I’ve written about “poverty” here is the US. Now (to channel the Won) “let me be clear:”

There is indeed poverty in the US. But what most people would consider “poverty” elsewhere in the world, and what the government considers “Poverty” here is the US are magnitudes apart….

Data from the Department of Energy and other agencies show that the average poor family, as defined by Census officials:  Lives in a home that is in good repair, not crowded, and equipped with air conditioning, clothes washer and dryer, and cable or satellite TV service.Prepares meals in a kitchen with a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave as well as oven and stove.Enjoys two color TVs, a DVD player, VCR and — if children are there — an Xbox, PlayStation, or other video game system.Had enough money in the past year to meet essential needs, including adequate food and medical care.(follow the link, learn more!)

The fact is that most people in the US who live is “poverty” live better than nearly everyone else in the world, including middle-class Europeans. They have bigger homes, more toys, better transportation, and nicer appliances.

And again, we are borrowing money from the future in order to help these folks…..

Now I have no issues with feeding the truly starving, no housing the truly homeless.

But there are actually very few of those in the US.

And I think that if you take ONE DIME of assistance, you should be able to test clean for drugs. Else you get nothing. And you should be tested at least yearly.

But than again, I am cruel and heartless.

Here is one example:

Lets face it. Ethanol from corn (for fuel) is a piss poor idea, It is at best (depending on how you figure it…) energy neutral (it takes as much energy to produce a gallon of ethanol as you get out of it when you burn it)….The feedstock takes the place of actual, you know, food producing plants.

And it is unworkable without federal subsidies. In other words, we pay these folks to make ethanol…$0.50 per gallon…that no one really wants to buy, and that is a net energy drain. All because some fools believe in Glowbal Warmening or something. It doesn’t cause a decrease in smog or other pollution (it may actually increase smog).

So why? More of those “special interests” and “millionaires” that Obama and his pet senators say they want to tax more…..

And they are paying these people for a product that doesn’t decrease our energy needs one iota, who to few people want, whose use they MANDATE….With you and my money! Money we really don’t have. Money that we are borrowing from the Chinese.

No wonder the markets are down. We can’t even get rid of payments to a boondoggle. Admittedly a small amount of money, when you start thinking about the deficit, but it would have been a good start.

Notice that the vote to keep the subsidies was mostly Democratic…

“Suppose you were an idiot, and then suppose you were a member of congress. But, i repeat myself.”

-Mark Twain


Some things never change……

read. Think.

“A male comrade-in-arms in the French Resistance summed her up as: ‘The most  feminine woman I know, until the fighting starts. And then she is like five men.’ She lived up to both parts of that compliment”


Nancy Wake was apparently a really really interesting lady. My kind of woman. Beautiful, sexy, feminine (and a great dresser), and a really really ruthless (and brave!) fighter.

All the things that the NOW folks wish that they could be, but aren’t, in other words….

The sort of lady you’d like to have on your side, and the kind who would make you quake in your boots if she were against you.

Not my like that, in the world today. And now there is one less. RIP Ms. Wake.

ETA: Bayou Renaissance Man has more…

But you should read this. Be sitting down. Have time to think.

I generally don’t post things which are somewhat tinfoil hat, but this one is….credible? I dunno, most conspiracy wingnuts generally have their story sounding credible…

BUT…

I generally don’t believe in coincidences, and this one is significant….

Read the whole thing. Make up your own mind….

HT

Yes, 66 years ago, the US used a bomb of unprecedented power against a tottering nation to end a war.

It worked. Yes there are many reasons why the bombs were used, not all of them pretty. But it did end the war and saved up to a million(we’ll never know how many) US and allied casualties.

Lets not use this to bash the US, and we won’t mention all the atrocities that the Japanese did before and during the fighting….Mkay? We don’t have to mention Nanking, or Bataan, or any of the others…

That was then, this is now. Few, people who were in charge then are still alive, and none of them are in charge now.

So shut up

Seems the Aldermen of the city have made some comments…..Interesting reading. They pull no punches.

The sad part is that the media will barely cover it, and doesn’t want to give out the race of the attackers (unless they are white). Only by looking at the problem clearly can we solve it. Hiding from the facts will not fix the issue. .

begins today….

soon we’ll have the credit rating of Rwanda….for the same reason.

Remember this day when you are spending $8.75 for a vending machine Coke and $9.50 for a bag of chips.

And gas costs $14.38 a gallon for the cheap stuff.

And you can’t afford a home ’cause your loan is 18% APR like it was 30 years ago.  

Remember this day, and consider which of today’s legislators lynchings you will participate in.