REPRINT FROM THE ANCIENT ARCHIVES

.I wrote this on Sunday, November 22, 2009 and I'm reprinting the post because it still holds true. Thanks for a reader from Iowa for going into the archives and pulling this out......

"THE MISTAKEN NOTION THAT WE CAN POLICE THE WORLD"

One month into the Obama administration, SOS Hillary Clinton gave the following quote when asked of the U.S. role in Chinese affairs...."human rights should not interfere with other issues in a bilateral relationship." And as repugnant as that is to say, I had hoped that this would mark some semblance of reality in U.S. relations around the world. Obviously, we are counting on China to continue to prop up our economy through the purchase of US bonds, and in doing so we are entering into a deal with the devil; the price of which is our lack of power or ability to criticize China for their human rights stances.

As a nation, we have long taken on the role of the world's watch dog and the world's policeman of sorts. We have toppled dictators, and we have propped up others. In the case of Saddam Hussein, we have done both, until we finally took him down.

Our role in the Middle East has less to do with 9/11 than with the Bush administrations desire to achieve regime change in no less than four Middle eastern countries (the now famous Rumsfeld white paper). But where has this involvement gotten us? Do we feel safer now than ever? There has been no subsequent 9/11-like attacks, but is this a direct result of our fighting two civil wars?

What it has done is killed our armed forces, divided our country and helped to put our own economy in a very precarious footing, to say the very least.

Sometimes, our views and foreign actions make no sense whatsoever...we do business with China with its human rights violations, but continue to embargo Cuba for its human rights actions...an action which has not achieved a regime change, but has seriously hurt the day to day standard of living to most Cubans.

President Obama ran on a "change" platform, let's see some. He ran on the promise to end our involvement (and vast money drain) in the Middle East, let's see it. Let's see some of the promises fulfilled. Let's see a change to our hypocrisy, let's see a less dictatorial foreign affairs stance, and a more humanitarian overview.

We need to stop the bleeding in Iraq and Afghanistan (literally and figuratively), we need to decide what to do with Gitmo, and we need to open up relations with Cuba by years end. And we need to turn a less blind eye towards our own peoples need before squandering our resources outside of the country. Do I support a new Monroe Doctrine? Of sorts. we need to roll up our borders to immigration, we need to raise import fees, and we need to force Americans to buy American. We need to tell the world we will not fight the good fight all over the world while they sit blithely by. We need to stop helping others...at the expense of not being able to help ourselves; and if that sounds Lou Dobbsian, so be it. When our economy eventually rebounds, we can rethink our foreign affairs posture, until then, we need to focus our attentions domestically for the good of the people.

 

And that is the world....."the World According to Kimba"...then and now.

Thanks for reading (or listening).

MC BULLSH*T

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/23/news/companies/mcdonalds-help-line-workers/index.html

According to a CNN report, over 50% of all fast food workers rely on public assistance due to a lack of full time hours and low pay. McDonalds, the corporation with a heart came to the rescue...with the sample budget so their hard working employees can exist on their $8.50 an hour, and have established a help line.
"McResource" is a help line (supported by franchises), which endeavors to help their employees  securing public assistance for food stamps, heating bills, medical expenses, transportation, child care and education, all on the public backs.
What a gesture...can't afford to pay them full time hours with benefits, can't afford to pay out a living wage, but can afford pathetic gestures like the ones described. All the while reaping in enormous profits year after year after year.
Look at the budget above...two salaries, rent $600...health insurance $20....heating 0 (good news workers in Chicago)....and car payment $150 a month. What is this budget based on...1970? What an insult.
This is just one of many corporations (Walmart, et al) that should be held accountable for their employees that have no option but to apply for public assistance despite being employed. How ironic....hire a bunch of hard working Americans, pay them too little to afford to feed their families...and have them make food all day long.
Hey McDonalds....the next time you tell ME I deserve a break today...pull your corporate heads out of your arses and take a look at your workforce...THEY deserve a break everyday.

ONE MAN, ONE JOKE

Technically it's called McCutcheon vs. the FEC, but sane people are calling it Citizens United 2. What it is is the biggest assault on the value of your vote and on the democratic election process, in the history of the republic.
It is a Supreme Court case seeking to eliminate caps on political spending, limitations on someone's ability to give to any one candidate. Presently capped out at $123,200.00, this case, left in the hands of the conservative dominated court could very well raise this to $3.5 million.
Influence for sale....bought and paid for. They can buy ad times, control the content, frame decisions and discussions, control the candidates and otherwise become so powerful that you can buy the seat at the table, push their agenda and shape the entire background of politics...who runs, who gets elected, what they vote for and against, the sky's the limit. So bring your bag o' cash to the Beltway, because pretty soon, democracy will be for sale.
Citizens United 2...if you didn't see this coming, you just weren't paying attention.

GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE

So here we go folks....Congressional foolishness part two. The last time they did this it ended in our countries credit rating going down, costing us a fortune. And they are at it again. Foolishly using an appropriations bill, and soon a vote to increase the debt limit....which BTW does not increase our spending, but pledging that we as a country will pay back the admittedly enormous amount of money we (they) have already spent....as a political bargaining chip.

A bill which will raise the limit and help put our creditors at ease that we will pay off our bloated credit card bill, has become a tool to hammer each other with....a bill which has been used to tack on additions against abortion and women's health, as well as delaying the starting date of a healthcare bill, now law for at least one year, if not altogether.

Increases in the debt limit have gone on for decades....a true bi-partisan history which have gone on through all of the modern administrations. So what's different now? The Tea Party...the so called "Suicide" fringe, enabled and emboldened by congressional Gerry-rigging to ensure they will get easily elected...so much so most of them run unopposed by the minority political party.

These minority members of the House are holding the government and the American economy and the American people and their own House leader (John Boehner)...hostage.  They are using this government shut down to make a statement about spending, and it has made this country a laughing stock again (as depicted by the magazine cover above).

Instead of the political blather and vitriol we are hearing coming out of the Beltway these days, do you know what we should be hearing? An apology.

An apology for putting hard working government workers out of work. An apology for a governmental representative body which has been rendered impotent. And an apology for the money...our money which they have squandered, and are now threatening to not pay off.

We deserve an apology, or they deserve to be shutdown as well. Because at the end of the day, we are the American people...and we vote. You work for us, and you'd better get your collective shit together, because another election is coming down the tracks, and we don't like what you have been doing. We vote, and if we paid for performance, you wouldn't get a paycheck, you would get bills.

Bills for making a mockery out of a once proud nation. A bill for ignorantly trying to balance a budget on the backs of the poor (remember when we fought wars on poverty (Food Stamps aka SNAP)  instead fighting wars on the impoverished?). And a bill for taking away the one currency we have always counted on...pride in the government of what was once, the greatest country in the world. You get a bill...pay up assholes. You can start by axing the additions to the debt limit bill and passing it on a bi-partisan basis like we have for decades now, regardless of which party was in power.

Then you can apologize, hat in hand, for destroying our government by waging political penis size contests.

And that is the world...the "World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading.