Corruption, Part II: Business

http://business-fundas.com/2010/corruption-is-business-part-1/

Corruption in business is almost a standard in America, which, in and of itself, is one of the most massive harbingers of our eventual downfall.  Money flows through, into and out of our system so fast, it's impossible to tell where it comes from and where it goes anymore.  It's borrowed, lent, laundered, printed and destroyed so much, that the value of it is becoming anything but intrinsic.

What gets me, is that the dollar, which has been essentially non-backed by anything since 1913, is still portrayed as worth something in today's market.  It hasn't been...nor will it be worth, diddly...ever again.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with economics, when it was backed by visible gold and silver, then, and only then was it worth the paper it was printed on.  The appearance of the Federal Reserve Note signaled the eventual end of the dollars worth.  Oh, I've read things that say the dollar is just worth that...one dollar, to the rest of the world.  Bah!  If it's worth two cents (which I heard it was 20 years ago), I'll be shocked.  No, today's dollar, in case you're not sure, is worth the same as $20 was 50 years ago.  Wouldn't that put its current worth pretty much in the red?  Every federal reserve note you see is another bill of our debt that is supposed to represent what backs it up...which, if you believe the rest of the world (and myself - Please see America's ORIGINAL 26 Deadly sins, Day #6), Ft. Knox and the Fed are both empty of one single ounce in Gold.  The more we print up, the less it's worth, and it would seem that there's an awful lot of new money out there.

You're hearing, more and more these days, about an economic collapse, due to hit this year.  While a great deal of this is just others trying to make some cash off of gullible American Sheeple, utilizing "free" information they're selling (which is really very very funny...why ask for people to send you $39.99 for the reports proving this...if the dollar is gonna crash in a few months anyway??  Y'all are KILLING ME.  What, you're doing this in hopes you can live the good life for 3 months before it all goes south??  Gimme a break!), it truly wouldn't surprise me even a little if it did.  It'll happen for sure at some point...it has to.  You can't even see the numbers on the debt clock go up anymore they go by so fast now.  There's other stories out there that Obama plans to bring in another Golden Age too; that he's holding back on the reports that show just how much oil we've uncovered in Texas these days with vertical drilling, more than we've ever had, and more than any other oil producing nation to date; so that, when the time comes, he can raise us from the dead, in order to become so wildly popular that we'll beg him to serve more terms (hence the 3rd term rumor).  Whatever the case, we're either gonna be saved...or we're going to be doomed.  Hard to imagine either one at this point, but whatever goes, it won't be pretty, I'm certain.

I think the thing that bugs me the most is that, in our gross naivete, Americans fall for pretty much the same things over...and over...and over again.  But the lack of futures, of nest eggs, or anything to leave to our descendants brings us back around again, to try and trust, just so some scammer can take all our money away again.  I mean really, if we don't know how to recognize a Ponzi scheme by now, come on!!  And to all of you who dream up these little schemes, you may get away with your life this time, but for truly, someday, you're gonna screw the wrong American and...well, I wouldn't wanna be you, that's for sure.

It amazes me, the grand scale that some of these businesses and their scams get away with...as well as, regardless of years in jail, that these folks are accountable for after they get done spending millions of dollars of other people's money.  What's more, the lack of laws that should be in place to protect us, just in case.  But you see, we smaller people don't really matter, either to big business, or the judicial branch, either one.  The corruption is so rampant now, it's almost so commonplace as to be legal.  Sodom nor Gomorrah had nothing on our cities and their corporations, America.  We cater to them through our Government.  Bribery, Lobbying, its all there, and like anything else bad in the world, if you see it enough, you come to be OK with it.  Well, I'm sorry, but it's NOT OK, and you will be stood up to, believe that.  Someday, this little guy's voice WILL be heard, and the days of good business practice will be revived, of that you can bet.

