REPUBLICANS UNVEIL COMPETETIVE BUDGET

You know what it's comprised of? Lower the tax rate by 10 percent for the wealthiest Americans. What the fuck? What is it about these dipshit republicans and some conservadems that they cannot comprehend the fact that TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS DOES NOT WORK. The greed that encompasses these motherfuckers is unreal. The current tax rate is at 35% and these totally worthless fuckwits want to lower it another 10 percent.

Listen to me closely conservatives: You cannot run a government without money you dumb ass morons. They do not care about health care, and they sure as fuck do not want the peasantry educated. Well, they can hop on my stick and ride like a motherfucker.

Peace

Call these pieces of crap and let them know:
John Boehner (R) Ohio 202.225.6205
Eric Cantor (R) Virginia 202.225.2815

And for good measure, call Blanch Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both of Arkansas, and tell them to quit fucking around and support the President.
Blanche Lincoln (D) 202.224.4843
Mark Pryor (D) 202.224.2353

FOX NEWS HAS A NEW PSYCHO

His name is Glen Beck and he is a lunatic. He joins the family of whack jobs that include Bill O'Reilly, sexual harasser and buffoon, and the racist pile of crap Sean Hannity. Fox just keeps getting better and better...Peace, boycott FOX NEWS.

I had to add this pic of Fox News' John Gibson. I'm not sure if he's still with Fox, but he sucks. Remember, I watched Fox for years until I had an epiphany :)

CRAZY MAN KILLS 4 COPS IN OAKLAND

Big story over the weekend out of central California, a 26 year old man shot up Oakland, killing 3 police officers outright, and leaving one officer brain dead.
As an individual that lived with violence in my home growing up, I detest violence. However, one may have to resort to violence to get one's point across. Having said that I do not agree with what this young man did. The police do have a place in our society.

However, before we jump the gun and relegate these cops to "hero" status, let us keep things in perspective. Here are some headlines from around the country regarding police actions:

From the Chicago Tribune:
Race may be factor in police shooting of unarmed elderly man
Seems in Homer Louisiana, an elderly Black man was hosting a cookout with his family, when the police showed up. According to the story, in a matter of moments Mr. Bernard Monroe, a throat cancer survivor, was shot dead through his screen door of the front of his house while his family looked on. It gets better. According to the Tribune, after these cops shot to death an unarmed elderly man that could not talk, they found one of Bernard Monroe's pistols and placed it next to the dead man while the family looked on and attempted to assert that Bernard Monroe, family cookout hoster, had been holding it when they murdered him. The fucking police were so ballsy as to plant a gun on the dead man while the family looked on. Mr. Bernard survived cancer, but he could not survive the Homer, LA police. Now the FBI and the State Police are all over the case. If these cops did in fact murder this man, the only appropriate punishment should be swift. Strap em in and let them ride 'Ole Sparky, or shoot em and let them die slowly. Fuck em. This is the new South? Please.

Michigan Teen Dies After Tasered by Cops
From Fox News.com. While I cannot stand Fox, I pulled this off of the Google News site:
So it seems in Bay City, Michigan police responded to a call about a fight last Sunday morning. Yes this happened this past weekend. So, the police show up and "two males" are fighting. According to the article the police said "one of them attempted to fight the officers." So the cops pull out their "non lethal" weapons and tase an adolescent kid. The kid is now dead at 15 years old. And the cop is on "administrative leave."
I have a 14 year old son. Let there be no mistake about what I would do to an individual that harmed or killed my child. Are you listening? It makes no difference to me what kind of job the individual did for a living before they killed my child. Whether doctor, lawyer, cop, judge, pot dealer, (are you listening pocahontas pot dealer?) it would not matter. Anyone that harms, threatens to harm or carries out threats to harm any of my children is fair game.

Remember, we are keeping the Oakland police shooting in perspective.

From the Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon:
Why Did James Chasse Jr. Die?
So it seems the police in Portland don't have a clue as to how to deal with people suffering from mental illness. Quite a disturbing idea, considering the statistical amount of people with mental illness in the United States. So James Chasse, Jr., had a confrontation with the police in the Pearl District. For those of you that do not know Portland, the Pearl is a swanky area of town, with costly apartments, houses, restaurants and boutiques. Not exactly the area Portland Police and politicians want a schizophrenic man hanging out. So, Mr. Chasse had a confrontation with police. they evidently didn't like his attitude, because they stomped the living shit out of him, literally, stuffed him in the back of a police car and left him to die, and die he did.

