From The Liberator Online
From: http://www.theadvocates.org/liberator/vol-14-num-3.html
Nobody Read the Stimulus Bill
James W. Harris
The massive $787 billion 2009 “stimulus” bill — possibly the largest spending bill in U.S. history — was received by all Congressional members at 11 p.m. Thursday evening, February 12.
The gigantic bill was 1,073 pages long, with an additional 421 page Explanatory Statement. Further, portions of the bill consisted of hand-written last-minute insertions.
As the small-government lobbying group Downsize DC notes, the bill is filled with:
* Hand-written copy-editing;
* Insertions scrawled in the margins;
* Typographical deletions of whole paragraphs;
* And “a variety of curious hash marks and other annotations.”
Yet a mere 15 hours later, around 4 pm, the U.S. House passed it — appropriately enough, on Friday 13th.
The Senate passed it just 3 hours and 5 minutes later.
Yes, that’s right. Congress passed this complex, far-reaching, revolutionary bill in a matter of hours, without taking enough time to even learn what was in it, let alone read it, or even read most of it.
The conservative Heritage Foundation declared: “[N]ever have we seen a bill more cloaked in secrecy or more withdrawn from open public exposure and honest debate.”
Downsize DC points out this happened despite:
* President Obama’s repeated campaign promises of transparency in government, including a pledge not to sign bills that aren’t posted online for the public to read for at least five days before the final vote is cast.
and:
* Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s promise that the final version of the stimulus bill would be posted online for at least 48 hours before the vote.
more 1984
One of the things that is so prescient in 1984 is the vilification of capitalism. They blame capitalism for everything. The government is good and the “free market” is sneered at.
Fascinating… just… fascinating.
Paranoia
My eyesight is really bad, even with glasses, so when I read I fall asleep within the page so I listen to books. Yeah, not as good as reading. It’s a drag.
I read 1984 a while ago. It’s one of the things wot turned me nutty. I’m listening to it now. Actually I finished listening to it, but I’m listening to it again so I can get more depressed.
I was going to say “It might be a good time to read 1984.” but
a) i’m not that obvious of an asshole and
2) it’s always a good time to read 1984.
The great thing about the internet, is there are people who aren’t lazy like me who start websites like this:
http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/
One of the things they do is get the press to focus on bullshit when they’re doing really bad shit.
Yesterday, I was part of a conversation where people could barely contain their rage about the crazy lady who had 8 kids but didn’t even mention that their government was about to fuck us all over to the tune of $786,999,999,999.99
Listening to the news now is impossible. Truly.
We should be fucking beating those fuckers with car antennas but it’s too much trouble. Too bad i don’t have a crazed fan who wants to impress me. I really need to become more famous.
“Barbara Boxer whipped by nutball with car antenna, film at 11. But first: OCTOMOM!!!”
Wow. Incendiary!
I give you this:
…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…
I think instead of a rat helmet, they’ll put me in a cockroach helmet and make me rub paper with very dry hands.
Speaking of lazy; were I cooler, I’d only use doublethink/newspeak. The idea of reducing the number of words as a way to control people is beautiful.
That Orwell… A doubleplussgood writer.
(it’s sad that I deleted other stuff I wrote because I didn’t want to “get in trouble”. i’m a wusspuss whose inflated ego has the fbi reading his stupid blog)
Glenn Beck thing
When I was younger and liked music, specifically when I was a nut about King’s X & Genesis, I used to play a thought experiment with myself. I would listen to a song on the radio and say to myself “Okay, if King’s X were playing that song, would you still think it sucked?” and, suddenly, I’d turn up the volume on a Depeche Mode song.
It works the other way, too. “If this wasn’t on Trick of the Tail, would you turn it off?” It’s why I stopped enjoying Genesis, actually. I can’t dance, indeed.
It’s one of the reasons I think I’m able to keep myself honest with other stuff in my life, too. I think it’s a good tool for a skeptic to have. But it can be a bit alienating.
A friend of mine who used to be a bigshot in politics said “Rush Limbaugh is right 80% of the time. The problem is, no one knows what that 80% is… most importantly: Rush Limbaugh.”
I used to listen to Limbaugh before the 2000 election to balance out the crap I was getting from, well, everywhere else but stopped when he completely went hypocrite after his Vicodin addiction. He could have been really wonderful and used his experience to talk about the folly of the insane war on drugs. Instead, he just spouted bull-poo.
