money is very fragile right now. Sooner or later the FED will have to raise rates, because the rates being so low is allowing inflation to rise ever so slightly. Credit becomes more expensive and more unavailable than it is right now. Credit payments go up, mortgage payments go up, profits will start to fall. Once that happens...
2. You think unemployment is high right now? Put any more pressure on business to maintain profits and/or share price and see where they begin to cut back. First thing to go will be new hires, then pay freezes, then plant and business closings, then layoffs. Once that happens....
3. The price of every day commodities goes up. Milk, bread, coffee , tea, gasoline, things made with plastic, natural gas, all rise to record levels, because companies and their stock prices that make these products are judged on how much their sales increase over time FIRST without regard to the profit made from current sales. Once that happens...
4. Consumers spend less and have less to spend. Hard purchases fall off to nothing (Appliances, cars, furniture etc) Once that happens....
5. More banks fail. Liquidity goes down (available bank assets decline) . Credit gets even tighter, and most businesses will not have access to credit. Once that happens....
6. More pressure is put on employment. More people are on unemployment. Once that happens...
7. Housing takes a huge hit (5 times bigger than now). Foreclosures rise to over 20 %, Bankruptcies rise to record levels (and that is more than now as well). While this is occurring, more and more pressure is put on the stability of the dollar. The value of the dollar falls. What that means is that when the value of the dollar falls, it is worth less and less against other currencies. The reason that is important is because we are very import heavy. When our money versus other currencies is worth less, every thing costs more. Once that happens...
8. That leads to inflation. See point number One, because we are now in a viscous deadlock where inflation rises , liquidity falls, the dollar falls, more people lose their jobs and their houses which then causes ? You guessed it. Inflation. Wash, rinse, repeat. Christmas is cancelled. Cut up the credit cards. Forget about new car sales, housing starts, economic indicators, plant closings etc. It will be more common to talk about who is still in business than it will be to talk about who isn't. Once that happens...
9. Stock prices start falling again. Once that happens....
10. The government (Congress and the President) and the Federal Reserve will feel tremendous pressure to "Act", to stop the crisis and to turn the economy around. It doesn't matter that they had little to do with the cause of the crisis because being a politician means doing things that will lead to being re-elected, not doing things that should be done. It hasn't meant that for a long time.

A lot more talk will ensue about "Stimulating the Economy", which means exactly what anyway ? Giving more money to banks? It will not matter by this time because the banks will not have any of our money anyhow as we have already spent it trying to pay for our houses and food. We the People are broke and in debt up to our eyeballs with no way out. How helped do you feel by the last round of car company and bank bailouts? Shouldn't Studebaker have gotten some of that money? How will the Government propose to "Act" anyway?

Well lets see.

1. One of the first things they always do is to extend unemployment pay. Sure, It helps short term, but is nowhere near enough. 25 % of what you are used to living on doesn't cure the problem. All it does is give you enough money to know you don't have enough money.
2. Congress will start to talk about and pass another "Jobs Bill". What the heck is a jobs bill anyway? Well friends what it is (and will always be) is a tax credit given to companies who hire the unemployed worker and a denial of sorts to those companies who do not. The end affect of this is to drive wages down. It has to. It has to be worth the companies investment in order to pay for itself or get a return on the investment. It gives a company a perfectly legitimate way to cut costs that is socially and politically acceptable. Never mind the fact that it is wrong.
3. More money will be thrown at projects and various "hard targets" because every one of these so called politicians want to be thought of as the next FDR. Every one of them wants a new catchy campaign slogan something like "The New Deal", "A chicken in every pot" or some such nonsense, because they see their job as to be reelected not to serve their constituencies. Think "Stimulus Package of 2009". That helped you a lot I am sure.
4. More money will be thrown at various entitlement programs (medicaid, medicare, SS) because this shows compassion for our helpless citizens who cannot defend themselves. Looks good come re-election time too.
5. Another well intended but meaningless "Home buyers" program will be introduced. There will be lots of rules and qualifiers and only a few million people will be eligible and fewer will wade through the red tape to use it, but, it looks good on paper and looks great and sounds great in a campaign speech.

What did all of this do? What is the answer?

(And never mind that there is more , much more because Congress can be very inventive when it comes to throwing away money.)

See here is the stupid part. They want our vote but do not trust us to do the right thing and we keep re-electing these bozo's. What they should have done was send every man , woman and child some money using some formula and said "Pay some bills" with this money. It would have been just as effective as the stimulus package was I think.

Or, maybe , just maybe, somebody could have realized that being upside down and under water over a hundred K is a "big freakin deal" when you are talking about a single family home.

I think it would have been cheaper in the long run, more effective and would have been a faster impact to do just three things

1. Realize that 80 % of us screwed up when we refinanced our homes and just pay down our principle on the overvalued portion of our homes or make the banks modify the loan terms and give them tax breaks to make up the difference. Don't bother giving me a tax break I can only use in April once per year. That is the ultimate in stupidity. How does it help to give me a break on next years taxes , when I can't afford gas for my car, my house or car payment and I don't have a job right now? How much sense does that make? Can someone please explain that to me? What if my mortgage company said to me "Beginning next month your payment goes down $500." Think that would help?
2. Give the judge in a bankruptcy hearing the power to modify terms of a mortgage. Current laws almost make certain I lose my house if I am in bankruptcy because they cannot do this. Hell if I am in Bankruptcy and my house if my biggest expense per month, would I be bankrupt if my house was not as expensive as it is? Yeah yeah, whomever borrowed the money is at fault. Whatever. 100 million foreclosures will make the great depression look like a lawn party, let me tell you. Put unemployment at 30 % and see how happy you are with your "Let em eat cake" attitude.
3. Don't barely lower taxes. It doesn't help at all. Screw adjusting the tax rate. Most of us would be hard pressed to see much of a difference in teeny tiny tax numbers anyway. I know you can stand around at big fancy dinner parties and talk about the 40 billion dollar tax cut you got passed for low income workers, but that extra $4 dollars on my individual paycheck doesn't mean squat. Eliminate taxes on people who make less than 25,000 dollars per year. Eliminate loopholes on people who make more than 250,000 dollars per year. Problem solved.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

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14 States sue to block Health Care law !

