One particular evening, the sky was a fiery red with beautiful cirrus clouds, the breeze was warm and gentle - a perfect night for romance...
As they sat there, the sheep started looking better and better to the lonely man. Soon, he leaned over to the sheep and put his arm around it.
But the sheepdog, ever protective of the sheep, growled fiercely until the man took his arm from around the sheep.
After that, the three of them continued to enjoy the sunsets together, but there was no more cuddling..
A few weeks passed by and, lo and behold, there was another shipwreck. The only survivor was Nancy Pelosi.
That evening, the man brought Nancy to the evening beach ritual. It was another beautiful evening - red sky, cirrus clouds, a warm and gentle breeze - perfect for a night of romance. Pretty soon, the man started to get 'those feelings' again..
He fought the urges as long as he could but he finally gave in and leaned over to Nancy and told her he hadn't had sex for months.
Nancy batted her eyelashes and asked if there was anything she could do for him.
· Deaths per year resulting from tobacco: 430,000
· Deaths per year resulting from legal drugs: 106,000
· Deaths per year resulting from alcohol: 100,000
· Deaths per year resulting from aspirin: 180- 1000
· Deaths that have ever occurred in direct result of Cannabis: 0 (that's right zero)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2009-11-04, 8:37AM EST
Reply to: comm-ewyk5-1450821435@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Being new to town I did not know what party they were from, and asked in passing, "Are you guys all running for office" they answered yes, and I asked them what party they were. They replied Democrats. I then asked them out of curiosity where the Republicans were, and one of the Councilmen replied "I think they are in Prison". I thought I heard him wrong so I replied, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." At this point a fellow Councilwoman stepped forward and said to me "Oh nothing, he didn't say anything". I wanted to make sure I heard him correctly so I asked him again what he had said. He repeated himself over the fellow councilwoman and I had heard him correctly.
Unions got Obama elected by turning out white middle-class voters in battleground industrial states like
Pennsylvania and Ohio that he won in November, but had lost in the primaries :Univ.of Ill.-Chic labor
expert, Robt Bruno.
"American workers won the election," :Anna Burger, chairman, labor coalition "Change to Win"; news
conference, DC...
Unions expect to have "an unprecedented amount of leverage" for a PROGRESSIVE economic
agenda. " Labor's agenda is passage of the Employee Free Choice Act -- "Armageddon" :a leading
business group.
Scope: City, County, State and Federal Government.
How much government do we need?
Now it is a fashion to call cheap plywood construction and insulation foam “Green Building Certified”
This is another marketable sales and political gimmick.
There is a construction going on at Summit Ave and Hague St at Jersey City Height - Jersey City, New Jersey
They said total cost: $60 Million dollars from Tax payers for One Plywood Building with 45 – two bedrooms apartment – Sponsored by the City, County and State.
Math is simple: Each apartment cost is $1.333 million dollars.
When a New House cost to build is $300,000 = math said we can build almost 4 Houses with 3 (3 bedrooms apartments) for the cost of each of these apartment.
When New Jerseyans head to the polls on Tuesday, they should put one goal above all others: Vote for Chris Christie for governor.
...
Because a vote for Corzine would be one of the biggest mistakes that could ever be made on Election Day.
Corzine is the prototypical tax-and-spend liberal, which would be troubling enough in good times. But these are bad times, and New Jersey simply can't afford another Corzine "solution" to next year's projected massive deficit, replenishing the depleted Transportation Trust Fund and a host of other budget challenges.
...
Daggett can't win. But he can help Corzine win by siphoning off enough disaffected Democrats that might otherwise cast their lots with Christie.
And if that happens, perhaps we may have to start flushing New Jersey down the toilet.
...
But this election really should come down to a far simpler question: Do you like the direction in which New Jersey is headed? It is difficult to find anyone who, in an honest moment, would say "yes."
And so why on earth would anyone support for re-election a governor who has played such a significant role in steering the state over a cliff? Corzine's acolytes say he's kept it all from being worse, that the mistakes of predecessors and the global economic meltdown are entirely to blame and have placed Corzine in an impossible situation. The governor himself has refused to accept any meaningful responsibility for any of the state's problems, which exhibits nothing short of cowardice.
...