SIDEBAR: Cops should not be allowed to even fill out an application for employment as a cop before proving they have at least a bachelor's degree in Psychology, and carried at least a 3.0 in their Psych. classes. OK, let us proceed.

Florida Man Dies After Police Allegedly Shoot Him Repeatedly With Taser Gun
So a 45 year old man shows up at a friend's house, acting rowdy, and the friend calls the cops. The cops show up and now Kenneth Oliver is dead after being repeatedly electrocuted by the police. Do you see a pattern emerging?

Man, 24, Shot to Death by New York City Police on Night Before His Wedding

So, Sean Bell was about to get married to his sweetheart. He had been at a bachelor party at a strip club, (let's not get judgemental, dumbass self-righteous right wingers that are banging their choir directors in church), when the problems started with the police. Long story short, the cops claimed one of them had a gun, when that didn't pan out they said one of the party-goers tried to hit them with their car, so the police saw fit to fire 50 ROUNDS, 50 motherfucking bullets at this car killing the unarmed about to be married Sean Bell. Kinda reminds one of Amadou Diallo. Begs the question: What the fuck is wrong with the cops in the United States?

Man says NYPD officers sodomized him with antenna
Gotta love NYC's finest! So a Brooklyn man, Michael Mineo, was smoking a doob near the subway when he was jumped by five cops, held down, tasered and sodomized by the police with a radio antenna. The police say it didn't happen, of course. However, as the next headline will reveal, this is a pattern with the New York City Police. Michael Mineo was hospitalized with rectal tears and intense pain.
I have read an update: Evidently, DNA was found on the radio antenna, and indictments have been handed down.

New York City police assault, brutalize and forcibly sodomize a male Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, with a plunger.

"The arresting officers beat Louima with their fists, nightsticks, and hand-held police radios on the
ride to the station.[2] On arriving at the station house, he was strip-searched and put in a holding cell. The
beating continued later, culminating with Louima being raped in a bathroom at the 70th Precinct station
house in Brooklyn. Officer Justin Volpe kicked Louima in the testicles, then, while Louima's hands were cuffed
behind his back, he first grabbed onto and squeezed his testicles and then sodomized him with a broomstick, causing severe internal damage to his colon and bladder that required several operations to
repair. Volpe then walked through the precinct holding the bloody, excrement-stained instrument in his hand, indicating that he had 'broke a man down.'"

Credit to Wikipedia
This case was so brutal that Amnesty International uses it as a case study in police torture and brutality.

San Francisco Transit Police Shoot to Death Unarmed, Cuffed 22 Year Old Man In The Back While Laying on the Ground
These stories are all to common. Seems itchy trigger finger transit cops cuffed a young man with a four year old daughter, read the article, it will break your heart, if you have one, and shot him in the back until he died. This happened in Oakland. I am eternally grateful that someone caught this on video:

Fuck. What a mess. There is another person dead, a man with a family, and cops that keep on getting leniency. What the fuck are transit cops doing with firearms any damn way? We have transit police here, and I'll be damned if I allow them to carry guns. Hell the worthless Portland Police Bureau (not to mention the sorry as multnomah county sherrif) cannot even do their jobs properly without help, this is why they have emplyed PPI, a private security firm. Huh? Have we not learned anything regarding privatization? What the fuck.

Well, Searchers, I could spend the rest of the day going over people who have been brutalized, raped, tortured, falsely accused, falsely imprisoned and more by the police, I simply do not have enough time. So, while I feel bad for the families of these officers killed in Oakland, especially if these officers had children, we have to keep things in perspective. The majority of white people in this country don't even remember Abner Louima, don't know who Oscar Grant was, and really couldn't care. I challenge you to prove me wrong.
As mentioned before, I feel for the families of these cops that were killed. However, the chance of getting shot at or shot down as a cop is part of the job description. I feel infinite sympathy for someone working a retail job that gets killed during work while being robbed or something. Totally different scenario. While I do not advocate violence, if you put on a police uniform you are inviting trouble. Anyone that thinks otherwise is either a damn fool, or they are completely blinded by their right-wing christian stupidity, I mean beliefs.