Okay. Maybe I am not 100 % percent right. Maybe, just maybe, the supremacy clause of the constitution will be the way the health care law is decided. Read the constitution at http://answrtek.com/US%20Constitution.pdf.

But, you have to admit I called the next steps on this exactly right, without knowing what would be in the news today ! 14 states have filed suit to block the new law, claiming various constitutional difficulties with its implementation. 14 States! Lawsuits, hearings, depositions, document requests back and forth, jurisdictional issues, appeals and eventually the supreme court probably more than once and a decade or more will pass before any of this is a done deal.

Quoting from a CNN article "Officials from 14 states have gone to court to block the historic overhaul of the U.S. health care system that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, arguing the law's requirement that individuals buy health insurance violates the Constitution.
Thirteen of those officials filed suit in a federal court in Pensacola, Florida, minutes after Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The complaint calls the act an "unprecedented encroachment on the sovereignty of the states" and asks a judge to block its enforcement."

In 15 years when this is all resolved we will see how much of this law is left to enact. The next thing is probably going to be an ultra-conservative federal judge somewhere granting an injunction against the statute until the legal issues are settled. You watch !

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.
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The Health Care Overhaul is unconstitutional

Part of the language in the health care overhaul is unconstitutional. The Constitution states that no state shall impair the obligation of contracts. Subsequent Supreme Court decisions would likely apply this prohibition to the Federal government.

The constitution says (Article I, section 10) "..SECTION. 10. 1 No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility." This is an exact quote from it.

The new Democrat health care bill provides that uninsured people must buy insurance or face prosecution and penalties. It is no great stretch of the imagination to argue that if Congress cannot impair an existing contract, it cannot force individuals to enter into contracts, on the same basis that minors cannot be forced into binding contracts. They have no legal standing to do so.

The essence of the Constitutional provision is to prohibit the government from interfering into the private affairs of an individual.

On this basis a lawsuit to declare this new statute unconstitutional is inevitable, if not expected. Don't cheer too hard just yet liberals, this will be in court for the next 15 years before it is resolved.

Draconian measures are the harbinger of tyranny.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.
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The economic crisis, what caused it.

This crisis started because we are allowing our companies to not pay taxes due to tax loopholes big enough to launch the space shuttle through.

It is because we are allowing our employers to grow their own bank accounts by merging with each other and then firing thousands of workers at once to manage their share price.

Its because we allow analysts to predict what a company's earnings "should be" and then a company is expected to react to that news.

It was caused because a company is allowed to have "Earnings Guidance calls" with reporters and analysts. Fannie mae and Freddie mac failed because the price of food went up, because ethanol increased the price of everything that is made with corn, oil and plastic by huge numbers.

They failed because we sat idly by and watched our auto makers pay workers almost 100$ per hour (averaged including retirement benefits based on the average price of a car) and then we wonder and fret about why they lost money and cannot sell cars.

They failed because the price of a gallon of gasoline doubled in 8-12 months and a fill up was 2-4 times as expensive at the end of the year as it was on the first day of the year.

They failed because electricity, natural gas, jet fuel, diesel fuel and heating oil rose to levels never seen before while we did nothing but wring our hands, if we reacted at all.

It failed because it was and is legal to raise the interest rate on your credit card to absurd rates and on your home loan to more than a 40% higher payment per month in less than one year.

It failed because we allowed insurance companies to price their policies based on your credit score.

This current crisis wasn't caused by a bank, it was caused by classic greed, and its name is Wall street greed and we stood idly by and let them do it.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.
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Some curious questions

Here is some questions you should think about asking the next celebrity, rich person, politician or sports star you want to idolize , put on a pedestal or worship like they are gods. If you knew then answers to this and they didn’t would you think any differently about them or would you just be jealous because they have money and a lifestyle that you don’t ? I pose this to see if it makes any sense to anyone else. The ideal way to find this kind of stuff out would be to pose them directly to the other person, without their representatives, lawyers, servants, aides and no time to prepare.

Am I smarter than a fifth grader?

Maybe not, but based on these kinds of questions I’ll bet I’m smarter than a celebrity !!

I will wager that most if not all real, working , normal Americans can answer at least 90 % of these.

Can you?

Why do we idolize people who are so out of touch with what happens to real people ?

How much does a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas and a gallon of water cost?

Do you have a gardener? If so, how much does his assistant make per hour?

How many meals per month are prepared and consumed in your house exclusively by members of your family?

Name the last 5 parties you went to.

Name the amount and the last time you wrote the check for your mortgage payment. How much was it and when?

How much are the following 5 items available at any grocery store. (Diapers, Cereal, a can of soup, a loaf of bread, dog food)

Name the utility companies that serve your main home. How much was each bill last month?