They say business is corrupt...I say, in America, corruption is a business.  So the next time you're in a meeting, and someone says "OK, let's get down to business, shall we?"  Put your hand on your wallet and hold on tight, because chances are, you're fixin' to lose it.  :D

Corruption - Part I: The Police/Police State

http://brooklynpersonalinjurylawyers.co/police-brutality

Hey America!!  Guess what?  Everybody liked the last series so much, I thought maybe another one might be a good thing.  Let's do this one, hmmmm?  CORRUPTION.

And, where does corruption start and why?  Well, here's the funny thing about that.  Corruption starts with power, generally.

Corruption can also start with good honest people, generally after power is handed over to them or given to them freely. Let's say you're a bit of a submissive, and I told you that you have absolute power over everything I do.  The first thing you'd say is "Oh, don't be silly...I could never exercise that over you..."  Then when I keep insisting, well, you might re-think it.  See there, what I did?  I simultaneously planted doubt in your mind as to the power I offered you, as well as made you wonder if maybe this might be a good thing.  Then, let's say maybe I do something you don't like, and, remembering the power I offered you, you decide to test the waters...see what happens.  You then say "Hey!!  Don't do that, I don't really like that!!"  You will, more than likely, shrink back a bit, awaiting my usual fight in return...and it doesn't come.  I now say "Hey, it's OK.  You have that power now you know", as I give you an acknowledging nod and apologize, then refrain from my action.  Next thing you know, you're interjecting over what I say and do every time you see or hear something you don't like.  Once I stop standing up to you, you realize the power I offered you is real and true, and, once you figure that out, you might just abuse that privilege a little.  You then start balking me about petty things that really DON'T bother you, you just start enjoying your power more.  After that, I start noticing you trying what you do to me on others, thinking maybe they might back off a little too.  Hand the reigns over to a normally passive person, it isn't long before they're in the driver's seat, breaking the laws (of control) left and right.  Why?  You know why.  Absolute power?  Corrupts absolutely.

The same thing tends to happen with other people as well.  The accountant you put in charge of all of your finances, and you have a LOT of finances!  The thoughts going through this person's head after a while start to read like this:  "Hey, nobody else checks his books, not even the wife!  What would be the harm of taking a dollar or two out of the black column, say once a day?"  Or there's that new manager at the fast food restaurant you work for, who, just a year ago was flipping burgers right alongside of you and laughing at your jokes; and who is now tearing you a new orifice.  And let's not forget those sweet wonderful women who marry successful husbands. and who are now waited on hand and foot by them.  They were awful nice at first, what happened?  Now spoiled rotten by said husbands, you find yourself standing next to them at TJ Maxx, listening to them tongue-lash the store clerk because there was a small stitch malfunction in her new dress; all the while wondering how you ever considered this woman as a good possible friend of yours; and then turning 20 shades of red, as she draws attention to you that you never wanted to be a part of.

Probably a more notable and obvious example of corruptible-type people are our government officials - city, state, federal, it matters not.  They're candidates for the people while they try for the position, but just as soon as they get where they want to be, they begin suffering from a special strain of amnesia, indigenous to politicians, that causes them to forget about the people who put them there, whom they serve, who they really are and where they came from.  Now, instead, they choose to concentrate on more important matters.  Like how much their cut of the action might be if they help get this new law or that new law passed, how to help in covering up whatever trouble the higher-ups got themselves into, and, of course, how they can get re-elected when their term end nears.

