[Sorenson's email printed after my reply]

Re: Forbid it, Almighty God!

Mr. Kent Sorenson:

I’m actually very pleased that Senator Gronstal has been standing up for common sense and civil liberties in the face of proposed poorly-considered right-wing conservative policy.

Why don’t you worry less about airport security and more about campaign finance reform; making all financing public, excluding any private monies (ANY, so that even wealthy candidates can’t legally self-finance), and then you won’t have to propose such awful policy just because you were bought-and-paid-for by special interests.

I remember last year’s Iowa Congressional session. It was atrocious. I especially will not forget what your side did with the abortion issue, where you tried to make it legal for doctors who perform abortions to be murdered and your constant bigotry against minorities; like gays, and your current proposal to introduce WI & SC style “Voter ID” laws which are really only an attempt to impinge on the poor and minority vote which skews Democratic. It would be different if voter fraud was even an issue, but it’s not.

In conclusion, I will not be supporting you financially. But I will support Gronstal’s campaign if you keep up your push for policies that:
A.) Don’t really matter as much as other issues (like this TSA silliness),
B.) Are hateful and bigoted toward people’s sexual orientation, disadvantaged socio-economic statuses, or race, or
C.) Are just a giveaway to corporate interests at the expense of the general public (like building a nuclear power plant to produce Base-Load that we don’t need, but leaving it up to the consumer to pay for Mid American Energy’s risk). Since when is capitalism about socializing risk & losses while privatizing profits?

Sincerely,

Mr. Kris Bunda
Moorland, IA

P.S., I will be watching and listening, just like last year. My dismal opinion of your party’s behavior could ONLY improve (I hope).

Kent Sorenson’s Email:

Forbid it, Almighty God!

Dear Friend,

You’ve all heard what comes next. The words of our freedom
loving Founding Father Patrick Henry’s famous speech are
etched into the hearts and minds of every school child.

“I know not what course others may take; but as for me,
give me liberty or give me death!”

Sounds good, doesn’t it? It sure makes a guy feel
patriotic. Heck, when I think about it, I like to fancy I’d
be right there with him, fearlessly laying my life on the
line to throw off the tyranny of the king.

Because that’s exactly what they were doing. When Patrick
Henry said those words, he wasn’t just giving a feel-good
speech at a rally on the statehouse steps. The very words
he uttered had extremely real consequences, ones that would
endanger the lives of his friends, family and loved ones.

Guys like him and the rest of the signers of the Declaration
all knew this. They knew the line they crossed couldn’t be
reversed and that it might cost them their lives.

But they did it anyway.

They did it because they looked into the future and knew if
they didn’t stake their ground that they, their kids, their
grandkids, even you and I, would lose it all.

So would we do the same? I’d like to think so. But it’s lucky
for folks like you and me that we aren’t there yet. Our
“kings” aren’t openly marching troops in the streets
enforcing their tyrannical laws.

Yet.

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have tyranny. To borrow
a line from one of my favorite movies, we’ve simply traded
one tyrant 3 thousand miles away for thousands of tyrants
one mile away.

Here in Iowa, the leader of our own little tyrant brigade
is found in the liberal democrat senate majority leader Mike
Gronstal.

Nationally, we’ve got government gone wild with their “big
brother” mentality. Cyber monitoring. Attempts to regulate
the Internet. Automated traffic enforcement. Electronic
eavesdropping. Groping stations at airports. The list of
things we need to be “safe” in this country gets bigger and
bigger every day.

And you don’t have to go visit a big city out east or west
anymore to get treated like a criminal, either. It’s happening
right now to Iowans, folks just like you and me.

A friend of mine told me just the other day that she and her
teenage daughter had gone through a nightmare when she
refused to be treated like a criminal and let the TSA thugs
run her and her daughter through their x-ray scanners.

You probably have heard about the scanners I’m talking about.