How much is the co-pay at your doctor’s office?

What did it cost you the last time you hired a babysitter?

How much money is in your savings account right now?

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Join my facebook group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at

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Jesse James is a Dead Man and an Idiot.

I don't know if it is true, but, the rag papers and the internet is all abuzzin with the news that Jesse James has had an affair. His wife is actress Sandra Bullock. Supposedly their marriage is on the rocks.

If it is not true, then , well, oops! My bad. Sorry.

If true, then all I can say is "What an IDIOT".

How bad to you do you have to want to screw up to be an ugly mutt like him and screw up this bad with a wife like her? I am laughing he is such an idiot, if its true that is.

I cannot imagine. With my current wife, I've never even thought about it. If somebody were to say to me (and they won't , trust me, no one wants Fat, old and opinionated), "Do you want to do the nasty?, My answer has to be "Are you high?".

Why would I want to screw up the best thing that has ever happened to me ? Maybe I am fortunate, but , I cannot see an occasion where I could rationalize it and make it ok and then go do it. I would probably talk about it , but I would never do it. I don't think I am any exception to genetics, I think all guys are stupid enough to talk about it.

Good thing I am in charge of both heads huh?


Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Join my facebook group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at

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We would love to have your voice added to the noise !!

I am really sick of this "No Child left Behind BS"

I am sick to death of listening to the politicians and the news reporters talk about this so called "No Child left Behind " crap. Its crap, its always been crap, it will always be crap. The name of it should have been the "More crap from the politicians act" or the "No child left behind except yours act".

Somehow these political PINHEADS think that by teaching a test or a series of tests, then by measuring various factors they can use some magical algorithm to say whether or not a school, a school system or a teacher is any good. What a load of stinky smelly useless crap.

It is drivel to the highest degree.

I would venture to say that this single act has done more harm than good and I would also say that I would be hard pressed to say anything good could ever come of it. How are you going to be doing things "better" by taking funds away and by not measuring the same things in every school system ?

Look, here are my concerns and this is not even everything that is wrong with this stupidity, not even 25 % of what is wrong with it.

First - There is no such thing as a standardized test. Not one state uses the exact same curriculum or test as any other. So if you don't use the same test, then how do you rank the results? The answer is you do it arbitrarily. You assign a value that projects how you think the test in one area measures over the test in another area. No value is given to what really matters , which is the rate of increase or decrease in knowledge gained by students. The only value that really counts is the rate of increase or decrease in your students versus my students. Anyone even competent with logic or math will tell you if the variables are not the same they are not directly comparable. Anyone with any sense will tell you that people who already have high test scores will have a much more difficult time raising their scores when measured against a school with already low scores. What are these idiots measuring ?

Second - This act was approved into law and signed by the President (GWB) and took affect a lot of years ago. The paperwork requirements to meet the stringent requirements of this law are staggering. Everything from accounting for each paper copy of each test to individual assessments of each student are required to be tracked by this law. There are hundreds of individual elements that all require attorneys to interpret and tons of manpower for each school district to be able to meet the onerous requirements of the act. So ? You ask? So what? Well one tiny detail wasn't attended to. Congress mandated the law and mandated the requirements, and then didn't actually fund the implementation. Each school district has to pay for this crap on their own basically. Where do you think the money came from to make this happen?

Third - As soon as this law went into effect guess what happened. Funding for all extra curricular activities dried up. To be a cheer leader your kid has to have a car wash or sell candy to pay for it. Teachers worried about losing their jobs started teaching the test, and that is the emphasis of their day. No more creativity, no more passion, only worry about pensions. School districts started seeing the writing on the wall and began to measure the variables. Guess what happened next ? That's right, schools actually for the first time in history started encouraging students to drop out of high school or were encouraged to switch to adult schools. Why ? Because the students that were encouraged to quit were those who have a lower chance of graduation (thereby hurting the graduation rates), had a greater chance of dropping out , without a school plan (and it doesn't count as a dropout if you checked the box that says "Going to Adult School"), and most importantly these kids were the ones scoring the lowest on the tests, thereby hurting the districts improvement rates. So if you eliminate the kids who are hurting your rate, you have increased your rate haven't you?

So do me and everybody else a favor and the next time you want to tell me about how great the "No Child left behind act" is , save it and just shut up. You are lying to me and everybody else if you think this piece of crap has done anything for our children except make teachers fearful of losing their jobs and drove our educational problems deep underground.

If you are dumb enough to think it has done one bit of good, then I feel pretty sorry for you.

I also think you probably have what it takes to be President.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.
Join my face book group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at

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We would love to have your voice added to the noise !!

Some sayings I want to put on T-Shirts

Hey, these probably won't sell, but here is what I want to put on a bunch of T-Shirts and sell them.

It would make me happy anyway....

