Government Job Hours

A guy goes to the post office to apply for a job. The interviewer asks him, "Are you allergic to anything?" He replies, "Yes, caffeine. I can't drink coffee." "Ok, Have you ever been in the military service?" "Yes," he says, "I was in Iraq for one tour." The interviewer says, "That will give you 5 extra points toward employment."  Then he asks, "Are you disabled in any way?" The guy says, "Yes. A bomb exploded near me and I lost both my testicles." The interviewer grimaces and then says, "Okay. You've got enough points for me to hire you right now. Our normal hours are from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. You can start tomorrow at 10:00 am, and plan on starting at 10:00 am every day." The guy is puzzled and asks, "If the work hours are from 8:00 am to 4:00 PM, why don't you want me here until 10:00 am?" "This is a government job", the interviewer says.  "For the first two hours, we just stand around drinking coffee and scratching our balls. No point in you coming in for that."                                            Awww...so true

The Betrayal of Our Moral Standards

The rant lady is back again! But how can we not look at what's happening in our country lately?

The past week we have been forced to take one more long look at what has happened to our moral ideas and standards as the issue of torture has made its’ way into the spotlight again. I realize and understand that President Obama wants to move ahead and deal with the serious challenges that we have facing us right now – an economic crisis, a health care crisis, an environmental crisis. So, isn’t revisiting the abuses of the last eight years, no matter how bad they were, a luxury we can’t afford? This was NYT Op-Ed columnist, Paul Krugman’s question in his column on Friday.

I have to admit that I don’t want to look at or for any more problems in this country today, but we are more than a collection of policies. And as Krugman said, we are, or at least we used to be, a nation of moral ideals. We haven’t always done a perfect job upholding those ideals, but never before have our leaders so utterly betrayed everything our nation stands for. Former President George Bush declared that, “This government does not torture people.” But it did and the entire world knows it. And it was done not to prevent another terrorist attack, it was done to justify a war the Bush Government was determined to wage on Iraq.

I have read articles not only by Krugman, but by former FBI supervisory special agent, Ali Soufan and Nicholas Kristof and Frank Rich also NYT Op-Ed columnists. The general consensus is that we need to investigate the Bush Administration’s abuses. The only way we can regain our moral compass, not just for the sake of our position in the world, but for the sake of our own national conscience, is to investigate how that happened, and, if necessary, to prosecute those responsible.

No one would be calling Tim Geithner away from his efforts to rescue the economy. Or Orszag, the budget director, wouldn’t be called away from his efforts to reform health care, or Chu, the energy secretary, wouldn’t be called away from his efforts to limit climate change. Even the president needn’t, and according to Krugman, shouldn’t be involved. All that the president needs do is let the Justice Department do its job.

Like Krugman, I think America is capable of uncovering the truth and enforcing the law even while it goes about its other business. Still, there are many people who believe that revisiting the abuses of the Bush years would undermine the political consensus the president needs to pursue his agenda. Unfortunately, the answer to that is – what political consensus? There are still a significant number of people in our political life who stand on the side of the torturers, but these are the same people who have been relentless in their efforts to block the President’s attempt to deal with our economic crisis and will be equally relentless in their opposition when he endeavors to deal with health care and climate change. President Obama cannot lose their good will, because they never offered any in the first place.

I know there are lots of people in this country who just don’t want an ugly scene and I, too, feel that perhaps President Obama, who prefers visions of uplift to confrontation, is one of those, but the ugliness is already there – none of us can make it go away by pretending. And I suspect there are a lot of others that would prefer not to revisit those years because they don’t want to be reminded of their own sins of omission.

But the fact is that officials in the Bush administration instituted torture as a policy, misled the nation into a war they wanted to fight and, probably, tortured people in the attempt to extract “confessions” that would justify that war. And during the march to war, most of the political and media establishment looked the other way.

It’s hard not to be cynical when some of the people who should have spoken out against what was happening, but didn’t, now declare that we should forget the whole era – for the sake of the country, of course.

I’m afraid that I totally agree with Krugman that what we really should do for the sake of the country is have investigations both of torture and of the march to war. These investigations should, where appropriate, be followed by prosecutions, not out of vindictiveness, but because this is – I ‘d like to think – a nation of laws.

Krugman finishes by saying, that we need to do this for the sake of our future. For this isn’t about looking backward, indeed it is about looking forward – because it’s about reclaiming America’s soul.

A Tea Bag

What a wonderful idea, I just wish it had been mine. I have a feeling that USPS is going to have a hell of a lot of tea to contend with, after all it only costs 42 cents to send a message, hopefully heard round the world!!!