You know, the ones that provide naked pictures of the victims
to the TSA agents working the counter? The ones that clearly
violate the fourth amendment to the Constitution, which
states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches
and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall
issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Not only that, but a constituent of mine from Earlham, IA,
had the same experience where she was treated like a criminal
for refusing to be treated like one! Deciding to do a little
digging, I tragically found out that being groped and molested
isn’t a very uncommon thing anymore when it comes to traveling.

I decided that I will no longer stand idly by. I’m going to do
everything I can to see that these attacks on our rights are
ended.

I’m drafting legislation immediately that will outright ban
these actions that infringe upon our constitutional rights and
decency.

The bill is still in drafting, and it’s got a ways to go
before I would consider it able to be effective, but I’m here
to tell you that I’m going to be introducing the bill THIS
SESSION, and I’ll be fighting tooth and nail to get these
knuckleheads up here to pass this legislation.

Sure, some of you might think that these “safety measures”
are necessary for this day and age, but I disagree. If we have
to be treated like criminals to ensure our own safety, we’ve
lost the right to call this a free country, and I for one am
not willing to do that.

Right now, you and I have the chance to avoid what our
Founding Fathers had to sacrifice. We can still hold our
elected officials responsible because they ARE elected, and
we can still kick them out through peaceful means.

The Founding Fathers had come to a point where efforts at
diplomacy and politeness had failed. We aren’t at that
point. There are a few things we can do to take this country
back.

First, I’d like every single one of you to call or email your
elected legislators and demand that they support this good
legislation. Tell them that when this bill gets introduced that
they should co-sponsor it and do everything they can to bring it
to the floor for a clean vote. Tell them that you’ll be more
than happy to vote against them in the next election.

Next, please click here to chip in $50, $35, $20 or whatever
you can afford to my campaign. When it comes to fighting
for our rights, there’s a shortage of folks here in Des Moines
who are willing to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.

With your generous support, I’ll be able to support fighters like
me who want to run for the state legislature. There’s a few of
them out there, believe it or not, and with the help of folks like
you we’ll be ready, willing and able to stand against the
onslaught of those who wield “chains and slavery.”

Sincerely,

Student: Why did we have a “Civil War”?
Teacher: It was a war over slavery.
Student: Why did we have slavery?
Teacher: Our founding fathers wrote into the Constitution that black people were not people, but property, and less-than human; equaling 3/5ths of a man.
Student: Why doesn’t it say that in my History book?
Teacher: Because a group of protesters called the Tea Twats decided that even though they can’t spell their protest signs correctly, they should dictate the removal of facts from your text-books. They like to make up history as it suits them so they can doom others to repeat its mistakes.

What’s the Conservative Protest Movement Doing to Advance Education in America? Pretending Slavery Wasn’t Important.

Tea parties issue demands to Tennessee legislators
Among 5 priorities, state group wants kinder treatment of Founding Fathers in history courses

• By Richard Locker | Posted January 13, 2011 at midnight

About two dozen tea party activists held a news conference, then met with lawmakers individually to present their list of priorities and “demands” for the 2011 legislative session that opened Tuesday.

Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

“The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at,” said Rounds…

They must have rubbed their 2 collective brain-cells together until a spark flew out and burned a series of grunts onto a piece of paper, which the media generously called “demands”. The effort likely caused most of them to shit themselves and drool out a lispy “Don’t Tread on Duh”.

Dumfucks an there sines

“While not all stupid people are conservatives, all conservatives are stupid people” ~John Stuart Mill

Why is Iran’s “Red Line” the media’s war-drum-beat that “Yellow Cake,” “Mushroom Cloud” & “WMD” were in 2002?

A Not-At-All-Hyperbolic Facebook Conversation:

CBS Sunday Morning oughtta be ashamed of themselves for letting Dick Cheney ghostwrite this Iran-War propaganda

Status Update:

Kris Bunda: CBS: You ought to be ashamed for mouth-piecing for the military-industrial complex. Leon Panetta, former Top Spook, now Top Cop, just said a week ago that Iran is not building a bomb. Did Dick Cheney ghostwrite this piece?