Of course, the most terrifying and infuriating example isn't our government, our friends, or our mates.  There's really only one group on the face of this planet that makes me so angry I want to hang each and every one of them upside down and burn holes in their clothing with cigarette cherries -  and daily at that.  Yes, of course, I'm speaking of our boys in Blue.  Or Black.  Grey.  Olive Drab.  Whatever the color of their uniforms, I'm talking about the police.  Our "Protect(ors) and Serv(ant)e" persons.  Government officials make me angry too, for sure, but these guys....these people are in my neighborhood every...single...day.  They're asposed to be looking out for me and mine.  Oh, I'm sure their intentions are grand when they go in.  Heck, I'm even sure the better majority of them really want to bust real criminals and uphold the law, on their way in.  I'd even have to say, that when they come out of police training, they feel the same.  But as the badge on their shirt gets less shiny, month after month, something happens to these people.  Sure, they know the law, they've rattled it off more than they care to admit...but pretty soon, some of the more brazen of these keepers of the peace begin to make up their own laws, or at the very least, their own personal version of them.  Just like any job on earth (with the possible exception being the severity of this job on the human brain), after you work it for a while, and become more sure of your footing, you begin to imagine things you have little or no right to think.

Your job is tougher...you risk your life daily, you deserve more for doing it.  Things like this we've all imagined from time to time on our own jobs.  The options for the rest of us, not in a position of power, are rather limited.  It's either figure out a way to convince your boss you deserve more for the job you do (something that nearly never works out for you...ever); or figure out a scheme involving your job that could possibly make more money for you.  Then you conceive a way to rip the company off, get nailed by the accounting department, then get jailed.  Promptly.

Police-persons, on the other hand, (I think I just thought of the subject of my next post series - SOFT LANGUAGE) have oodles of options.  And they abuse these options on  a regular basis too.  Not only can you rip your "company" off, you can do it...without worry, consequence or accountability, as long as you don't get greedy about it...if that's possible for us Americans anyway.  It's like eating a Lay's Potato Chip...no one can eat just one!  Or opening an Oreo cookie package and reaching for a cookie...and you look again, and you've finished off half the package.  Corruption happens just like that.  One minute you're dipping out of the drug bust you made for an ounce, then before you know it, you're grabbing entire bricks, as you think "they didn't miss that ounce, I'm betting they won't miss a half a pound", and the corrupt officer is born.

Oh, but you know it's not just stealing we're talking about.  No, badge abuse never stops with theft, it can sift over to other things as well...like law-breaking.  "This guy's a real puke, he raped that girl last week.  Surely people would see me as a real hero if maybe I broke his jaw "accidentally" before he got to the police station." If it stopped there, and only happened in situations like this, every once a year or so, I'd say that officer might just get away with that. No, but it can't stop there, mostly because corruption is all-consuming, and only gets worse and worse.  That same officer then starts doing this sort of thing to people he might believe did what was said, before they're tried for their guilt.  The cuffs go on ridiculously tight, he sorta "bangs" the perp's head into the side of the police car as he's putting them in the back seat.  Not long after that, every one's fair game, innocent and guilty alike, male or female, adult or child.  They get away with more and more, and soon enough, their badge is their shield.  Nothing can touch them.  If you do something wrong, it's not a big deal, they just get suspended with pay anyway, right? Just until this blows over...

You might even wonder what it was that set me off on this path today.  Oh, trust me kids, this article's been a while in coming, let alone a whole series, I didn't even see that one coming.  It wasn't even considered then.  What set me off was a slew of Facebook posts, which aptly included a girl with special needs, 18, who wheeled herself out of her apartment with a knife in her hand because she was afraid of the outdoors, and was brutally murdered by police.  I suppose it's only fair of me to say, on the side of police, that she was the reason that 911 was called.  I suppose it would be equally fair to the victim to say that, they had dialed to get EMT's, not the police; and that they had done this before, and EMT's had come the rest of the times they'd had problems dealing with her.

The officer who shot her?  You got it, suspended with pay...til things blow over.  That website, including video of the newscast?  One of several that have been cropping up everywhere lately, and that I've referred to over and over again.  Here's the link for that video, as well as several like it:

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/family-dials-9-1-1-medical-family-member-cops-show-instead-kill/

Please also see:

www.copblock.org

And, of course, you've heard me refer to "Sheeple", over and over again...these folks are the coiners of the term.