The police have become a para-military force. Check out the reports from protesters from the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis last summer. Hell, in Portland, some of the cops don't have their names on their uniforms any longer. It is time for the people to reign these cops in, otherwise we will regret it. There is a reason the framers of the Constitution made sure the citizens of the United States should have firearms: Not to keep "bad guys" out, just to make sure the government knows who is in charge. And the deterrent against the bad guys like the flanagins is pretty beneficial, too. (So if y'all want to show up, I'd be glad to help you out farting through a hole in your stomach.)

UPDATE: In Oakland, not everyone is shocked at the killings of the police, some see it as payback for Oscar Grant. Remember what Jesus said, Right-Wingers: You reap what you sow.

Peace-

MICHIGAN LEGALIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA, NAZI WAR CRIMINAL DEPORTED

It's been a while. Finals, studying and all. I came across a couple of articles I found post worthy today. Here they are:



Legal pot debuts in Midwest from the Chicago Tribune:

"Legalized medical marijuana is about to make its debut in
Michigan, which becomes the 13th state and the first between the Rockies and the East Coast to embrace the controversial pain treatment. In a vote last November that defied the culture war/reefer madness connotation to the illegal drug, 63 percent of the state's voters—and a majority in every county—said yes to medical marijuana. 'This shows that, bottom line, medical use of marijuana is not very controversial with the public," said Wendy Chapkis, co-author of "Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine."'Politicians are afraid to look soft on drugs, but the public understands that cannabis is not a problem for medical use,' Chapkis said."

Anyone who has read Searches knows that I am in favor of marijuana used for medicinal reasons. It is quite effective in pain relief, (Momma are you listening?) and it is an effective bronchodilator as well. Of course I have been a MMJ card holder with the state of Oregon. I had a very nice set up and grew some very good meds. I am for the complete legalization of marijuana, period.

During this economic crisis and the subsequent years after this crisis has passed it would behoove the United States to get its shit together and get its head out of the sand regarding marijuana. The notion that marijuana and not alcohol is the "gateway" drug is preposterous.

That is a myth forced upon children and believed by gullible adults perpetuated by police, politicians, and the alcohol industry.

Alcohol is the real drug problem in America, and the first hard drug children are introduced to. It was for me. My parents had an extremely well stocked liquor and wine cabinet, in fact they had three.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, 75,000 people will die from excessive alcohol use. That is not people that die from car accidents related to alcohol. Just people that drink themselves to death. A guy I worked with a couple of years ago lost his father to alcohol, and his dad was only 54 or 55 when he slipped into a coma and never came out. Too much alcohol. The article does say that marijuana is the most used illicit drug, but alcohol is not an illicit drug. It is my belief that children are first introduced to mind altering substances by their parents. Through alcohol.

So, it is time for the USA to get its shit together and legalize marijuana nationally. Put farmers back to work, cultivate both marijuana as well as hemp. The revenue saved by diverting police from marijuana to real crime would save over $10 billion a year. The tax revenue would reach into the billions as well. It is money the nation needs. It would put hundreds of thousands of people to work if we could open retail stores and cafes where one could enjoy toking on some bud...it sounds good, doesn't it? Don't lie! You know u loves some banging herbage!

We acquired some the other day, it was unbelievable, and instead of red hair, it was bright purple. Good stuff. Okay, next article:



From the New York Times:

Nazi Guard Deported to Austria



"An 83-year-old man who admitted that as a Nazi concentration camp guard he took part in a two-day killing spree in which 42,000 people were killed was deported to Austria Thursday from his home in Wisconsin, immigration officials said.
The former guard, Josias Kumpf, admitted that he participated in a murderous November 1943 Nazi operation that went by the code name “Aktion Erntefest” — Operation Harvest Festival — in which roughly 42,000 Jewish men, women and children were murdered at three Nazi camps in eastern Poland in two days.
Mr. Kumpf acknowledged his role was as a guard and an assassin at the Trawniki Labor Camp, where 8,000 men, women and children were shot dead in a single day, Nov. 3, 1943, Justice Department officials said.
He was removed earlier this week from his home in Racine, Wis., by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents."