The ticking clock of Iran’s nuclear threat – CBS News www.cbsnews.com
CBS Sunday Morning: The ticking clock of Iran’s nuclear threat – Will Tehran’s posturing over its nuclear ambitions and the Strait of Hormuz cross the red lines that lead to war?

Comments:

Kris Bunda: Can we just get the foreplay over with and declare Nuke War on every country in the world? (Except China, they’ll have to loan us the money that we’ll eventually declare bankruptcy on).

Friend: Actually, Panetta said last week that Iran was working towards the ability to construct a nuclear arsenal but had not yet achieved the capability to achieve its desire.

Can anyone name a single country that actually reached the capability of nuclear weapon construction that elected not to build them? Nope. You can’t. Several nations have tabled their efforts prior to achieving the capability and one, South Africa, built bombs and later decided to dismantle them divesting themselves of nuclear capability. Several former Soviet states were left with nuclear arsenals after the break up of the USSR but turned them over to Russia rather than deal with securing or maintaining such devices. But there has never yet been a country to have the ability to build nuclear weapons that did not construct them.

Now building them does not necessarily mean they will be used but Iran has the very real potential to be as unstable as Pakistan…and the last thing this world needs is another shaky nuclear power.

Kris Bunda: EXCERPT: “Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Iran is laying the groundwork for making nuclear weapons someday, but is not yet building a bomb and called for continued diplomatic and economic pressure to persuade Tehran not to take that step.” http://usat.ly/z9FdTl

So, basically, the recent top spook and current top cop says “THEY ARE NOT BUILDING A BOMB”.

They’re trying to make an energy program that isn’t fossil fuel based.

EXCERPT: “No other country in the world, including Pakistan, which was really – had very little industrial capability, from the time they decided to build a bomb, they had one in hand within 12 years. Iran has been at this now for over 20 years, and we still – they still don’t have a bomb.” http://n.pr/wrPo0v

They’re either incredibly inept, or they really, actually are not trying to build a weapon. You call Iran “unstable”, but did you consider that if they can diversify their domestic energy portfolio, they may become more stable?

“Red Line” of “War” is the current media war-drum-beat that “Yellow Cake”, “Mushroom Cloud” and “WMD” were in 2002. Don’t believe the hype. We’re squeezing them with more sanctions, but we’re also standing by (or helping?) while IT and Car Bomb terrorism is being enacted on Iran. We’re going to be the kid who kicked the hornets nest and then blamed the hornets when we get stung.

Cheney’s in his bunker-lair laughing. His Halliburton stock will soon be appreciating on the Chinese-financed deficit-spent war contracts.

 Panetta: Iran not building bombs yet www.usatoday.com
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Iran is laying the groundwork for making nuclear weapons someday, but is not yet building a bomb.

Kris Bunda: When will Cheney tell us that “Deficits don’t matter”, Iran War “will pay for itself with seized oil”? And we can all forget that he once said this war would be a “quagmire”. At least that’s what happened last time we spent $3trillion in borrowed Chinese money on a Middle East war that was based on the Military-Industrial Complex’s junkie cravings for war contracts (ANY WAR CONTRACTS!), and trumped up lies/”intel” from our own government.

Friend: Can’t actually build a bomb until one has the know how…so of course Iran is not yet building a bomb! They don’t yet know how!

The question is whether it is easier to prevent nuclear non-proliferation before such capability is created or after?

If Iran’s nuclear pursuit was for power purposes, why put it in a deep and hardened bunker and why turn away inspectors?

Kris Bunda: Inspectors: How friendly would we be to the IAEA if they represented the same nationalities that have been harassing us for decades? Not excusing Iran, they have an awful gov’t. But they’re not an awful people, and many clearly don’t like their gov’t (as evidenced by their “Green Party” protests that were violently stomped out).