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/

Visit their website, and support their freedom of speech rights at all costs.  Please, if you have a few minutes, check out this story and this video as well, it brought real salty-like tears to my cheek:

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/no-knock-raid-lindy-american-police-state/

Or, if your favorites bar is overloaded, and you just don't really feel like adding any new sites?  There's always the search box of good ol' Google...filled with only two words:  Police and Brutality.  You'll be filled immediately with YouTube video a-plenty.  It's because of folks such as these that the bell tolls and the truth is revealed, my dear readers.  If it weren't for them exposing the truth without consequence (yet...) that I'm able to blog to you with this many sins (thus far anyway).  Fight for your rights America, fight to preserve them, or the hammer may fall on us...hard, and fast.  :D

*********************************************************************************

UPDATE:  OMG AMERICA!!  There has been U.S. Supreme Court decisions about being able to film the police in order to keep them from abusing their privelege...they say it's ok!!  And now APPLE, and the iPhone, are banding together with big brother to say NO!!  It's not NOT ok.  Apple has a patent on a technology that will give the police a way to disable all phones in an area where there is police activity taking place.  BAN THE iPhone!!  Write your congressmen!!  NOW, before your rights are GONE!!

http://www.mybrotherzkeeper.com/man-sues-st-paul-alleging-police-brutality/

Homelessness

Photo: Rachel Monroe/Monroe's Dragonfly

Oh my Lord America.  I gotta say this, this is the most sickening thing about this, our beautiful country.  If I could just put my finger on something, press hard, push your face into it, anything...ANYTHING to make you ill, this is it.  There is no....excuse....for this...in this country.  NONE.

Oh, we have reasons.  We have excuses a-plenty.  We know about this, yet we shut our eyes, turn our heads and some of us, with their very souls at risk, ignore it completely, like it doesn't even exist.  Don't think I haven't seen that one America, and a lot of it.

I remember walking through the streets of Chicago one morning, and there on the corner was, not only a homeless man, but his dog as well, complete with ribs you could play your favorite tune on.  A group of say 3-4 business men, all in their 30's or so, hurried along Monroe Street, talking shop.  A quick glance to the side as they came closer, and wow.  All of a sudden, it was like death in the group.  A couple yanked out their phones, checking for non-existent messages...one started to point the opposite direction, like there was anything to look at save more tall buildings.  Makes you want to run up to at least one, punch them in the face, grab them by the scruff of their necks and crane their heads back in the direction they should be looking.

You want to know why you look away America?  You can't look, and you know why.  That guy and his dog, they remind you of someone.  Funny, he almost looks like your father, doesn't he?  Wait no, your brother.  Your KID brother.  He had a dog just like him, didn't he?  Wait...oh yeah....your best friend.  Your Uncle.  Oh my God, your SON!!

That's right.  Your brothers, people.  Your American brothers are homeless...jobless...on the street.  You know who takes care of these people?  Us poorer people do.  We, the lower class are forever shoving dollars in their cups, knowing we can barely take care of ourselves...but a majority of us know what being homeless is all about.  Either we've been there, or we've known people who have.

Yeah, that's one reason.  Here's another.  You put those people on that corner.  You, right along with corporate America put Joe Smith on that corner, and you know it.  You're the VP at the corporate giant who put Mr. Small Business....out of business.  You're the Manager of Operations at the plant that dumped waste into that lake that, every summer, drew a slew of vacationers to it.  Jane Doe, the local owner of a bait and boat shop rental had to close her doors this year because of it.  The bank reclaimed her home, and now Jane and her family are out on that corner today.  Oh, it might not be EXACTLY who you see...but it could be, just as well.  In your eyes, America, every homeless person you see looks JUST like that person you wronged, inadvertently, or not.  Guilt.  Thank God SOME of us still have consciences.  Not that we pay attention or do anything about it, mind you...but we can still have one.

Here's my favorite though.  You really, truly, are completely naive about it.  You just don't know.  I can understand this, no one wants to talk about it, and that means that there are really and truly people out there who have no clue whatsoever what the numbers really are.