• "I see dumb people....."
• "Yes, as a matter of Fact, I do own the sidewalk, why do you ask?"
• "Your village just called, they want their idiot back"
• "I can only please ONE person per day. Today is not your day !."
• "Definition of stupidity. Look it up, you'll see your picture."
• "First Ammendment Rules !"
• "Sit down, shut up, Hold On.
• "Aw NO, not you !"
• "Don't go away mad, just go away !"
• "Defecation Occurs"
• "Life is just a bunch of Bovine Defecation"
• "As a matter of Fact, the world does revolve around me. Thankx for asking."
• "Hey Vanna, buy a vowel."
• "Ron White was right. You can't fix stupidity."
• "Do I look like a People person ?"
• "Lets say I got smart with you. How would you know it?"
• "Just because you keep looking, doesn't mean my brilliance will rub off."
• "Why are you stupid?, not my area."
• "Sorry, I don't know how to speak dumber, only slower."
• "The human excrement is about to impact the high speed device"
• "Dr. House is not amused with your B.S."
• "Don't speak, you'll ruin the illusion."
• "Hush ! Use your inside your head voice!"
• "Is it possible that you are as dumb as you look?"
• "Random selection is proven by your existence."
• "Remember that weird kid in third grade? You grew up."
• "Beauty goes skin deep. Ugly goes clear to the bone."
• "Yeah, I'm fat. But your UGLY and I can lose weight."
• "If you can read this, you can read."
• "Hydrogen is abundant. So is stupidity."
• "I looked up the definition of moron in the dictionary. It shows your picture."

Thankx for reading my rant.

-bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Join my facebook group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at

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We would love to have your voice added to the noise !!

How to Defeat Terrorism in 2 easy steps

OK, before everybody gets all prissy, know I am writing this tongue in cheek. This probably would not work, but it would be pretty fun to try.

I have a suggestion on how to defeat terrorism. I think it would be easy to wipe it out and it would never come back.

See we are approaching the problem all wrong. We are approaching this issue like it is a military struggle and it isn’t. Militaries fight wars against other nations or nations states that have opposing armies. Using military strategies to defeat an opponent who doesn’t use conventional command and control structures is doomed to fail. Who do you go after if no one is really in charge? How do you defeat an enemy who does not have a traditional structure, who doesn’t group soldiers on the battlefield and whom you cannot even identify by uniform?

Its nuts.

Then we cripple the effort we do provide by instituting so called “rules of engagement” which basically are the way a politician has their say in a process where they do not belong in the first place.

The military doesn’t need more rules, if anything I would argue they need less rules.

1. 1. What would happen do you think, if we abandoned the traditional rules we fight under and just did to them , what they do to us only, make our response to their crap, a hundred fold in response?

Attack a building or a city in America, we fly a bunch of B-52’s and B1B Bombers to your home town once we figure out who you are and we just level it. Warn the residents if you like, but just make a pile of rubble out of anything connected to the terrorists. Then warn the rest of the world, you harbor terrorists or allow them to operate from your soil, sell them weapons, allow them safe haven, or assist them in any way and you are just as guilty as those bastards are.

How many cities would we have to just decimate until these buttholes got the message do you think?

1. 2. If that doesn’t work, go ask the big city cops to identify the Crips, Bloods, MS-13 members, the Aryan nation, every serial killer, the Mexican mafia and the biker gangs in their home towns and prisons in their states. These idiots don’t want to live free in America anyway, they want to live in prison. Take all of the toughest SOB’s you can find in every prison and street gang, and put them all on planes and put them in the middle of this crap.

Give them whatever arms they need and tell them if they ever want to come back to America, they have to fight these buttholes into submission and earn their way back in.

Who is Muqtada_al-Sadr ?

How long before every idiot who thinks they can issue a fatwa is wondering how to get their kids off of crack or meth and they won’t have any more time to screw with us?

How long before Muqtada al-Sadr , gets sick of drive by shootings before he asks us for help do you think?

How long before you could answer the phone in the White House and a Mullah would be calling saying “Please Mr. Obama, come back and help us get rid of the Hells Angels?”. Too bad there isn’t an Al Qaeda city we could bomb into submission , huh?

Sometimes I am a maniac !

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post. Join my facebook group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=292482513888. We would love to have your voice added to the noise !!

Sandra Bullocks' Oscar Win

Watched the last 15 minutes of the Oscars the other night. Cannot watch the other 3 and ½ hours of this show as it is too long, too boring and who cares who gets an Oscar for best duct tape job by a southern camera man anyway? They give out so many technical awards it is painful to watch. I realize to the people who win these awards they are a big fat hairy deal that they have given a lot of their time , energy and effort to, but frankly, I could care less who gets the best use of colored sand award.

Best Movie ? Didn’t see it thanks to the town I live in and the surrounding area. Out of the ten movies, I think 3 or 4 of them were in release here. I did see Inglorious Basterds, The Blind Side, District 9 and Avatar. I would have been happy if any of them except District 9 won. It was OK, but not a best picture, not even close.

Best Actor in a leading Role? , Jeff Bridges? OK, he is a good to great actor. Loopy and Goofy acceptance speech, but whatever. Didn’t see any of those films anyway. I’m ok with that too.

Best Actress in a leading Role? Sandra Bullock. All I can say is it is about friggin time that an actress who understands that their job it to make movies that entertain us , is the winner in this category. I’ve been an SB fan for a number of years, even when she makes a crappy movie, it is entertaining. More than I could say about the other nominees this year. Who the hell was Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe anyway? NO offense but I’ve never heard of either of them, Thankx to Hollweird’s policy of actresses can’t be good after age 30, these people who look good, or are young keep getting pushed forward, and they have no idea how to act usually. Helen Mirren is a good actress but I haven’t really seen anything she has done either, mostly because she makes girl movies and I do everything I can to avoid those.

My fault I know, but… I hate ‘em.

Sandra Bullock however is a hard working, 45 year old woman who makes great movies, who makes stinky movies, who makes boring movies and who makes girly movies and gives every one of them everything she has and makes the roles shine. I Think she deserved the win.