We can encourage non-proliferation, but it’s not our place to terrorize a sovereign nation’s people with car bombings and other spooky ops.Which leads us to the purported “hardened bunker” encasing Iran’s nuclear aspirations. That’s what they’ve had to resort to, considering Israel’s (and the US’s?) penchant for bombing unprotected facilities. I wonder how many hardened underground bunker facilities we have? I can think of a few off the top of my head.

Kris Bunda: Besides, isn’t it a bit ironic that Israel won’t join the non-proliferation agreement, and doesn’t allow IAEA Inspectors into its program?

EXCERPT: Arab nations have urged Washington and several other nuclear powers to push for inspections of Israel’s nuclear programme, diplomats have told the Associated Press news agency.

In a letter sent ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting scheduled for September, the Arab League also sought support for a resolution that calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). http://bit.ly/yrDq5I

 Nuclear inspection of Israel sought www.aljazeera.com
Arab League urges US to press Israel to lift secrecy over its atomic programme.

The Military-Industrial Complex Has Spoken - We Will Declare War On Iran - A Facebook Conversation

Letter submitted via White House “Contact Us” email, 1-15-2012

Dear Mr. President:

I’m sure you already know what you have to do on the pipeline. More and more of us realize this pipeline won’t create almost any permanent jobs (according to the independent Cornell U. study). It will just bypass us to use our ports to export Canadian oil to other countries. It’s “the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet”. “Red state” Nebraska told Canada “Not in our back yards”.

Cornell University Keystone XL jobs study - Table of Contents

Your base is watching this closely. And Congress, especially the Republicans, are much less popular than you are.

And now we see that John Boehner, who is trying to force your hand out of taking time to responsibly review and into making a poor and brash decision, has recently heavily invested himself (by middle class standards) in 7 companies that are involved in the pipeline.

EXCERPT: Environmentalists note that in December 2010, according to Boehner’s financial disclosure forms, he invested $10,000 to $50,000 each in seven firms that had a stake in Canada’s oil sands, the region that produces the oil the pipeline would transport. The firms include six oil companies — BP, Canadian Natural Resources, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Devon Energy and Exxon — along with Emerson Electric, which has a contract to provide the digital automation for the first phase of a $9.4 billion Horizon Oil Sands Project in Canada.

Bill McKibben, a climate activist and co-founder of the group 350.org, wrote in an e-mail that Boehner has received more than $1 million from fossil-fuel companies, “and now we find out that he’s got extensive personal investments in companies dependent on tarsands oil.”

“He was willing to shut down the government in part to prevent enough time for serious environmental review,” McKibben added. “In any other facet of our public life . . . this whole list taken together would be seen for the gross conflict of interest that it is.”

“As deadline nears, friends and foes of Keystone XL pipeline step up campaigns”

The Washington Post
By Juliet Eilperin, Published: January 14
http://wapo.st/Agwbni

Please do your reelection campaign and the American People a favor, and kill this pipeline. It’s a sick joke, and another Big Oil multinational grift being perpetrated on the public. It cannot stand, and when the inevitable environmental atrocity occurs, you’ll be left holding the bag (Republicans will tar you with pipeline oil, and the media will conveniently forget that you weren’t exactly a Pipeline Chearleader.)

Thank you for your consideration,

Kris Bunda

I get the feeling Harley Davidson guards their logo and branding designs like a Pit bull (rightly so). So I want to point out that these are not production designs, just ideas I put together in a CAD program in my spare time. Call the lawyers and tell them “false alarm”. Thanks.

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Obama - 2012 Campaign Strategy - Run Republican Debates Clips, Verbatim

Here’s why I think Obamacare is an Improvement over the Status Quo:

1.) If you’re unable to afford coverage, you will be helped. 40-50 million people can’t afford it today. They will mostly be covered after 2014. That’s an improvement to our society.