This is where I come in.  You'll have those numbers America.  If it kills me, you'll have them, as big as I can make them too.  Maybe if we lived in the Congo.  Quite possibly, had we been born in Venezuala.

But, as we are the 6th most prosperous country in the world, and leading the world in power, we have run out of excuses.

Did you know that we have five times as many empty houses as we have homeless people?  The reason we have homeless people again???

The number one reason for homelessness?  Lack of AFFORDABLE housing.  Do you think maybe this means we should possibly...LOWER THE COST?  PAY PEOPLE MORE?  Gee, I dunno.  MAAAAAAAAYBE.

More reasons?  Mental Illness/Substance Abuse, and the lack of services available to both.  Low paying jobs.  Yeah, DUH!!  Damaged foster children, when released at 18.  Job training for vets after Vietnam (we dropped the ball on this one, kids.  No Sense in trying to fix that one NOW).  The mentally challenged, currently or at some time in their past drug addicts, the current and past imprisoned population, and most assuredly FORMER criminals, who, because of technology, can't be employed; at some companies, FOREVER - because of computer background checks.  Natural Disasters:  a rather alarming and growing number of people are homeless due to this.   People who are evading law enforcement.  Adults and children who evade domestic violence.  Children who are thrown out of homes (or who run away from them because of) over the disapproval of their gender identity (LGBTQ), Overly complex building codes, foreclosures, evictions, lack of support network (friends, family), lack of resources in a community before homelessness becomes a problem, and Gutter Punks (people who choose to be homeless for political reasons or who are homeless to fight the system).

And, to round off the list, we, as a nation, have diverted 42%....that number again, forty-two percent of our focus, away from our own poverty and homeless population, and are helping other countries out with their problems (as of 2005 anyway...that number is probably a lot bigger by now).

Please, PLEASE don't get me wrong.  Philanthropy is my LIFE!!  I myself have nothing to very little, mostly thanks to my nature of helping others regardless of their reasons for being this way, believe that. Someday?  I might relate some of those stories.  Today, I'm more worried about what all of these numbers add up to.

The total?  That we know of anyway?  Well, the numbers are all over the board; and yet, no matter how high it is in actuality, there's STILL...NO....REASON for it that you can convince me of.  The reasons that are obvious are these:  Greed (See America's "26" original deadly sins, Day #7), Capitalism (Day #3)...oh hell, just see 'em all, ok?  Approximately though?  If we go with currently documented numbers, we're looking at somewhere around...

635, 682 at any one time.  Between 2.5 to 3.5 million will experience at least a few days of homelessness during the course of any given year.

Now, to give the government some credit, these numbers, as well as others related to utter homelessness, have been on the decline of late.  But I'll say it again, America, THESE NUMBERS ARE WAAAAAY TOO BIG...for us.

What to do, what to do.  Give to charity?  This one's pretty tricky.  With the advent of the WWW, the possibilities of giving to someone who isn't going to use it for its intended purpose is pretty grand.  Even the ones you KNOW are good, aren't...as much.  A lot of the biggies use a lot of what you give to paying employees, and expenses for having a base of operations, as well as having offices in just about every major city.

Make donations to local charities?  Same issues.  Give to food banks?  Use one sometime.  Make it a city/county/state driven one.  If you get more than 7 items per person, and are able to eat more than one meal, let me know will you?  I'd like to know where those places are.  Throw money into your church?  You never know where a lot of that goes, even worse, a lot of churches are very much of the "Looking out for US" philosophy.

Oh wait!!  HERE'S a thought.  Nooooooooo..........might be too intense, too radical, too stupid!!  Never mind...