The fundamental difference between Christie and Corzine is easy to see, and vital to understand. All available evidence points to the fact that Christie will try to cut spending as much as he possibly can before resorting to any tax hikes to meet the state's budget needs. Corzine will cut spending as little as he can get away with while planning all along to resort to tax hikes to help fill the gap.
We think Christie is the right man for this job, right now, but it's also important to realize how crucial it is to introduce a balance of power in Trenton. Democrats are running amok, not because they're Democrats, but because they hold all the cards. Christie in the governor's office will change the game, and it's the only realistic way to accomplish that for the next two years — at least.
Scope: City, County, State and Federal Government.
How much government do we need?
A Mayor and group of politicians for every 5 city blocks in New Jersey are eating us alive.
City government is composed of (1) Mayor and 5 or more city council men or women and some other attached wingers called the “Free Loaders and Planners”
What do they do? Mostly: Analyze the city budget plus some other brilliants ideas as:
1) Who do we tax next?
2) Where is the next party?
3) Who do we invite?
4) Who we do not let in?
Beside that: Keep the city budget numbers secret until is too late for city dweller to react and by then it is time for another election and another celebration party. Do you drink?
THE PRESURES ONE EXPERIENCES WHILE ENGADGE IN JUDICIAL LITIGATION IN OUR
STATE. MY ISSUE HAS LASTED THREE YEARS AND I RECIEVED SEVENTY FIVE SIGNITURES
OF SUPPORT FROM RESIDENTS IN THE STATE. IF I WOULD HAVE CONTINUED I AM SURE THE
SIGNITURES WOULD HAVE REACHED TWO HUNDRED SIGNITURES OR MORE DEPENDING ON MY
MOTIVATION TO CONTINUE ON THAT DAY.
LADIES AND GENTELMAN PUPLIC OFFICAILS, MAYORS, GOVENORS, SENATOR I AM ALSO
REACHING OUT TO YOU AND EXTENDING AN INVITATION FOR YOUR APPERIENCE TO HEAR
MY EXPERIANCE PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE. IT NEED TO STOP! COME NOVEMBER OUR
GOVERMENTAL OFFICIAL ARE SEEKING VOTES THEY ARE THE VOICE FOR THE PEOPLE AND SHOULD
RECONIZE THE COGINITIVE LIMITATIONS IN OUR STATE AS WELL AS EDUCATE THOSE WHO
ARE MISINFORMED BY THIS INVISABLE DISABILITY.
PLEASE RESPOND IN AN OUT POURING OF NUMBERS TO OFFICIALY SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR
THE EVENNING. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO A DONATION IN MY NAME WILL HELP ME FIGHT
FOR MY RIGHTS.
MY NAME IS GEORGE S VASILOPOULOS AND I AM DISABLED PROUDLY.
81 NORTH ASHBY AVENUE. LIVINGSTON, NJ 07039
TEL: 973 994 2093 PLEASE SEND CHECK FOR SEATING
TO: GEORGE S VASILOPOULOS @ THE ABOVE ADDRESS
I HOPE TO SEE ALL OF YOU
YOU MAY GLADLY CONTACT ME
AT: greeks41@yahoo.com
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND
DONATION IN MY NAME WOULD
BE GREATLY APPRECIATED TO ARGUE
MY FIGHT BUT YOUR PRESENTS SPEEKS
IN NUMBERS.
Incumbent Corine has increased your taxes, and will do so again. Corzine has driven jobs and people out of New Jersey
looking for a more friendly state. Every person and every job that leaves makes it more necessary to rise taxes to afford
the services provided by state government. It is a vicious circle.
Do yourself and New Jersey a favor Vote Chris Christie.
Dear, Craigslisters! Help! Office of the Public Guardian is stealing my inheritance and my dad’s estate
I am begging for your help on behalf of a Vietnam Vet who did three tours of duty and earned a purple heart. He is currently being robbed by the Office for the Public Guardian in Ocean Co. N.J. His name is Vincent Stanley Blasco and he is my Dad. He has Alzheimer’s and is in their care where they refuse to give any of his 3 children here in Georgia custody of him. Instead they want to sell His 19 acre farm, they have already sold 7 properties of his in Berkley N.J.