Until I receive my $100,000 stimulus check from the government, I’m not listening to any radio or reading any news about anything. Which isn’t completely true, because I sometimes “test the bruise” and listen to talk radio or CNN.com on XM.
And this brings me to the point of all of this:
Except for the fact that he is a complete religious whackadoo nutjob freak, Glenn Beck sure seems like a good egg. He admits in his most recent book (yes, I listened to it) that he’s a complete religious whackadoo nutjob freak because his wife wouldn’t screw him until he became a mormon. (“M” silent). He’s funny, charming and seems to lean heavily Libertarian.
But, then there’s that disconnect of religion and war. Which is where many people split from the Libertarians.
(I guess part of the reason I like him is that I sit firmly in his demographic. I guess that’s no accident, eh?)
Anyway…. at his website, GlennBeck.com, he has the following message leading off his presentation of the 9 principles.
“Do you watch the direction that America is being taken in and feel powerless to stop it?
Do you believe that your voice isn’t loud enough to be heard above the noise anymore?
Do you read the headlines everyday and feel an empty pit in your stomach as if you’re completely alone?If so, then you’ve fallen for the Wizard of Oz lie. While the voices you hear in the distance may sound intimidating, as if they surround us from all sides the reality is very different. Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all.
We surround them.”
You can, as a hippie, believe that michael moore wrote that.
It seems that, unless you are insane, you can read that and completely agree with it.
The problem is who is the “we” that he’s talking about? I think there’s a false dichotomy and it is evident in his 9 principles:
- America is good.
- I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
- I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
- The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
- If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
- I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
- I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
- It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
- The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
I would rush (hey!) to include myself in the “we surround them” thing, but I don’t have that imaginary friend at the center of my life and I don’t want to be around people who have an imaginary friend at the center of their lives, either.
And that’s where the false dichotomy enters into things. He seems to be saying that things would be better in government or the media or america or whatever “if more people had the jesus at the center of their lives.” Most of the people in America have some sort of god thing at the center of their lives. There is no shortage of churches or breaks for churches or religious proceedings in America. It seems that we’ve got the god thing covered, my friends.
So, I won’t take part in his nutty thing.
But then I think about the Libertarians. Often people are resistant to identifying as Libertarian because of one thing that turns them off about Libertarian principles. Maybe it’s the drug thing, the tax thing, the anti-war thing… it may just be one thing, but it keeps them from voting for or supporting Libertarians. We like to remind them that they don’t agree with everything about the party they’re in now. They don’t agree with the candidate they like about everything, and, when compared, they often have fewer disagreements with Libertarian principles than their current party.
So, I disagree with one simple thing (hey, The Stabilizers… if King’s X had done that song, I would love it!!!) that Glenn Beck has on his list and won’t join.
Well… see… If you read it with an eye skewing religious, then it’s all religious. It’s one of the frustrating things about the Libertarian party. Many Libertarians are super duper religious and use the “get the government off my back” principle to fight for getting their kids in schools that teach creationism and other hogwash. And, you know, I’m fine with people ruining their kids futures by having them learn bullshit, but I’m not fine with my club being overrun by those same people. “Glad you’re happy. Now away with you, please.”
So, I read something like: 5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. and know that a christard uses that argument to support the death penalty. Or 8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. is used to perpetuate the “christians are a minority under attack and we need to make our voices heard” myth. If they’re not answering to the government, does that mean they’re answering to their god? Then, they’re going to expect me to answer to their god, ass well… Right?
And there’s the breaking the law (JUDAS PRIEST!!!) thing. Does that mean we support all laws as they are? What about the TSA?
Aaarrggghhhhh….
There are also 12 values, borrowed from the boy scouts it seems, which he believes are paramount to solving our challenges. Honesty, Reverence, Hope, Thrift, Humility, Charity, Sincerity, Moderation, Hard Work, Courage, Personal Responsibility, and Friendship.
When I was in Boy Scouts we were supposed to be “Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean & Reverent.”
I guess I’m just A LONE WOLF!!!!
Butt, enough about me… how about that nutjob who had 8 kids? yowza!
I think I have a problem with groups. Because all of those things can mean such different things to us all.
Should a charity be supported by the government? Is a church a charity? Is a *family* only a man, woman & child? I don’t think so. I know that many disagree.
Maybe I’m paranoid, but I get scared that christians want to replace the structure of government with their own structure, instead of letting it go. Or, maybe I’m just desperate to hear Libertarian ideas on the radio.