OKOK, you talked me into it....the secret ingredient IS:

Give.  No, don't donate, don't support, don't fall for the BS...just plain ol' give.  Not stupidly, mind you.  Oh, there are players a plenty, usually occupying the same areas as the ones who really need you.  No, I'm talking about this:  Look across the street.  Look to your left and right.  If you see a problem, and you have extra?  GIVE.  Clean out your pantry, give an extra sack of that food you never wanted to buy in the first place to the neighbors with 6 kids, whose parents you've never met, because they work 25/8 of their time. Instead of throwing out the baby clothes, deliver them over to the mother that asked if you had a dollar she could borrow 'til Friday.  Instead of throwing out that tube TV, because you finally bought that 42" LG flat panel, stick a sign on it that says FREE and put it out, or call around to your friends and relatives and see if they know of anyone that could be interested in one.  Take a few extra minutes out of your crazy day and dedicate them to trying to find someone to help out.

And no, I don't mean you blue collar underpaid types.  Uh-uh.  No, I'm pointing at all you others.  White collars.  Business entrepreneurs.  You, the one who made a million last year from that new budding website. Bill Gates....YEAH YOU!!  It ISN'T the lower class's responsibility to take care of its own, it's YOURS!! You have more than you could feasibly spend in two lifetimes, GIVE BACK TO AMERICA.  America made you, and America can break you just as easily.  Give it up, and there might be something there for us to consider when we think of using a different operating system, buy another product you manufactured, or walk through your franchise's doors.  Give to your community, and for God's sake, if you see a homeless guy on the street, give him a gift card, or, better yet, ask him what he wants and go get it for him!!

Last but not least, here's one for all the real estate owners and companies in our greedy nation:  Come off of your sky-high horses.  Take care of our homeless, or suffer the inevitable consequences:  Squatters.  Home invaders.  Campers.  If you don't know what those words mean?  LOOK 'EM UP.  Look....there, on your cell-phone...Google it!!  Lower your rent prices, and for cryin' out loud, speak out against being in, supporting, or creating a rental group.  These groups, that exist for no other reason than get an occasional eviction or late rental payment, tend to make rental rules that shut out those of perceived "lesser value".

I hate to tell you people this, but pretty soon, there won't be a middle class.  There's only going to be those who have and those who don't.  And if you insist on inventing stupid rules like "Show me you make a minimum of 3x the money you need to pay the rent, in income", you're going to shut out, eventually, the very people that made you what you are today.  Next thing you know, your neighborhood will be empty, and all your properties will be for rent, and you'll wonder what the heck happened to your dreams of being a rental property mogul.  After that, your only option will be to give it all back up to the bank, or sell it at a massive loss to that extended stay hotel chain, who wouldn't mind putting up a building here...on your property.  In your neighborhood.  Right over the park and playground that used to be there, that at one time was filled to the brim with middle-classed kids.

If you have it, often-times more than you could possibly spend in your life-time, you had best look to your neighbors if you want to see them survive paying colossal interest rates on their home-loans, or pretty soon you'll see lights where there shouldn't be any, from fires homeless people tend to set to light up the empty house they invaded because it's been empty for a year, when it didn't look to be rented or bought anytime soon.  Pretty soon, these people tend to notice that you have more than you can handle, then decide that they'd like to relieve you of some of it.  :D

Freedom to Fascism - Part the Tenth (Finale!)

https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/happy-john-lennon/

America *nods, so as to acknowledge your presence*...

Here we are, eh?  Finally.  The last of the month-long ten-parter that really only lasted 10 actual days, and that with 2 intermissions.  But I think we accomplished what we were after, did we not?

If you feel we have NOT as yet, well then:  For your consideration.  The last and final check marks.

Check Mark #25.  The Transfer of Power From the Legislative to the Executive branch.

Well, of course, we have to have a common understanding of the difference in the two branches, right?  So here we are then:  The Legislative Branch consists of Senators and Representatives, and all are our law-makers.  The Executive Branch is the President, and his cabinet.  Pretty simple right?  That is, until the lines get blurry...then I wonder.