2.) It ensures almost everyone is in the risk pool, which will help bring down some insurance costs, just like how everyone has to have auto coverage.

If auto insurers are assured that unless someone is breaking the law, almost all drivers will be insured, then they know their customers will only be a large liability if they’re At Fault. If insurers had to not only be liable for their customers, but all the dumbass teenagers and slobs who wouldn’t insure themselves if they didn’t have to, insurance would cost a lot more.

3.) Unconstitutional? We’ll let the Supreme Court decide that later. Then (if they rule it unconstitutional) they can tell states that they can’t make us all buy auto insurance. See what that does to the price of auto insurance.

4.) Insurance companies now have to spend 80% of the premiums they take in on healthcare costs for the insured (85% for group plans). There was no such restriction before. If they don’t spend 80% on these costs, they have to mail a check for the difference to the payee at the end of the year. This will help keep insurance costs honest, after this, it will be on the healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies to address costs, because that’s what will be driving them if insurance companies are limited in what they can take for administration and profits.

5.) There are some serious Medicare and Medicaid anti-fraud provisions laid out in Obamacare to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse. And they’re already paying off big dividends. The Obama justice dept. has shown a huge increase in criminal prosecutions compared to previous administrations.

6.) We already pay to cover the uninsured. It’s called the Emergency Room. The uninsured show up at the ER when everything goes wrong, health-wise. This is an expensive way to provide healthcare for our society, as opposed to ongoing preventive care. If we’re already paying for everyone’s care, why not insure them, even the poor ones?

7.) The CBO reports that Obamacare will save the U.S. gov’t over $100 billion over the next decade (as opposed to doing nothing with the 1/6th of our economy that is healthcare).

CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that enacting both pieces of legislation will produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010-2019 period. About $124 billion of that savings stems from provisions dealing with health care and federal revenues; the other $19 billion results from the education provisions.

8.) Insurance companies can no longer drop you because you’re sick (with some trumped-up excuse). They can’t refuse to cover you because you have “preexisting conditions”. There will be no “lifetime cap” in coverage that you could meet if you had an expensive chronic illness.

9.) Obamacare is basically the Same. Exact. Plan. that right-wing “think” tank The Heritage Foundation wrote 20 years ago to present a conservative alternative to HillaryCare. Now they disown this idea, of course, because it’s been implemented by a black Kenyan socialist Muslim usurper, but facts is facts. (The Heritage Foundation is the same people who put out a “study” in 2011 that claims there’s no poor people in the U.S. because 99+% of them have refrigerators). So if there’s no poor people, we should all have no problem affording health insurance, right?

Ginger is almost 4 years old and she can now write her own name! That is great news, and I’m very impressed and proud. But this development comes with a dark side. Ginger revealed two secrets today:

1) She can transmit written messages.

2) She knows the Russian alphabet.

Notice anything about this photograph (other than it’s adorable)?

Ginger Writes Her Name - In Russian!

How about now?

My Daughter The Spy - The Evidence Infographic

Your Writing Has Improved, Comrade.

See it now? She writes her N’s like on an old Soviet propaganda poster! It doesn’t get much more conclusive than that. The infographic might as well be Glenn Beck’s chalkboard: irrefutable. By the way, if you look at the infographic from the bottom-up, freedom wins.

Late Nights, Stealth Movements

Facebook Status Update

WTF? Walked past Ginger’s room and the light was on, she’s passed out on her bed on top of the blankets, and there are toys and coloring books strewn all over the floor. 3-year-old Stealth Partying.

I posted this on my Facebook last night. At the time I thought it was just an innocent non event. But this morning it Red Dawned on me that my 3-yr-old is staying up late to connect with her spooky counterparts. The dots are connecting themselves.

More Evidence: The Sailor Talk

Holly informed me this morning of the following conversation, which took place yesterday when the kids were getting dressed to go outside.

GINGER: “I can’t find my mitten, dammit!”