To those of you who say she just takes roles that allow her to be herself and to act so that it matches her personality, I say “So what?”, play to your strengths, is what I say.

Congratulations Sandra. Hope you win a few more of them and ‘kudos on the Razzie appearance.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Join my facebook group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at

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Celebrities and Politicians are both a bunch of clueless folks

Celebrities, Politicians, big business Tycoons and Athletes are groups of people, in my opinion, who are so out of touch with what it is like to be a normal person scratching for living, trying to make a mortgage payment, raising children on not enough money, dealing with crap from big companies and general all around life itself, that it ain’t even funny. Yeah, I know. Pretty generalist and generally a bold statement to make and someone somewhere will say “You can make any kind of general statement and it fits because it is so general.”Yeah, I know that too. So what?

The news is full of all kinds of things being reported on that , to me, just indicate how out of touch these people really are. I’ll just give 4 examples even though there are literally hundreds more and dozens of goofy stories to consider. Let’s talk about Sean Penn, Dick Cheney, Bill Gates and Tiger Woods. I picked these names because they are topical , but you could really pick any one of hundreds of them and it would still apply. One is from Entertainment, one from Politics, one from Business, one from Sports and they are all so far out of touch with reality that it is comical. These people have no clue and haven’t had for a number of years how hard life really is.

· Sean Penn is a decent actor. I have watched most of his work, although I could care less about his politics, I have enjoyed some but not all of his acting. That’s normal I think. The thing that makes me lump him in this category of out of touch with normal is his ability to adopt a cause that has so called worldwide proportions to it, all the while ignoring what goes on in his own backyard. He has adopted a philanthropic strategy of helping the poor by taking direct action. Good for him. He delivered antibiotics to Haitian doctors to help with the sick and injured. Good for him. He helped rescue people in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, Good for him again. He has basically done nothing to help the poor , homeless and downtrodden where he lives at though. He lives in Marin county, across the Golden Gate from San Francisco in California. He played a great Harvey Milk in the movie, yet has basically done nothing to help people where he lives. Either it is not important enough because it doesn’t take a plane ride to do it, or maybe he is just unaware of the issues? Quite possibly , the PR value is not enough to drive across town and help where he lives. Who knows? When is the last time you read about him helping people anywhere in America though, that had nothing to do with natural tragedies or did not have an immense PR value? Don’t get me wrong, I am sure they appreciated the medicine in Haiti. I wonder though if the homeless in his own city would appreciate a meal just as much? If you are hungry in Haiti, he might help you, however starving in San Francisco is another story altogether.

· Dick Cheney is one old tough S.O.B. of a politician who runs off at the mouth and is an attack dog for the extreme right. If you are a liberal he is a right wing wacko nut job, If you are a conservative he is the voice of reason and the voice of what is the matter with America. Truth is he is just another politician, who is being used by one group as a mouthpiece to attack another group, and he carries no baggage for the Republicans because they can always say “Hey, we do not control Dick Cheney, he is retired for crying out loud.” The concept is called “plausible deniability”. You think he knows how much a gallon of milk costs? He has aides, secretaries, multiple offices, staff, secret service agents, handlers, publicists, and airplanes at his immediate disposal. When was the last time you think he wrote a check to pay for the mortgage on his home? How can you seriously think this guy and his opinions carry any weight for normal people when I’ll bet he hasn’t even taken the trash out in his own house for 35 years? The only people he is relevant to are other politicians. Not to you and me and certainly not to the average American.

Bill Gates made his money the old fashioned way. He printed it. The company he ran for 25 years , (you know who), has never released a single piece of software in their history that was fully finished , 100 % complete and was ready to go out of the box. What he did better than anybody else was get his stuff on the shelves and make killer deals to have his stuff as the one you would see on computers, first, before anybody else did. He never met a good idea he couldn’t copy, imitate, buy or steal. If you were a competitor he either imitated your work , bought your company and closed you down, or bought your company and renamed it after his brand. Now that he has a “zabagillion” dollars, he runs a foundation that is trying to help to solve some of the more weighty issues of our time. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does wonderful work all over the World. I have no dispute with that. It does great work, is a wonderful idea and is about time somebody with the money spent it doing things like this for folks who otherwise would not be able to make it without his help. I wonder what they are doing outside his own household in King County Washington? According to endhomeless.org there are about 24,000 homeless people in the state, and more than 11 % of the population is below the Federal poverty level. Most of their work in the USA though is in helping schools and in funds for Libraries. I’m homeless and I’m hungry, but I can read, thanks to him? Seems ridiculous to me. Their office is in Seattle WA. I am sure they do great things, however do you think he tries to figure out how to get kids back and forth from daycare and be able to work enough to pay the light bill?

· And finally Tiger Woods. Great golfer, great athlete. Can’t keep it in his pants, and screws more than a hardware store full of screwdrivers, but has all kinds of good works going on too. I’ll not say too much about him except to say, I’ll watch him play golf, and at the same time, whatever his other issues are they are his problems, not mine, and he is not a role model for me or for anyone I know. He is just a professional golfer and nothing more. Athletes in general make more money than they should in my opinion and I have never tried to model my life after an image created by some schmuck in a PR firm have you? He’s trying to keep his marriage together? Boo frickin hoo. Try working two jobs, paying a mortgage, raising 5 kids and have your wife work like a maniac on a different shift than you do just to make sure the lights stay on. So stupid its funny and you want me to care about his love life?