Is there a shift of power?  Well, let's go back to that bit I wrote on Executive Orders, shall we?  Where was that again???  Oh yeah...This series, Part I, remember?  Considering that Executive Orders seem to just breeze by what we and Congress as a whole want without a second thought, then I'd say "When does our Legislature get its vote on this", or "When do we American Joes and Janes get OUR say?"

And really, if the President wants it that way, he can do whatever he wants to, as long as he stays on that line....the one between Democratic and UN-Democratic, between Constitutional and nnnnnot so much, and doesn't cross it.

Bills that go before our Legislature are signed into law (or vetoed) once the debate on whether they're a good thing or not is over.  I have to seriously believe too, after reading the wording on these bills, that most the time, the President probably only half-way looks at them anyway.  He probably just reads the title and the first couple of paragraphs to get the gist of them, then signs them into law or vetoes them depending on how he feels about that particular subject.  I don't think I'd get past the first couple pages after so many hundreds would have crossed over my desk.  I definitely can't say I envy his job, where that's concerned.

The Legislative Branch of our Government represents "We the People"...or at least it's supposed to.  If we bypass that part of the process on anything, we Americans will have less and less say in any matter.  It'll be up to the Executive Branch to decide.  That's when we'll lose our country, kids.  Moving right along...

Check Mark #26 - Assassinations of Popular Public Figures

There seems to be a fine line between being Popular, after a fashion, and being TOO popular in this country.  With the exception of our current President, it would seem that certain key figures, when their voices get too loud or too angry, tend to magically attract some lunatic, then get shot by him/her.  Funny how that works.  If we like them too much, or if they want too much reform, they just disappear.  John F.  Martin L. King.  John Lennon (I'm STILL trying to figure this one out...I'm thinking maybe he just wanted too much peace or something).  I'm certain if I attract too many people with my way of thinking, well, I just might mysteriously get bombed in my own home, or something similar.  Oh, you'll notice for a minute...then you'll just shake your heads and say "He was a good man...it's really too bad, isn't it?  Then within a year or two, you'll forget all about me.  How convenient.

It's OK though.  I figure, enough people get how I think, and then go..."Ooooooooooooh...He'd best be careful sayin' that!!"  Then I go missing?  I'm OK with the possibilities of Martyrdom.  If it gets others to question things, I'm OK with that, really.  I'm not afraid of it, not at this point.  I've had a nice full life.  No problemmo muchacho/muchacha.

Check Mark #28 - The President Claims the Right to Make War Whenever He Wants.

This is one of those that just drives me batty.  I wish I could remember where I saw this, but there was an article I read not too long ago that said "Obama believes that, as long as he doesn't use the word "War", then Congress won't have any say on the matter." (Congress must agree when it comes to war, whether we do or we don't participate).  I think that's what others have done with some of our wars as well.  Vietnam was a "Police Action"..See?  It's not a war, so it's OK!!  Huh???

So, therefore, we no longer seem to need the Legislative Branch in deciding whether we go to war or not, at least not in this administration.  Now I can't rightly lash out and give you a good example...but who needs one?  Once is more than enough.  By the time we realize we're at war with someone, and we never heard the word to let us know it is one, then it won't matter at that point anymore.

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So America?  Whaddya think?  Pretty scary huh?  Lots and lots of check marks...I truly with there were more empty boxes, believe that.  Maybe this is too much of a list, I've seen others that only sport 7-10 lines, but I'll admit that it needs to be ripped apart and discussed on every level, not just a few.  Just pay attention, this isn't a lot to ask here.  Keep your eyes and ears open kids, and let's not let this get too far away from us, OK?  We love America and all it has to offer...in particular, it's freedoms.  Don't roll over when they start disappearing.  Keep our country..our democratic people ridden, freedoms of this and that...safe from Fascism, communism, socialism.  We've seen these at work, and they aren't fun.  Till tomorrow, when we're back doing random things.  I'm glad to have this one over with!!