So please mark your Calendars

There's a storm a brewin'. What happens when good, responsible people keep quiet? Washington has forgotten they work for us. We don't work for them. Throwing good money after bad is NOT the answer. I am sick of the midnight, closed door sessions to come up with a plan. I am sick of Congress raking CEO's over the coals while they, themselves, have defaulted on their taxes. I am sick of the bailed out companies having lavish vacations and retreats on my dollar. I am sick of being told it is MY responsibility to rescue people that, knowingly, bought more house than they could afford. I am sick of being made to feel it is my patriotic duty to pay MORE taxes. I, like all of you, am a responsible citizen. I pay my taxes. I live on a budget and I don't ask someone else to carry the burden for poor decisions I may make. I have emailed my congressmen and senators asking them to NOT vote for the stimulus package as it was written without reading it first. No one listened. They voted for it, pork and all.

O.K. folks, here it is. You may think you are just one voice and what you think won't make a difference. Well, yes it will and YES, WE CAN!! If you are disgusted and angry with the way Washington is handling our taxes. If you are fearful of the fallout from the reckless spending of BILLIONS to bailout and "stimulate" without accountability and responsibility then we need to become ONE, LOUD VOICE THAT CAN BE HEARD FROM EVERY CITY, TOWN, SUBURB AND HOME IN AMERICA. There is a growing protest to demand that Congress, the President and his cabinet LISTEN to us, the American Citizens. What is being done in Washington is NOT the way to handle the economic free fall.

So, here's the plan. On April 1, 2009, all Americans are asked to send a TEABAG to Washington , D.C. You do not have to enclose a note or any other information unless you so desire. Just a TEABAG. Many cities are organizing protests. If you simply search, "New American Tea Party", several sites will come up. If you aren't the 'protester' type, simply make your one voice heard with a TEABAG. Your one voice will become a roar when joined with millions of others that feel the same way. Yes, something needs to be done but the lack of confidence as shown by the steady decline in the stock market speaks volumes.

This was not my idea. I visited the sites of the 'New American Tea Party' and an online survey showed over 90% of thousands said they would send the teabag on April. Why, April 1?? We want them to reach Washington by April 15. Will you do it? I will. Send it to; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington , D.C. 20500.

Forward this to everyone in your address book. Visit the web sites for more information about the 'New American Tea Party'. I would encourage everyone to go ahead and get the envelope ready to mail, then just drop it in the mail April 1. Can't guarantee what the postage will be by then, it is going up as we speak, but have your envelope ready. What will this cost you? A little time and a 40 something cent stamp.

What could you receive in benefits? Maybe, just maybe, our elected officials will start to listen to the people. Take out the Pork. Tell us how the money is being spent. We want TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. Remember, the money will be spent over the next 4-5 years. It is not too late.

Of course, if you agree with the way things are being done now, don't bother.

A Letter to the World

Dear World:

We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding,

Sincerely,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Dreaded T-Word

We’re being warned these days of huge budget deficits for years to come – even by President-elect Obama. The economy is in a precipitous downturn and no one, right or left, is advocating tax increases that would jeopardize a recovery. Bob Herbert, Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times wrote in his column this morning that we are spending money as fast as we can on TARP and the proposed stimulus program plus the overhaul of the way we pay for health care. Even China is getting antsy and has been prompted to keep more of its money at home. Not good news for U.S. borrowers. Let’s face it, sooner or later we’re going to have to face the dreaded T-word – taxes.

However, according to Mr. Herbert, there’s a good idea out there that takes its cue from Willie Sutton. Why not go where the money is?

Dean Baker, an economist, is a strong advocate of a financial transaction tax. This would impose a small fee – perhaps 0.25 percent on the sale or transfer of stocks, bonds, and other financial assets, including the seemingly endless variety of exotic financial instruments that have been in the news so much lately.

Baker says that the fees would raise a ton of money, perhaps $100 billion or more annually. I think the government sorely needs that kind of money.

Herbert also brings up another intriguing element – while the fees would be a trivial expense for what the general public tends to think of as ordinary traders, that is people investing in stocks, bonds or other assets for some reasonable period of time – they would amount to a much heavier lift for speculators, the folks who bring a manic quality to the markets and who treat it like a casino.

Also according to Baker, “For the typical person holding stock, who is planning to hold it for a long period of time, paying a quarter of one percent on a trade is just not that big a deal.”

The beauty of the transfer tax; it tends to curb at least some speculation. “It’s a progressive tax,” Baker said, “that discourages nonproductive activity.”

The rampant irresponsibility of the Bush years by the White House, Congress and the general public when it comes to matters of finance, the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were placed on credit cards and off the books. Their ultimate overall costs will be in the trillions. And yet, incredibly, Bush and Congress cut taxes in wartime! I have to agree with Herbert; that is totally insane!