Here is what I think they should have to do. Come and spend one week in my shoes, or your shoes. Call it a special service requirement in order to be a rich clueless moron. Let’s say if your net worth is more than 5 million dollars, you have to do this or you forfeit your entire fortune and we give it to somebody else. I’ll bet you anything if all these rich clowns had to see what it is really like, they would do more to help what is right in front of them instead of hiding behind a PR firm or a foundation or a political party or a bunch of lawyers. Leave behind the aides and cars and Black American Express cards and just come and hang out with real people facing real problems. In order to be called a celebrity or be voted in office, don’t let one of these guys or people like them say stupid things like “We should all volunteer to serve America” unless one of the putzs has spent some time lately (or yearly) with real people. See how real people deal with real problems in the real world, when there is no plane, no lawyer, no accountant, no checkbook and no servant to do all the work. Maybe then they would appreciate what it means to be alive anywhere in today’s’ society. If they did, I wouldn’t feel so blasé` about how meaningless their problems really are and they could go on helping people in lower Gryzbeckia solve their zinc deficiency or some other such nonsense.

It will never happen because it is too much to ask and is way too radical a thought to ask rich people to spend 5 days managing their own life, but hey, If I am supposed to worry about somebody shaving their hair off, or whether some guy with a butt load of money is spending it correctly or whether some rich athlete is banging a hooker every night, then they can see what it takes to sell enough candy and have enough carwashes in order for my kid to be able to be on the cheerleading squad.

Seems like fair requirement if you ask me.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Join my facebook group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=292482513888.

We would love to have your voice added to the noise !!

Schools use Peeping Tom technology ? WTF ?

Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, Pa., has generated a lot of controversy lately with a story about the web cameras on school laptop computer being activated remotely, to in effect "spy" on unsuspecting students as they were using the laptops.

The laptops were issued by the school district and are the property of the school district. The main complaint it seems comes from a kid, whom was called into the assistant principals office and accused of drug use or sales, I am not sure which (maybe both), based on some still photographs. The kid says he was eating candy.

The story isn't clear what the actual complaint was other than saying the assistant principal accused the kid of "improper behavior in his home". Of course the parents are totally pissed off and pretty upset, they have retained counsel, filed motions, are either suing the school district or are contemplating a suit , I can't remember which.

The school district says the only time (42 times) they have activated the cameras was when the laptop was reported stolen, as it is part of some "security" software to help locate stolen laptops. They went on to further defend their actions saying that only two school employees had access to the software, that the assistant principal didn't actually turn the software on and the only thing he saw was a still snapshot taken of the behavior.

I think that about sums up the story as it is being reported today. Wow. I am stunned by the stupidity and think my dogs would make better decisions than these clueless losers are capable of making.

Peeping Tom Technology used to spy on students

My initial reaction is kind of like "WTF". "Are you all a bunch of morons?, Are you guys stupid ?, Were you high when you made this decision? I wonder whose bright idea this was? Were they smoking crack ?

Did no one in this school district do a worst case scenario assessment ?

Can you imagine this scenario ? A 13 year old girl leaves the laptop on her desk, lid up and laptop on. It is facing her closet. They turn on the camera, while coincidentally she is changing clothes and footage of her 13 year old naked body is taken and sent back to the school where someone reviews it to see what the footage contains. I know that is a little bit bizarre but it is entirely plausible don't you think?

Teenage girls (I've had three) change clothes about 12 times a day. They shut the doors to their rooms like they are guarding the Fort Knox gold. I'm not sure any of them would think twice about a laptop on their desk being capable of taking pictures of them without their knowledge though.

If this was my kid, I would be in jail right now. Somebody, maybe that assistant principal would have just gotten his butt kicked. He would have a hard time smiling for the next family photo because he would have had to do it without any friggin teeth.

Don't forget, these are the same kind of people whom are educating your kids. They suspend , discipline and expel children every day for drawing pictures of guns, for having a nail file because it could be a weapon, for having an asthma inhaler because it is a drug, for having Tylenol or Midol due to the cramps and for all other kinds of the goofiest crap you have ever heard of. One school system in Illinois tried to withhold diplomas a couple of years ago because at the graduation ceremonies, their families were too loud, by cheering for their children thereby causing a disruption. One of the kids was the valedictorian.

I hope this family cleans their clocks. These people had no right being in the home on camera, not to mention no legal standing to make any kind of accusation to begin with. What a bunch of arrogant idiots.I for one have had it with the stupidity exhibited by people with so much education that they are stupid.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Join my facebook group "We are all tired of Bickering Politicians" at
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=292482513888
We would love to have your voice added to the noise !!

Why the Health Insurance debate doesn't really make a lot of sense to me

My God.

You would have thought the earth was going to stand still in the last few months to hear our over the top politicians and their paid spokes-dogs going on and on about the health care debate.

Millions of people do not have jobs. Unemployment is at 10 % or better. Hundreds of thousands of people are losing their homes into bankruptcy and foreclosure and we are still fighting two wars in three countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq). Some of our military is on their 6th deployments overseas. Hillary! Bill ! Obama ! Reid ! Pelosi ! (oh, that’s right, it is all the fault of the republicans isn’t it….I forgot).

Bernie Madoff and his ilk stole 50 Billion dollars. Enron cost the economy 100 Billion dollars. Retirement accounts are turning to dust everywhere and the stock market has plummeted to the tune of a loss in the trillions of dollars in the last 24 months.