I found out second hand, through my sister, Amy Ferguson, that my father, Vincent Stanley Blasco, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. By the time I found out, my father had already been placed in the care of OPG and we all assumed he was being taken care of. Well it was only after a trip up there that we started to wonder.
When Megan did call she told Amy and me that because they were the guardians and that all medical information on dad had to be retrieved through them (OPG) and any information on dad’s status would be reported to them only per the guardianship papers. They (OPG) told us that with any change in condition they would notify us. We had to call them consistently as they would never return our phone calls or give us any health updates, we repeatedly asked if we can get him in a home down here, could we get custody, they told us no.
The OPG recently went to court to try to sale my dad’s 19 acres farm in Ocean County and my older brother Joseph Stanley Blasco hired an Attorney (Olzark) to contest the sale. We were in Georgia we had his attorney appear for us. The OPG claimed not only that they had kept us well informed, but they also said dad’s farm had been for sale for 2 years already. How can they even place my dad’s farm on the market without notifying his children? Why have we not been notified that dad’s farm was for sale until 2 years after it went on the market? Because in front of a judge it is easier to get permission to sell his property as OPG told the judge that we were well aware of the farm being on the market.
What happened? Judge John A. Peterson accepted their testimony that we were notified of the farm being on the market and we should have responded earlier to contest the sale! We were then given 10 days from that court date on the 1st to either buy my dad’s farm ourselves for the equal amount that they had already found a buyer for. I am now forced to buy my own Dad’s farm for $440,000.00 until I can further investigate why OPG has paid out already almost $700,000.00 of my father’s estate? Do they care about this Vietnam Vet or is he now just a Cash Cow?
Why has the OPG not given us custody of our dad? Do they intent on selling the rest of his lots in Berkley next? Then his 25 acres in South Carolina? What’s next OPG, reduce dads drugs, give him to us when he’s broke and tell us to bury him? Is this how the OPG treats any 3-time Vietnam Vets with a purple heart? Or is it just the ones with huge estates to pillage?
How much are the medical bills for Purple Heart recipients? I think the great USA would care quite well for a man shot in wartime for his country. Dad moved from a Corporal to a Captain through the ranks and gave many years of his life to our Country. Well according to OPG that’s not enough.
Dad, despite collecting Social Security, a pension, and having renters on his farm property and boarding horses there too for extra income is still broke! Why would Office of the Public Guardian loan my dad $250,000.00 to pay for his medical expenses? I will forward this letter to the Veterans Association in N.J. and countrywide to see if anyone else has had these problems or is it Vincent Blasco who deserves the loans solely?
On recording Megan told me in 2003 that Dad had a fit of Depression and the Office of Public Guardian checked him into the hospital. Megan stated to me on the recorded phone conversation which will be posted on Youtube.com and a link to the phone call will be sent to all interested parties as listed below, that the Hospital evaluated Vincent Blasco and did not want to sign a release for him unless he was transferring into a nursing home. Megan stated that he loved staying on the farm and he had plenty of money so she refused to Hospitals and “personally went to bat for Dad stating…I wanted to just keep him on the farm as long as possible. Is the guardian supposed to look out for my Dad’s best interest or is it their job to belittle the doctor’s advice and choose rather to liquidate his assets and then bleed him dry.
Like I said, I was told second hand; through my sister that dad needed a guardian. I was never even offered guardianship and have the documents to prove it. Why is it, that I was never is offered guardianship yet when I do, or my sister or brother do ask for it we are denied.
We have audio tapes of conversations with Megan and are posting them on you-tube and sending links to all State officials and then on up. Megan admits to letting dad spend $400 a pop at Home Depot on things she deemed unreasonable, she refuses to give me contact information for my Dad, or his supervisor Josh, and admits to agreeing to transferring guardianship to us once dad is place in the Nursing Home.
Dad escaped and made it to Virginia before being found and we received no notification from the Office of Public Guardian (He stole his own car keys from his live in caregiver provided by the OPG and was trying to come to Georgia to see us).
Dad was admitted to the hospital for depression yet none of us were notified.
We were told that we couldn’t call dad personally, only sending him letters and pictures was allowed. Why? Atleast give us a contact number for Josh so we can call and check on him…but no it wasn’t allowed. Upon our trip to N.J. we asked Josh for his number and he had no problem giving us his number.