HOLLY: “What did you say?”

GINGER: “I can’t find my dammit mitten.”

HOLLY: “We don’t say that word. Say ‘rats’ instead.”

GINGER: “I can’t find my rats mitten.”

Where is she getting this naughty language? Sure, Holly used to curse like a drunken brothel madame, but we’ve both toned it down since having children. Hecky doozies! We don’t even watch our HBO shows anymore unless the kids are in bed. I’m sure she’s been learning the salty talk from hardened KGB operatives. Probably ex-sailors.

But What Intel Is She Gathering?

You know, I never gave it much thought, but Ginger sure is inquisitive. She asks a LOT of questions. But I don’t know much about anything, so what is she hoping to learn about? To get to the bottom of this, I decided it was time for me to start collecting counter-intel. Check out these documents obtained from my refrigerator:

This is a portrait of Jack. I assume Ginger is building household “asset” files on each of us.

Jack by Ginger - Mini Marker Board

Uncanny! But if this is part of a recruiting strategy, nuh-unh! Already got one kid, Russkies!

Jack Bunda - Age 21 mos - 1-3-2012

The diagram on the left is of a planet in water. On the right is a “Spaceman, who dives in the ocean”. What kind of plans have I stumbled upon? Ginger has taken a great interest in all-things-planetary lately. Holly even made Ginger and I matching blankets with planet patterns on them for Christmas. I hope NASA understands that I was an unwitting rube in the scheme to infiltrate them for their alien warp-drive technology secrets (or whatever). Unwitting Rube, I say!

The Spaceman and the Water Planet

And then there’s this rainbow drawing. If I had to venture a guess? It’s a map. Ginger is Code Name: Leprechaun (since she’s a “little person”), and the pot o’ gold is where her kickbacks for covert-ops is hidden. I need to get to it before she does so it goes into her college fund instead of a Polly Pocket spending spree.

Rainbow Map

Still, I’m not too worried about this whole Secret Agent lifestyle. We all do stupid things when we’re kids, right? She’ll grow out of it, she’s just going through a phase.

Yes, I don’t like abortion. No one likes abortion. But keep government out of uteri, and we’ll all be better off. Why? Well for one, strong evidence shows that since the legalization of abortion, the termination of unwanted pregnancies has led to marked reduction in crime.

Plus: “Man-on-Dog” Santorum’s ‘Extreme Political Makeover’ (Fiscal Conservative Edition) is the Height of Hilarity, Hypocrisy.

And if you’re actually interested in voting Santorum for president because he’s talkin’ tuff on “fiscal conservatism” (read: 30 more years of failed Reaganomics supply-side Tinkle-Down-on-my-back-and-tell-me-it’s-”economics”), then here’s a great history to read and/or listen to from NPR. It’s not “Gotcha Journalism” (read: asking Sara Palin “What do you read?”). It’s not “Lamestream Media” smear campaigning. It’s just the facts, ma’am. And it’s wholly damning to Santorum, if he’s trying to run as a fiscal conservative.

Basically, every time Dumbya asked for a few hundred-billion more dollars to wage Global War Adventurism, Ricky was right there rallying the Repubs to shovel money out the gates. Remember: This was Rick Santorum in a Republican Congress, with a Republican President, voting for the largest tax-revenue cuts in history, voting for spending the most money in history, and they all wiped their asses with three years of budget surpluses that the Clinton administration had left them (of which portions of said surpluses were paying down our national debt, not adding trillions to it.)

The National Debt Infographic - Remember when Bill Clinton ran the country for 3 years with no Deficit and reduced our Debt?

Me too, so I posted this to my Facebook:

Romney called Obama a “Crony Capitalist” today. I don’t think he knows what that means. When he looks it up in the dictionary, he should see a picture of himself there.

A Brand New Mittens rolls off assembly at the Bain Crony Factory

And some of my conservative Facebook friends didn’t appreciate it, which is fine, since I’m a liberal troll. Solyndra was brought up. I started rant-typing.

u mad conservatives?