The only remedy for fending off the Great Depression II has been deficit spending on a scale that’s over the moon. And baby boomers about ready to retire? Maybe all these deficits will just disappear; maybe a more prosperous future generation will just happily clean up the mess we left for them. But if none of that is true just maybe we should start looking for some other answers. A stock transfer tax just might not be a bad place to start.

Official Announcement:

The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance.

A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed!
Damn, it just doesn't get more accurate than that

Okay, okay, but I've been pretty nice and proper for a couple of days now and that's about my limit! Besides, even if the truth hurts, we really should take a look at it and we might as well get a laugh, because crying ain't gonna help!

Cleaning Up Nuclear Waste at Hanford

This was sent to me by a good friend, whose son, Greg, is an Advisor to the activity going on at Hanford. He has been working to clean up Hanford for almost 20 years, fighting the government regarding how Hanford leaks are creating horrendous pollution in the Columbia River. This is aimed primarily at people living in Washington and Oregon, however everyone in this country should be aware of the possibilities as there are other nuclear plants all over this country.

RESTARTING NUCLEAR PRODUCTION AT HANFORD?

PUBLIC MEETING:November, 18, 6PM Best Western Hood River Inn.

No meeting in Portland or Seattle. Just when you thought the focus at Hanford was finally on clean-up, the nuclear industry has a new plan to resume nuclear production at Hanford. This new proposal would create more waste on top of the 444 billion gallons of radioactive and chemical waste they have already dumped in the ground back in the days when we were in a Cold War with Russia.This ill-fated, illogical plan called the "Global Nuclear Energy Partnership" (GNEP) would reprocess the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel that is sitting at reactors around this country. They want to reprocess this fuel to extract the plutonium that could be used in a new class of nuclear bomb. The GNEP worldwide partnership, including Russia, wants to sell you a new version of nuclear power that is "safe, cheap, and very clean". How many times have we heard this one? Have we not learned from our past?On one hand the U.S. is forging a massive war on Iraq that supposedly had weapons of mass-destruction. We threaten countries that are trying to produce nuclear weapons. On the other hand we are the ones proposing to produce more plutonium and make a new round of nuclear weapons.With a new President Barrack Obama we must help him remember our past. We must not forget that the U.S. holds the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. This new plan to re-process spent nuclear fuel sends the wrong signal around the world. It only increases the desire of other countries to enter into a new arms race for protection against our massive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.The message the Bush administration has told the world is we will do what we want, while we dictate to others what they can have or not have. It is obvious that President Bush does not care about the Non-Proliferation Treaty that was designed to end the nuclear threat worldwide.This is not about being pro-nuke or anti-nuke. It is about making the world a safer place. It is about not creating more deadly waste when we still have not safely contained or treated the over 50 years of nuclear waste remaining from the Cold War.I find it ironic that the old Cold War warriors and the almost dead nuclear industry are trying once again to justify their existence by trying to sell us reprocessing as something that is green and perfectly safe. They even state that nuclear power is good for the planet. They still have not found permanent safe storage for all their waste, but yet they want to make more waste. Good for protecting the ozone. Simply too many lies for too many years.Few people know that back in the 1960's the nuclear industry discovered that the noble gas krypton-85 was a key player in ozone depletion. Yet with all of the concerns now surfacing about global warming, the fact this by-product of nuclear production and reactors is directly linked to ozone destruction. Yet they still want to call nuclear green? Even worse the National Academy of Science has concluded after years of study that there is "No Safe Dose" of radiation and that any dose has some risk to health. Yet knowing all of this, they want to try one more time to jump start a failing nuclear industry by feeding us even more half baked truths.

This proposal is like a horror movie that has been played too many times. Too many people have suffered and died because of the nuclear age. This arrogant behavior of few thinking they know what is best for the rest of us must be stopped.A public meeting has been scheduled to discuss the Draft GNEP EIS in Hood River. If you care about our National Security, if you care about Hanford being cleaned up, if you care about having high-level extremely radioactive waste being shipped on our highways and want to put and end to this craziness, then show up Tuesday night November 18th and bring your friends and family.

Thanks,
Greg deBruler, Hanford Technical ConsultantColumbia Riverkeeper 20 years. Dedicated to Cleaning up Hanford & the Protection of the Columbia River and all life dependent upon it.
Who Are the GNEP Members: http://www.gneppartnership.org/. Send Comments on GNEP-PEIS: http://www.gnep.gov/. Below is one more example that GNEP does not want the public to comment. Instead of having a single e-mail address to send your comments to, they want you to jump through all this to submit comments. They also are holding only two meetings in cities that are not supported by the pro-nuclear industry.

To find out more about Hanford you can check out this government website http://www.hanford.gov/ . This is a government site, so take it with a grain of salt.