Megan refused and still refuses to give us a list of medications my dad is on..Dosen’t that make it hard to find a new nursing home down here? Yes incredibly.
We were only notified that my Dad had been moved from one Nursing Home to another after a Fathers Day card was sent to us marked “No longer at this address” we then had to call Megan to get the new information. Why all this secrecy?
Why is it that when I call the office of the public guardian they have my addresses in their computer correctly as it was read back to me by a secretary, yet when any of these legal notices have been being sent out to us they cannot get my address correct. Are they intentionally trying to have it “lost in the mail?” My dad came for a visit down to Georgia with his supervisor Josh. Shouldn’t they have the correct address information or do they send all incapacitated persons across the United States with a temporary caregiver with no idea of where they will be, or what address he will be staying at.
During this trip to Atlanta, my father was being transported by his caregiver who agreed to let dad out on the side of the interstate to “relieve himself”. This proved to be stupid as my dad in his mental condition refused to get back into his truck and started marching up the side of the interstate. The Gwinnett County Police and my brother-in law (Amy’s husband John) had to be called out to coax him off the busy interstate and back into the truck in which he was riding. Seems to me that the hospital was correct in stating that he needed to be placed into a nursing home earlier. He has only injured and endangered himself out on that farm with a caregiver who physically could not contain him. Josh told us on his visit that this happens all the time. Dad will steal his own truck keys (take the truck away…seems logical) and go to local bars up the road and get drunk, or lost.
Since then and as early as 12-11-08 Suzanne Dykes and Megan still refuse to give me an email address for correspondence and said “ We do not have authorization to give out telephone numbers or email addresses” I clarified stating that this was a work email account I am requesting yet still the access was denied. In court the Office of the Public Guardian claim to have kept all three of my dad’s children well informed yet refuse to return our calls. Why don’t they wasn’t us to have a form of contact which prohibits them from using false statements and hearsay in court?
In recorded telephone conversations with Megan, and per a conversation I had with Megan last night. Megan claims that only Herself and Suzanne Dyke are the only people authorized to turn over guardianship to us. Since 2003 (and I have been recording these requests via telephone, all of which will be published on Youtube.com for any interested parties to review) we have been asking for guardianship of my father, we have continually been put off and delayed by Megan, Suzanne Dykes and the Office of Public Guardian.
We are once again asking to receive custody of my father and keep him in the same nursing home where he currently is until we can have him transferred to where All his family lives in Georgia. We are aware that for some reason that the Office of Public guardian advanced my father $250,000.00 towards his expenses (kind of odd… Who else gets these kinds of loans for the office of the Public Guardian) We agree to pay some of these expenses out of my father’s estate however they still do not want to give us Guardianship as my dad still has 25 acres in South Carolina which could be sold and 6 more Lots in Berkley New Jersey which the Office for Public Guardian can liquidate frivolously until finally selling off his whole estate and them and only then turning over custody of my father to us so that we can finish any medical expenses out of our personal accounts and be stuck with burial fees. This is a sick injustice to my father who served our country, and a sickening robbery of our inheritance.
I am asking the courts to suspend the sale of his property until we may establish Guardianship. We have a care plan in order, and are not refusing to sale the farm to pay off any of his debts. We are asking to have a chance to live on the farm or 2 to 6 months to properly have Vincent transferred to Georgia where he is on a short term waiting list to be placed into an Alzheimer’s care facility at a much cheaper Monthly rate here in Georgia where all of my Dad’s children are located. Once my father has been transferred we may then sale the farm for a higher price as the court record show, the Office of the Public Guardian had many potential buyers for a higher dollar amount than the person they arranged as a buyer. Why, if my fathers best interest comes first, did the Office of Public guardian agree to sale my dad’s farm to the lowest bidder? See the youtube.com video grievance to see pictures of all court documents an recorded phone calls as mentioned above.
Surrogate Court Judges
Superior Court Judges,
Congressmen,
Senators,
Governor Heather Howard,
And Commissioners.