Here’s a Ranty Reply for the Namesake:

Let’s talk about “Closed Door Meetings”, “Energy Policy”, “Crony Capitalism”, and “Lotsa Money”:

Remember how our last presidential administration was Republican and hell-bent on ruining this nation? I do. Remember how Dick Cheney, a former fossil-fuels energy services company CEO got a big group of fellow fossil-fuel energy services company CEOs together in a room with closed doors and wrote our national energy policy together in 2004? What a hoot! Talk about fun and conspiracy and Crony Capitalism! I bet it went something like this:

CHENEY: “So, you want to hydrofrack in tens-of-thousands of locations around the country, around water-supplying aquifers, but instead of just water, you want to use poisonous carcinogens too? That sounds great! But the press is gonna have a heyday with this… Let’s keep it a secret! By Law! Then you won’t have to legally disclose exactly what, or how much of said toxins you pump into the nation’s drinking water! Yay Poison Death!”

How much did that cost us/will cost us in the future? Eh, who cares? There’s a foreign Muslim usurper guy whose administration had something to do with filing business stimulus loan paperwork over the course of 6+ months to a solar panel business. We better drop everything and hold Congressional hearings instead of figuring out the 3.1 trillion dollar national budget that’s absurdly behind schedule or tied up in gag-legislation that not even a drunk hobo would blow his nose on.

And remember how Cheney and Dumbya sent their buddies at Halliburton and various other components of the Military-Industrial Complex those sweet love letters (War Contracts) to spend $3trillion in Iraq, based on ginned up intel? I don’t even think you can call that “Crony Capitalism”. There has to be new words made for when Criminal War Conspiracy And Crimes Against Humanity reach that level… How about “MurderyStealy Capitalism”? or “Roman-Timesy Capitalism”?

Anyways, the air conditioning bill for ONE MONTH of the Iraq/Afghanistan/AxisOfWarContracts Capitalism cost us TWENTY BILLION DOLLARS. Let’s take that times 12 months times about 10 years…. Now we’re talkin’ real money. So what’s a halfabillion between friends? If Obama was actually involved in unethical loans for $500 million (or as I like to call it: “Less Than One Day of War AC”), and that’s Obama’s “Crony Capitalism”, then I’ll say: (Compared to the Corporate War Grifters who preceded Obama), What a Bargain!

Here’s the problem with some people making $billions per year in income, and having wealth that exceeds millions of the bottom Americans COMBINED: those people have enough money to corrupt our democracy, game the political system, get their pet politicians elected (more than 80% of the time, the candidate with the most campaign funds wins, whether they’re a “good” candidate or not).

This takes the power from the people and puts it into the hands of a select few “monarchs”.

Tax Income Inequality by Ratio.

I like the “Brandeis Tax” idea.

But that’s just for income. The estate tax is supposed to help make sure people don’t build multi-generational monarchies (think: the Waltons; 6 heirs own more wealth than the bottom 30% of all Americans COMBINED). Unfortunately, the super-rich have worked tirelessly for decades to buy politicians and create loopholes so that they could pass democracy-threatening fortunes on to heirs in perpetuity. They’ve also spent untold amounts on PR spin, which is why the estate tax is now known as “The Death Tax“.

So what is the American Dream?

Is it:

That you can be born poor and work hard and with a little luck and some good ideas you can become at least comfortable, if not wealthy in your lifetime? Then you can pass on some (but not all) of that wealth to heirs?

Or is it: 

With luck you will be the heir of a fortune that rivals kings’, and you can use that money to buy politicians, in turn buying the corrupting laws and loopholes that make you and your top 0.0001% friends even wealthier? And then you can pass on that unfathomable wealth to another generation that did no work for it so they have enough cash to continue corrupting a once-good system until it loses all credibility and the citizenry revolt?