Yep, now was exactly the time the American people were going to get behind a new debate on health care in this country.

We have over 36 million illegal , undocumented aliens in this country. Every county , state and parish has had to lay people off. The state of California, which by volume is the world’s 5^th largest economy, was some 23 BILLION dollars in the red on the next state budget. Teachers are being laid off left and right, schools are being closed all over and if you can find a Mall or a shopping center that isn’t at least 20 % unoccupied , you are very fortunate. Toyota’s and Honda’s are falling apart as you drive them. Whole brands of cars are just being discontinued. No more Pontiac, no more Saturn, poof all gone. Hundreds of dealerships are being closed all over America and now was the time to explain how we needed a mandatory cost for health care applied to those people who didn’t have health care.

Look, this is how stupid this debate is and how bad the timing is to pursue this right now.

I cannot drive a car legally in the USA without car insurance. If I do and I get caught, I will lose my license. If I have an accident, I’ll lose everything I have. In my state that is the law and they check it electronically and could care less if you have an Insurance card. Even though they are that insistent about it, some 36 million people drive everyday in this country without Car Insurance. They do it and you have to buy “Uninsured motorist” liability coverage to make sure your own car gets fixed if you have an accident with one of these goofs. I pay for car insurance for years and years and years without ever using it, and if I do have an accident , I am thinking of how to pay for the claim out of pocket because I don’t want my rates to go up. For a product I’ve owned for years, paid into with no claims, and to worry about my rates going up the one time I use it is the pinnacle of stupidity. There is no effective regulation barring this practice, not a real one anyway. The only people these laws benefit are those that can afford a $700 per hour lawyer to sue them if they break the law.

The same stupid logic applies to Health Insurance. Insurance companies have to be multi headed monsters in order to sell their products in the USA because there is no universal law which allows one set of USA regulations to cover the policies that are sold. Every State (and sometimes counties) have regulations that are different in every place they do business. So in order to maximize their take from the policies they sell, they write exclusions into policies that minimize their risk. 20 years old, out of school ? Sorry, your parents cannot cover you anymore (unless you are in school, in which case, never mind, unless you are older than 25 then, oh yeah No Insurance!). Go to work at a new job in another state 31 days after you left the old job ? Uh, you have to wait 90 days to join our insurance group, unless of course you just retired from the military or are age 55 or older in which case special regulations may apply to you. Unless you have any kind of drug conviction or have had any kind of surgery in the past 3 years. 40 million people can’t afford health insurance because of how stupidly these regulations have been allowed to become.

What is the difference between a 21 year old in college and a 21 year old not in college that makes them automatically uninsurable by their parents through their policy anyway? The answer? Nothing except CLAIMS FREQUENCY. Colleges have clinics that cost less and people not in college incur Billing that is the same as everyone else.

I don’t even want to get into groups, rate plans, experience allocation or pre-existing conditions, which is a whole bigger barrel of fish by itself.

It makes me think what we ought to do when we get sick enough to see a doctor and don’t have health insurance is to ask a Mexican if he can help us get some fake identity papers so we can lay the bill of on somebody else or maybe we should get sick, get in our cars, drive the car through the emergency rooms doors and then cough and say “What happened I must have passed out?”, when someone runs up to the car , so the friggin car insurance has to pay for it.

Its better insured than most people are anyway.

I created a group on Facebook called “We are all tired of Bickering Politicians” , click the link to see it and feel free to join up. I’d love for one of these do nothing politicians to get an earful of you too !

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

YouTube - America Rising Video - Open Letter to Democrats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3ad1Mlkrkw

Usually I don't just jump in and say "watch this", however today...

"Watch this".

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if
you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

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07:35:00

The Jokes have Started for Tiger

 The Jokes have started.

 

Let the fun begin…

 

 

1.  Did you know Tiger isn’t a Tiger anymore? Yeah, now he’s a cheetah!

2.  It was just reported that Phil Mickelson contacted Tiger's wife to pick up some tips on how to beat Tiger!

3.  Apparently the police asked Tiger's wife how many times she hit him. She said "I don't know exactly… but put me down for a 5."

4.  Tiger Woods is so rich that he owns lots of expensive cars. Now he has a hole-in-one.

5.  What's the difference between a car and a golf ball?  Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards…

6.  What were Tiger Woods and his wife doing out at 2.30 in the morning? They went clubbing.

7.  Tiger Woods crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree. He couldn't decide between a wood and an iron.

8.  When asked if his wife struck him, he said " nah, she was just teed off and I was the tee.

 

And the beat goes on…..

 

Thankx for reading my rant ! 

 

bigmike

 

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/  

 

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Our Current Attorney General is a politician and a confirmed IDIOT

The current Attorney General of the United States is a guy named Eric Holder. He was appointed by President Obama, he is the 82^nd person to hold this job in America and is the first black man to do so.

The appointment is a political appointment, meaning that the person who holds this office is not hired, he is nominated by the current President and then confirmed by the United States Senate. He serves at the President’s pleasure, meaning that he can be fired by the President as well. He can also be impeached by the House of Representatives. He is a member of the President’s cabinet , but is I think the only one not holding the title of Secretary in the cabinet, currently. He seems to be generally a pretty smart guy, who looks likeable enough and is generally well spoken and articulate to some extent (He says Ah a lot, but may just be thinking, I don’t know.). He also appears to be well trained, is a working lawyer to the extent that a politician ever is a working anything, and is at least as informed as you would imagine, living and working in Washington DC.