This is clearly a case of corruption, and gross mismanagement of my father’s estate. Please help me, a Father of four, My sister, a mother of 4 married and to a preacher, and my hardworking brother Joe, father of 3 handle this properly without prejudice from the Office of the public guardian. We all are acceptable guardians and all blood relatives. There is NO reason what-so-ever to have denied us our father since 2003, or to deny our guardianship now. I will be sending this letter to the people listed below as well as local newspapers (for which I have to buy ad space) I will forward this to all news investigative reporters in N.J., New York, and all surrounding state news agencies.
Please contact me at 411 Shore Drive
Suwanee, Ga 30024
Or 2113 Tropicana Dr
Suwanee, Ga 30024
Or call 770-885-5542 – Michael and Jennifer Blasco
Any help or looking into this matter will be greatly appreciated, and I will help out financially as much as I can if any monies are needed to conduct this investigation.
Can you give me any more names or address of government officials I can ad to this list? Please contact me with those and email addresses if you have them. This is a rough draft….any suggestions would be Greatly appreciated.
Office of the Public Guardian 1-609-341-5555 call them and tell them how wrong this is.
Sincerely Michael Blasco themichaelblasco@yahoo.com
[Sen.] or [Rep.] [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME]
Washington, DC
RE: DEFUND ACORN PERMANENTLY!
Dear [Sen.] or [Rep.] [LAST NAME]:
I'm writing to ask you to please DEFUND the "community organizer" group ACORN -- and this time, please defund it PERMANENTLY.
"ACORN" -- the "Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now" -- has broken numerous laws during their "activities,". ACORN has committed crimes ranging from false voter registrations and illegal voting, to identity theft and records tampering, to using felons as registration workers. And as you know, recently, a private undercover "sting" operation showed ACORN employees were willing to help human sex slave traffickers to run their illegal "businesses" -- and how to dodge having to pay taxes, on top of it.
And MY taxpayer dollars helped them to do it! Thankfully, as a result of the overwhelming scandals that this group has been involved in, and after a HUGE public outcry, you and your colleagues recently voted to de-fund ACORN. But, now, it turns out that you only did it for ONE MONTH -- and they'll be getting taxpayer money AGAIN starting on November 1st!
ACORN has received more than $53 million in direct taxpayer funding since 1994, and countless millions more through grants from financial institutions throughout the country. And, bills passed this year could give ACORN access to as much as $10 billion more. Don't let this happen! Please, DEFUND the "community organizer" group ACORN -- and this time, please defund it PERMANENTLY. Thank you.
Dick Morris says the best way to now stop ObamaCare is to educate those under 30. This 3-D, anti-Obamacare ad is a great way to do it on their own turf: YouTube.
THE PRESURES ONE EXPERIENCES WHILE ENGADGE IN JUDICIAL LITIGATION IN OUR STATE. MY ISSUE HAS LASTED THREE YEARS AND I RECIEVED
SEVENTY FIVE SIGNITURES OF SUPPORT FROM RESIDENTS IN THE STATE. IF I WOULD HAVE CONTINUED I AM SURE THE SIGNITURES WOULD HAVE
REACHED TWO HUNDRED SIGNITURES OR MORE DEPENDING ON MY MOTIVATION TO CONTINUE ON THAT DAY.
LADIES AND GENTELMAN PUPLIC OFFICAILS, MAYORS, GOVENORS, SENATOR I AM ALSO REACHING OUT TO YOU AND EXTENDING AN INVITATION
FOR YOUR APPERIENCE TO HEAR MY EXPERIANCE PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE. IT NEED TO STOP! COME NOVEMBER OUR GOVERMENTAL
OFFICIAL ARE SEEKING VOTES THEY ARE THE VOICE FOR THE PEOPLE AND SHOULD RECONIZE THE COGINITIVE LIMITATIONS IN OUR STATE AS WELL AS EDUCATE THOSE WHO ARE MISINFORMED BY THIS INVISABLE DISABILITY.
PLEASE RESPOND IN AN OUT POURING OF NUMBERS TO OFFICIALY SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE EVENNING.
BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF SUPPORT WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME FRAME AN OFFICAIL DINNER DATE WILL BE SCHEDUALED.
AND INVIITATION WILL BE DISPERSED.
MY NAME IS (GEORGE S VASILOPOULOS) AND I AM DISABLED PROUDLY.
