24
May
Real Clear Politics has an EXCELLENT article on collapsing birth rates. They particularly focusing on Vladimir Putin’s comments regarding paying citizens to have children. This is my take from here on out. In the US, we don’t have a collapsing birth rate at this point. We’re in a replacement ratio, 2.1 per woman. However, as RCP notes, when the birth rate approaches 0, the population ages. This is putting financial strains on collapsing countries such as Russia that NEED to be expanding. This is changing the dynamics of politics in the US, note the rise and political clout of conservatism in the last 30 years. This is changing society by way of product choice and production ( older people don’t buy as much ). It’s a one-time blip on the economic cycle that will have ramifications for generations. In the US, IMO, this is EXACTLY what has led to the very mention of foreign "guest worker visas". It wouldn’t be necessary at all to worry about foreign workers if the US were generating a youthful workforce in numbers large enough to support demand. But we’re not, more people are retiring ( exiting the work force ) than are entering the work force. All of a sudden, what has never been considered before is somewhat palatable to most people ( temporary Mexican workers ). The problem however is that this temporary fix has permanent ramifications. Once they come here, they are here forever if they choose. And, my bet is, their children won’t be happy being migrant workers. Will there be a demand to support these children’s careers when the baby-boomers die off? Once the largest buying segment in history does die off, the economic sector will be smaller and the demand for workers less. This is a world-wide trend, not specific to the US and Russia. The "echo problem" this scenario is developing is one where our economy, which relies heavily on the industrialized world market, will have an entire population of unemployable people that we allowed to immigrate to solve a temporary problem. Seems to me at this time the guest worker program is probably NOT a good idea in the LONG run. It sounds good right now, but for our children’s sake, it’s probably best to bite the bullet at the store and wait out this baby-boomer economic bubble.
And, that’s not EVEN considering the fact industrialized people are living much longer than they did in the past.
Jesse Jackson had this to say:
Spear carrier?
But Democrats were spooked.
Spooked?
If a white man put both those phrases in the same paragraph, he’d be crucified by Jesse Jackson et al. Apparently it’s fine if Jesse says it. As far as I can tell, I’m the only one who’s a little bugged by his diction.
Oh, and by the way, he’s defending William Jefferson by saying someone who’s been accused but not charged is as guilty as someone caught red-handed. That, get this, the video of Jefferson accepted bribes is just "right-wing noise". Kinda reminds me of that "vast right-wing conspiracy" of the 90′s.
23
May
Possibly the single best barb given in my lifetime was in 1988 when Lloyd Bentsen told Dan Quayle "I knew Jack Kennedy, you’re no Jack Kennedy". The barb was used in varying contexts for years.
Lloyd Bentsen, possibly the last true Democrat statesman, died today.
23
May
Milberg, Weiss, Bershad & Schulman has been indicted. I wrote an article on this August 17, 2005. There is nothing really new about what’s going on other than the indictment itself. As I noted previously, this firm donated millions to almost exclusively Democrats up until that point. Now, here are the people that accepted money AFTER I reported this on August 17, 2005:
| Date | Amount | Candidate |
I’m still waiting for Nancy Pelosi to give a press conference condemning the Democrat Party as being engulfed in a culture of corruption. For what it’s worth, Nancy attacked the entire Republican Party AFTER August 17, 2005. To assume I was terribly quick with that original post is assuming a LOT. To assume Nancy Pelosi was totally unaware of what was occurring is assuming a lot more. Next time they go after Karl Rove, ask them, especially Pelosi, about Milberg, Weiss and why they accepted money after the scandals were exposed to the common man.
23
May
You just have to read THIS. I mean it. If you don’t, just skip this post entirely.
It has actually been debated whether or not FEMA actually failed in its response when applying the pure definition of what FEMA actually is and is expected to do. Now, the entire scenario that led to all the speculation of massive support failure can be questioned. Katrina was a disaster for sure. But, people actually testifed before Congress about the events that occurred in the Superdome. Their credibility was questioned but "some" legislators used it for fodder to attack Bush & Company. All of those over-the-top claims can now be questioned. I’d really like to see what Geraldo Rivera has to say about this.
Plus, there are apparently a whole bunch of heroes that have been totally ignored.
22
May
Not sure what’s up here, but it sounds bad:
Nancy Pelosi immediately condemned Congressman Jefferson as yet another example of the culture of corruption within the Democrat Party……
Yeah right. Hell, why do I even bother? I have not only parodied Nancy Pelosi condemning about 50 people so far, I have even parodied Nancy Pelosi condemning this man before. Jefferson’s as crooked as they come, being in trouble for quite some time over this and few other issues. Now, Pelosi admitting he should be investigated is not quite the same as holding a news conference to condemn an entire party.
Being held on for more background information? Now, wonder why the judge felt she needed more information? Could it be because if you Google terrorist and bus you get about 743,000 hits?
Thank God some people have some common sense. The bus driver and the judge both are heroes for the day.
Now, I will go on record as saying these two idiots might have been sitting on that bus for purely innocent reasons. But, when it comes to our kids, their bad luck is just fine with me. I’m sure by now someone has explained to them our problem with some Saudis in the past. If they don’t like the way we protect our children, Saudi Arabia is one quick flight away.
21
May
People died because Nagin didn’t utilize resources to get the poor out. The guy is openly racist, attacking Hispanics and declaring New Orleans a chocolate city. He shows favoritism in a time of crisis. And, tops it off by attacking everyone else and blaming everyone for the problems New Orleans faces today. So, the people of New Orleans choose him to give them another four years like the one they’ve just had. I am incredibly disappointed in a city I used to love. We just voted our judge executive out of office for no other reason than he’s been there too long. It amazes me what it must take to get some people to look beyond the color of the skin of the candidate.
New Orleans, you got what you wanted. Deal with it. Don’t go blaming anything that goes wrong on FEMA again. It’s up to your local leaders to protect you, not FEMA. People have been telling you that for nearly a year now. You’ve seen what this idiot is all about and voted blindly for him anyway. Amazing. Truly amazing.
The swiftest thing we can do is redouble our efforts to switch to nuclear energy as our primary source. Until that happens, coal mines will be dangerous. There’s just no way you can efficiently drill a large hole into the Earth by using explosives, mine an explosive material, and expect it to be totally safe. As long as we keep dragging our feet because of voodoo scare tactics by the anti-nuclear people, people will continue to die. It’s as simple as that.