There are no statute of limitations on some crime. Are you listening Flanagin? Okay. Genocide in all its forms is evil. I am reading Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. An Indian History of the American West. It is an amazing book that outlines history from the vanquished people's point of view. Far different than what is taught in American schools. The US government is guilty of genocide. The treatment of the Native Peoples both past and present, is abysmal.

FACT:

The United States government has made it illegal for Natives to practice their religion, speak their languages, raise their families how they see fit.

FACT:

The government has packed the Natives into reservations where some live in tar paper shacks even today. TODAY.

FACT:

The United States Government has performed hysterectomies on Native Women against their will and against their knowledge, some recently.

FACT: The United States Government systematically destroyed the Native's food supply, to create starvation amongst the tribes.

FACT: Turns out Bison is a hell of a lot healthier than beef. Turns out the Natives aren't as dumb as the settlers.

FACT: There wasn't such a thing as "fry bread" until the government herded the Natives by force onto reservations, killed off the food supply, and then would not allow any foodstuffs to the Natives except for lard and flour. There wasn't such a thing as the "pudgy indian" pre-contact. There might have been overweight natives, but it wasn't because of lard and flour.

Genocide is alive and well in the 21st century from Darfur to the Yakima Indian Reservation.

Peace, Searchers, stay informed stay on top, we need systemci change in the United States.

Onward

PENNSYLVANIA JUDGES TO PLEAD GUILTY

This is an update from a previous post regarding the Pennsylvania Judges that were selling children to a jail company. The judges are pleading guilty according to the New York Times, read the story here. Some excerpts:

"At worst, Hillary Transue thought she might get a stern lecture when
she appeared before a judge for building a spoof MySpace page
mocking the assistant principal at her high school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She was a stellar student who had never been in trouble, and the page stated clearly at the bottom that it was just a joke.
Instead, the judge sentenced her to three months at a juvenile detentioncenter on a charge of harassment. She was handcuffed and taken away as her stunned parents stood by.
“I felt like I had been thrown into some surreal sort of
nightmare,” said Hillary, 17, who was sentenced in 2007. “All I wanted toknow was how this could be fair and why the judge would do such a thing.”
The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge,
Mark A. Ciavarella
Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company,Western PA Child Care.
If the court agrees to the plea agreement, both judges
will serve 87 months in federal prison and resign from the bench and bar. They are expected to be sentenced in the next several months. Lawyers for both men declined to comment."

Of course the worthless bastards declined to comment. 87 months sounds like a lot, it is only 7.25 years.

While I appreciate these judges pleading guilty to their crimes, there can be no redemption for them. People like these judges that are held with such a high public trust should be made into examples. There should be no plea agreement, and there should be no chance for parole when they are sent to prison. Let them be sent to prison and left for dead.
Violating the public trust has become the norm for politicians, police, judges, prosecutors. It is high time we as a people stand up and hold these people accountable for their actions. If you are charged with the responsibility of creating laws or enforcing laws, you had better make sure you acquiesce to those same laws. None of this bullshit about fucking things up and pretending you are above the law. Put these judges away for ever.

It is time to end the Reagan era of privatization. Operating prisons for profit only invites corruption. With privatization there is no accountability. We have a difficult time enough at this point holding our elected officials accountable as well as our news outlets, we do not have the time to regulate these privatization morons. Let's push the Republicans as well as the failed policies of Ronald Reagan into the sea.

Onward.

"A NATION OF COWARDS"

Eric Holder the new Attorney General of the US throws down the glove when it comes to race. Check it out courtesy of CNN:

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic
melting pot, in things racial, we have always been and we -- I believe continue to be in too many ways essentially a nation of cowards," Holder told Department of Justice employees at an event Wednesday celebrating Black History Month. He said that Americans are afraid to talk about race, adding that"certain subjects are off-limits and that to explore them risks at best embarrassment and at worst the questioning of one's character."

Regarding the melting pot myth: There is no such thing and there never has been. We are not a pot of fondue, we are human beings, different,unique, beautiful. For far too long the United States has forced people of color and especially the Natives to conform or be left behind, or worse, imprisoned or killed.