81 NORTH ASHBY AVENUE. LIVINGSTON, NJ 07039
TEL: 973 994 2093
OR YOU MAY GLADLY CONTACY ME @ greeks41@yahoo.com
Just hours after Bergen County's longtime Democratic machine boss, Joseph Ferriero, was convicted Thursday on three federal felony corruption counts -- which could land him in prison for 20 years -- New Jersey's governor proudly defended having written him personal checks totaling nearly a half-million dollars.
That's right: Corzine, the Wall Street multimillionaire, and his family have funneled no less than $441,600 of their own money to keep Ferriero's arrogant political machine rolling.
And Corzine claims to be leading the charge of ethics reform in the state.
Right.
During Thursday night's final gubernatorial debate, Corzine claimed -- with a straight face -- that "when I have written checks to the Bergen County Democratic Organization, it is not to Joe ."
Tell that to anyone who knows Jersey politics; Ferriero practically ran Bergen County single-handedly.
Corzine insisted that he "took on Joe Ferriero myself, long before the federal prosecutors."
Yet, as one observer put it, if taking on Ferriero meant giving him nearly $500,000, feel free to take us on anytime.
...
Was Corzine putting political loyalties over good ethics? It sure seems that way. So much for his anti-corruption talk.
What is IN and what is out of Healthcare Legislation
by Phyllis Schlafly October 23, 2009
As liberals rush ObamaCare through Congress, let's review the disparity between promises and text. Joe Wilson's declaration "You lie!" is ringing truer with each passing day.
Barack Obama promised "transparency" and giving the public five days to read the bill, but Senator Jim Bunning's (R-KY) amendment to require the bill, along with a final Congressional Budget Office score, to be posted online 72 hours before the vote, was defeated. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) have been trying to get the House to agree to post the bill 72 hours before the vote, but while most Republicans have signed on, the Nancy Pelosi leadership is unwilling.
The Democrats still hope to rush the bill through unread. The 1,100-page Stimulus bill was posted online only 13 hours before the vote, and the 1,200-page Cap and Trade bill was posted only 15 hours before the vote.
Obama promised that the health-care bill would not cover illegal aliens, but Senator Chuck Grassley's (R-IA) amendment to require immigrants to prove their identity with a photo I.D. was rejected.
Obama promised that if you like your current health insurance you won't have to change it, but Senator John Cornyn's (R-TX) amendment to assure present insurance owners that they won't have to change their coverage, and that they can keep the coverage they have with their current employer without government driving up cost, was defeated.
Obama's appointment of 34 czars includes a Health Care Czar, but Senator John Ensign's (R-NV) amendment to require any health care czar to be subject to the constitutional Senate confirmation process was defeated. Obama's new Regulatory Czar, Cass Sunstein, defends removing organs from terminally ill patients and from deceased persons even though they did not consent to be organ donors.
Obama promised that "under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions," and his Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tried to divert attention from this bold lie by obfuscating the Hyde Amendment. But the Hyde Amendment is not a law; it's a one-year-at-a-time rider that applies only to current Medicaid programs, and would not apply to the health-care law.
The Democrats five times (twice in Senate committees, three times in House committees) defeated amendments to prohibit the health-care plan from spending federal money or requiring health insurance plans to cover abortions. They also defeated Senator Orrin Hatch's (R-UT) amendment to respect the conscience rights of health-care workers who do not want to perform abortions because of moral or religious objections.
One amendment that did pass was Senator Maria Cantwell's (D-WA) amendment that gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power to define cost-effective care for each medical condition and to punish doctors who treat high-cost patients with complex conditions. That has been Obama's goal from the beginning and will inevitably lead to the "death panels" Sarah Palin warned about.
Former Senator Tom Daschle, who was scheduled to be Health and Human Services Secretary or Health Care Czar until he had to bow out, said that the law should be written in generalities so the bureaucrats can fill in the details. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and a key Obama health care adviser, may be behind the Stimulus legislation that will send "embedded clinical-decision support" to doctors via computer to warn them about what is "appropriate" and "cost-effective," backed up by the threat to impose financial penalties on doctors who are not "meaningful users."