Here is my problem with him, and why I think he is an idiot of the first degree.

He makes extremely bad, horrifically stupid asinine decisions that make no sense and he uses wavy backtracking butt sliding logic to explain it, as evidenced by the latest one to surface. And on this one he did not even consult with the President of the United States of America before making it. How important does the content and context of an issue have to be before it makes it onto this presidents radar screen? I am stunned that Obama never signed off on this before the announcement, and has really had no opinion since, except to express confidence in the Attorney General.

This kind of stupidity , ladies and gentlemen, is what got elected.

Yes we can (look like morons)

Yes we can (make stupid decisions)

Yes we can (screw up as bad as John Ashcroft did)

Oh hell yeah, YES WE CAN.

He is going to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (“KSM”), in a civilian , federal court for his part in 9-11 and the attacks on the United States.

Who is KSM do you say? Three links you may want to review to answer that question.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1114/p90s01-usju.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_Sheikh_Mohammed

http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/khalid_shaikh_mohammed.htm

Here is a very good article in the Wall Street Journal about it.

You just have to click this one and read all about it. Click here, go ahead click it.

Eric Holder's Baffling KSM Decision

Pardon me, I have a question that I am sure anybody who knows enough about this to be in disagreement with me will also have to consider.

Just how in the hell does he propose to do that ?

For my two cents, I think that any decent defense attorney would be crapping all over himself to get this one.

Will this terrorist be given some kind of special status that does not yet exist for a criminal suspect?

· He is not an American citizen. What will his immigration status be?

· Will he be given the same rights, privileges and treatment that any other person charged with a federal felony would be given ?

· Could he be found not guilty and be let go? And if not, and he is found not guilty, how are they going to proceed criminally, with a case that began on a battlefield?

As to trial rules and procedures, will he be looked at the same way a federal judge would look at a case involving you or I?

· Was he read his rights?

· Was he denied a lawyer ? Was he told he had a right to an attorney?

· Was he told he had the right to keep silent?

· Was he told he has the right to a speedy trial?

· Will the evidence against him be exposed to the same methods and procedures that evidence is exposed to currently?

o Meaning will collection procedures be questioned?

o Will the defense have access to the stuff no one currently knows about? You know what I mean, the stuff being locked away by the CIA or carried around in the special briefcase by Super Secret Squirrel.

As to his detention and the interrogations he has had

· How can this information be used as evidence in a federal court if there are any of the issues in evidence as I’ve asked above?

· Is any statement he has made legally excluded because he wasn’t “mirandized”

· How are they going to keep “Secrets”, secret ?

And so on and so forth. How is this going to comport with the rule of Law in our country ?

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

WHAT THE HELL ?

They are going to have a trial under these rules , with these restrictions and these guarantees for this murdering , lying, terrorist bastard ?

This is why I think this guy is an idiot and is why I am pissed off about it.

It seems to me that any decent defense attorney who regularly gets pimps, pushers and murderer’s off by attacking trial and arrest procedure would have a field day with this one.

He can’t even explain himself. He can’t answer simple questions about it.

Hell, I’m not an attorney, with no legal training at all (unless you count thousands of hours of Law and Order and CSI as training.”), and I think these issues are kind of self evident don’t you?

How are they going to throw out the rules of law, evidence, conduct and charge and constitute an court to make this work without having the verdicts set aside upon review.

I just do not understand. This is pretty disingenuous and is dangerous precedent and is wrong and stupid and political. Not one thing about this sets right with me.

I have given him a new title. Instead of Attorney General , Chief Law Enforcement officer of the United States of America, he is now just Private Putz, attorney at law.

Reading the latest news about it, not one actual reporter has asked these questions.

The talking heads have repeated the news of his decision, yet not one has asked “How is this going to work?”

Seems like they would want to know.

I’m curious why they don’t.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.

Stay informed even if you do not agree ! (PS- Eric Holder is an idiot !)

I know I hold a conservative viewpoint and will never apologize for that. You may feel free to disagree with me however in the interest of fairness and in providing full disclosure, I did vote in the last election, did not vote for Barack Obama and still do not think him qualified to be President. He ran a better campaign than the Republicans and won the election , but that still doesn’t make him a leader that inspires my confidence.

Having said that, I’m also not a fan of Janet Reno, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales and the current one, Eric Holder. I think Michael Mukasey (11/2007 to 01/2009) was ok, but he wasn’t there very long.

My problem with our current Attorney general is that he appears to be a mealy mouthed, double talking , lawyer who looks to be in over his head and has self-confidence issues. There are a ton of videos of him out there already, take a look at the following and tell me what you think.

Here are 2 very good videos of Sen. Lindsey Graham, absolutely destroying Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the US, and all he did was ask a couple of questions. Another great example of how badly this is being handled by the Democrats. This guy looks and sounds pathetic, and he is the nation’s top lawyer. I am unimpressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9bbjBfKJL0

and during Eric Holders confirmation hearing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjjBz4lKedU

There are also lots and lots of Blogs and articles being written about Politics and specifically about Sarah Palin.

Check these two out.

This one is very, very good and very informative.

Be sure to check this one out.

http://thespeechatimeforchoosing.wordpress.com

This one is kind of self serving but makes a lot of spot on good points.

I think it is best to be informed even if you don’t agree don’t you?

http://sarahs-accomplishments.blogspot.com

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.