It is time to recognize our diversity and strength. Embracing the cultures that make up the United States, and acknowledging the atrocious behavior by the United States Government toward the people of African decent, people from Latin America, Native Americans, is a first step, but only a first step toward healing this country and laying to rest the ghosts of the past that continue to haunt the United States.

I can further tie this "cowardly race issue" in to the past election, and the way the electoral map shifted in the United States. What used to be the bible belt can clearly be seen for what it is and what is has always been: The Racist Belt. Check out this link for the map, click on the Voting Shift link if it doesn't take you right to it. It shows the way the country voted, either more democrat or more republican than in 2004. It is very telling. Here is the map:

You will notice, Arkansas and the bible belt voted MORE republican that in 2004, clearly disrespecting Obama, and embracing the embarrassingly ridiculous Republican party ticket of McCain/Palin. Even after the fucking nightmare of George W. Bush. They voted more republican, completely against their own interests. Once upon a time I was like that in Arkansas. Then I finally pulled myself out of the bowl that Arkansas is. You know? You get stuck in a bowl so long without being able to see above the rim, and you think the rest of the world is like this bowl, also. Fortunately it is not true. You can get out and have a better life.

Something else. When I lived in Arkansas, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day rolled around, white people greeted each other by saying, "Happy Nigger Day." With a big grin and a smile. Don't tell me about the New South, and the Gem that Arkansas is, it simply is not true. The potential is there, but the leadership is not.

We have much work to do in the US. Things have begun, let us work to fully marginalize the right wing to a strictly yapping small regional party relegated to the South, and then let's push them right off the East and Gulf Coasts right into the sea where they belong. Stay strong Searchers, keep the heat on the right wing...and Mr. Holder, you're completely correct. Peace-

Onward.

map courtesy of New York Times, photobucket

MORE RACISM IN MURDOCH'S WORLD

This is a pic from The New York post. It depicts Obama as a chimpanzee being gunned down by police. It is not surprising that the paper that published this disgraceful "cartoon" owns Fox News and employs the racist Sean Hannity as well as Bill O'Reilly. It is pathetic, and it reinforces my past decision to tune Rupert Murdoch's puppets out. Before you get nuts and call me judgemental against conservatives, as if there is such a thing, I devoted years of my life tuning Fox News channel in. I'm glad of the day I woke up.

It also shows the racism that is fully alive and well in the United States, and supported by major media outlets.

Boycott Fox News and other Murdoch media outlets.

Image Courtesy of guardian.co.uk

IT'S ST. VALENTINE'S DAY

Some thoughts: Feb 14, 1937, the year my adoptive mother, Barbara, was born.
Feb. 14, 1929, the Saint Valentines Day Massacre occured. Poignant b/c of my Chicago roots.
Feb. 14, 2009, on the menu: Veggie Moussaka, Greek salad, Muhammara, and berry crisp. Good shit!

I'm grateful for my beautiful Lady and children. Life is good...Peace and much love on this most commercial holiday!

Onward!

"A PATRIOT MUST BE READY TO DEFEND HIS COUNTRY AGAINST HIS GOVERNMENT"

-Edward Abbey

PRESDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAID AND I THINK IT'S FITTING

I ran across this Lincoln quote and I thought it was fitting for our times, although Lincoln said it 150 years ago or so. It's hard to believe Lincoln was a Republican, he must be spinning in his grave at the current Rethug Party-

"Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow."
Does this sound familiar? This is what privatization of everything gets us...Lincoln was pretty smart, and I'll bet if he was alive today, he would be a left Democrat.

PENNSYLVANIA JUDGES ACCUSED OF JAILING KIDS FOR MONEY

Okay Right Wingers-

Don't even try to tell me private-run prisons are a good thing. The opportunities for corruption are nearly endless when the government ponies up trillions for private prisons, armies, contractors...it is ridiculous. The privatization of prisons only provides reason to the greedy to keep people behind bars and shuffle them around the country like cattle. An excerpt from an AP article from Yahoo!

"WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.

In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.

Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC."

Here is the link to the AP article via Yahoo!

This is another example of the nightmare that is conservatism. Lock up your "problem people" in private FOR PROFIT jails and prisons. Kinda like Mayberry, but I guess Andy Taylor's jail at the very least was a public run facility.

I sincerely hope we are looking at a death knell for the conservative movement and capitalism, it has done far too much damage for far too long.
Peace, Onward!

"CONSERVATISM IS A EUPHEMISM FOR SOCIAL COWARDICE"

A great quote I picked up from somewhere, (shout out somewhere!) that I keep in my wallet. It is a lesson that was hard for me to learn, but I have learned it. Such is the shift from right to left for me. So bear that in mind Roy Ockert, jonesboro sun editor, when you tell someone like me that the poor in your region are just shit out of luck if they can't afford a generator, or shelter, or food, or heating oil. This is why I find it so troubling that you are an editor of a paper, especially one that is circulated in an area so consumed with poverty and despair.

For someone in your position, one who is charged with the dissemination of information, to have the glaring reality of the past eight years to look at as well as the downward spiral the nation has been on for 30 years, and not be able to see it but cling to your dead beliefs is very troubling indeed. You should be removed.

And Brian Smith, Night Editor (I got it now, for when I rip you to shreds next time!) at the Jonesboro Sun, I caught up with your comments earlier in the week. Please check it out this weekend regarding Mayberry, the South, and the "Gem" (what kind, cubic zirconia?) Arkansas is.

Onward!

THE DAILY SHOW'S CONTINUATION OF "CLUSTERF#@K TO THE POOR HOUSE

From Feb 9 show:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=217704&title=clusterf#@k-to-the-poor-house

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

If you watched it, maybe you can tell me why the always creepy Lindsay Graham from South Carolina still has a job in the Senate? What about the ridiculous Jim DeMint?

I guess Lindsay is finished sucking up to John McCain.

Sam Brownback from Kansas makes an appearance, another right wing tool that I am surprised is on the floor, I figured he was still stuck in Rod Parsley's ass.

The Reagan Revolution is dead. We need trickle-up economics, we've had enough trickle-down which is just a euphemism for pissing on people. ( shout out to Bill Maher)

Onward!

IRRESPONSIBILITY AT THE PENTAGON

Another example of mismanagement and disregard for common sense and decency:

A quick summary-Halliburton is a a major company that does contract work for the government. KBR is a spin off of Halliburton. KBR has done contract electrical work in Iraq, and they have been involved with plumbing contracts as well. Follow? Now here are some headlines, please bear in mind this is not an exhaustive list, there are more soldiers that have been killed because of such ridiculous nonsense:

OREGON SOLDIER'S DEATH IS UNDER INVESTIGATION
According to the AP, Spc. Chase Whitham was electrocuted while swimming in a swimming pool in Iraq at a US operated base. Whitham 21, was in Mosul, Iraq, when he died. Italics mine.


FROM THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW ON MSNBC:
Posted Feb. 9.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

ABC NEWS: HIDDEN DANGER: SOLDIERS DYING FROM ELECTROCUTION
Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was 24 when he died. Here's a cut and paste.

"But little did the staff sergeant know that when he stepped into the shower at his military base in Baghdad two months ago, he was putting his life at
risk. Maseth, 24, of Shaler, Pa., outside Pittsburgh, was
electrocuted on Jan. 2 when an improperly grounded electric water pump
short-circuited and flowed through the pipes. Since the coiled hose was touching his arm, he was hit with an electrical jolt and went into cardiac arrest and died."

This kid was only 24, and he did not die in combat.

PENTAGON ADMITS TO MORE ELECTROCUTIONS IN IRAQ-KBR DENIES BLAME
Posted July 26, 2008
According to the HuffPo, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has been involved with Cheryl Harris, the mother of Ryan Maseth. The article states there have been 16 electrocutions.

This was in 2008.

CNN: SOLDIERS ELECTROCUTION "NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE"
Story highlights, pay close attention to the third point:
-Manner of death should be changed from "accidental," Army investigator writes
-U.S. soldier electrocuted while showering at his base in Iraq in 2008
-Investigator: Contractor didn't ensure electricians, plumbers were qualified
-No charges have been filed; soldier's family is suing contractor

If you've watched the video you know where I am going with this: last headline-

COMPANY GETS PENTAGON CONTRACT DESPITE DEATH INQUIRIES
From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A defense contractor has been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work even though it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two American soldiers in Iraq.
The contractor, KBR, announced last week that it had won a $35.4 million contract from the Army Corps of Engineers to design and build a convoy support center at Camp Adder in southern Iraq. The center will include a power plant and an electrical distribution center. Bold is mine.

I have contacted my Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell regarding this development. I suggest you do the same. I cannot describe the outrage I feel regarding the complete lack or respect for the families of the soldiers that have died as a result of potential negligence on the part of KBR. What a slap. Furthermore, according to the AP via The Columbian in Vancouver, WA;

"The Corps of Engineers said KBR has earned $615 million on 30
contracts similar to the new one and that KBR has not been banned or suspended from winning U.S. Government contracts."

The utter waste of money that is Iraq is apalling. My family and I are having trouble keeping our lights on and keep food on the table and there are some in Congress that have cut, yet again, services for the needy. At the very, very least, KBR and Halliburton should be immediately suspended from contracts until the investgation is resolved.

Again, we have the dead notion of trickle-down economics. Ronald Reagan is dead. Let his failed policies and those of the christian right die with him. It is time for trickle up economics, spending money to the people, not the corporations. The people will spend the money and benefit everyone. It is a no-brainer. The right's ideas are failed. It is time for a systemic change in the United States, and the previous headlines regarding yet another debacle is yet more proof on the desperate need for change. Peace-

Here are some numbers for the people that represent some of you in D.C.

Washington State: Senator Patty Murray-202-224-2621 (You and Maria Need to Pay Attention!)

Sen. Maria Cantwell-202-224-3441

Oregon: Sen. Jeff Merkly-202-224-3753

Sen. Ron Wyden-202-224-5244

Arkansas: Sen. Blanche Lincoln-202-224-4843

Sen. Mark Pryor-202-224-2353

And last, here is a link that will provide US citizens contact for their Senators.

Onward.

INSPIRATION CONTINUED-JANICE JOPLIN "BALL AND CHAIN" MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL, 1967

THIS IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS COURTESY OF DAILY SHOW VIA YOU TUBE

Onward.

"YOUR IDEAS ARE OLD AND THEY HAVE FAILED"

President Barack Obama's stern speech to the Republicans. And listen up Repubs, your ideas are old, they are outdated. I cannot find the vid on youtube, let me post it off of MSNBC.

This is from Rachel Maddow's show, I have posted on her before, she uses an analogy that Roy Ockert should pay attention too: She compares the policies of Ronald Reagan, (whom I have previously firmly supported,) Bush 1, (supported,) George W. Bush, (supported) conservatives, (supported,) the current nightmare that is the Republican party, to soup lines from the Depression (not supported.) Given their historical and global suffering their policies have caused, it is fitting.

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This is why the personal beliefs of someone that is an editor at the Jonesboro Sun is so important. This is why I am going to take time out of my busy weekend to address the issues from Northeast Arkansas that have presented themselves to me. I will be addressing the State of Arkansas, Roy Ockert, EDITOR, David Mosesso, Publisher, Brian Smith, editor? from the Jonesboro Sun, Andy Griffith, Mayberry, and more. Should be good...

Peace and love, Searchers, but feet to fire...

Onward.

Other tags that I could not include "Lindsey" Graham, S.C. Suckass, Dumbass.
Dipshit from Georgia? Oh, any Republican politican.
Senator Mark Pryor, Arkansas? Enough said. Watch the next post...

INSPIRATION CONTINUED...SANDY CHEEKS

Sandy is the brains and brawn in Bikini Bottom.

"I DO NOT FEEL THEY WERE AS PREPARED AS THEY COULD HAVE BEEN"

Postal worker, Walnut Ridge.

INSPIRATION CONTINUED...BERNIE SANDERS SENATOR FROM VERMONT

Posting a video from the Colbert Report, Stephen interviews Bernie Sanders from Vermont. Very good interview, we need more people like Bernie Sanders. He discusses health care, education and the sorry state of affairs the Republicans and conservatives have left the nation. Thank goodness that is over. ...Enjoy, Searchers...

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Bernie Sanders

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