The Democrats' health-care "reform" carries a trillion-dollar price tag, will vastly increase the national debt hanging over our children and grandchildren, impose socialist control over one-sixth of our economy, and force us to obey totalitarian dictates. The mandate on employers to provide health insurance will result in lower wages and fewer jobs.
The mandate on individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, even threatening jail for those who fail to conform, amounts to a massive tax increase on individuals and families whose health insurance may lack all the new federally specified requirements.
Obama's "spread the wealth around" policy is evident in the big expansion of Medicaid combined with large cuts in Medicare. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says that the combination of mandates to buy insurance, guaranteed issue, and community rating amounts to massive income distribution that is hidden from public view and not even debated.
Finally, we are subject to the deviousness of what House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) calls the 70 phantom amendments that were added in secret after the bill was voted out by the committee. The bill may be even worse that we think.
In an Oct. 5 e-mail obtained by The Star-Ledger, Corzine deputy chief of staff Mark Matzen asked the commissioners of several departments to "come up with an event or two or three that show job creation or economic development in the private sector." The events, planned for this week, would "get our message out" that "the economic policies of Governor Corzine are working," in part by generating "stories in weekly as well as daily newspapers," Matzen wrote.
Highlighting positive things such as job creation is customary for incumbent governors seeking re-election, but Matzen’s memo went further.
Read the full memo
"I know that it might be a stretch for some of you, but please be creative," the e-mail states. "While many programs might not created (sic) jobs directly, they do have some connection to job creation either through training, giving money to sustain employment or create demand for workers."
Full coverage of the New Jersey governor's race
As the state’s unemployment rate has crept up in recent months, Corzine has pointed to private sector job growth as a silver lining. Last month, the state announced an increase in private sector jobs in July and August, even as the overall unemployment rate hit 9.7 percent in August -- matching the national rate.
Steve Sigmund, a spokesman for Corzine, said the effort "doesn’t have anything to do with the campaign. It is not coordinated with the campaign."
"It is a note encouraging cabinet members to communicate about what this administration is doing and has done to get New Jersey through a national economic crisis," he said.
Asked about the "stretch" language, Sigmund said: "It might be a stretch for you to do a job creation event when they’re a commissioner of health," for example.
Today, Corzine’s official schedule featured two events connected to job creation. In Union Township, the Democratic governor cut the ribbon for a new call center for Elizabethtown Gas, which the state says will create 53 jobs by December. In Jersey City, Corzine praised the decision of a financial services firm, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, to bring 1,600 jobs from Manhattan to Jersey City by 2013.
"This is a very good day," Corzine said at the Jersey City event. "I’m almost troubled that it is in the midst of a political campaign, because this is something that is real for this city, county and state."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie’s campaign manager Bill Stepien said it appears Corzine is mingling government business with campaign events.
"It’s very concerning that Governor Corzine appears to be using taxpayer-funded goverment workers to help assemble campaign-type events for his election," Stepien said. "The Governor has some serious questions to answer."
Carl Golden, who was a top aide to former Republican Govs. Tom Kean and Christie Whitman -- both of whom ran for re-election -- said the e-mail struck him as clumsy but not inappropriate.
"They have created for themselves enough of a defense ... as simply a part of what governors and cabinet people do," Golden said. "It isn’t really going to fool anyone. They’re going to look at it and say clearly he’s talking about job creation because he’s three weeks away from an election."
It’s common for governors seeking re-election to make the most of the powers of incumbency -- including public appearances as the chief cheerleader for the state.
State election laws try to keep some distance between governing and campaigning. Under Election Law Enforcement Commission rules, travel to and from campaign events must be paid by the campaign, not the state. A staffer on the state payroll can’t use government resources or time during the workday for campaign activities, but can take a vacation or volunteer in the evenings using their own or the campaign’s property and computers.
At public appearances that are government events, rather than campaign events, the state tries to honor free speech unless it is "express advocacy -- vote for me, support me," elections officials have said.
The Jersey Journal contributed to this report.
Josh Margolin and Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau
Even during the 2008 Presidential campaign candidate Obama argued that Afghanistan not Iraq was where the US must wage war. His reason? Because he claimed, that was where the Al Qaeda organization was holed up and that was the “real” threat to US national security. The reasons behind US involvement in Afghanistan is quite another one.
The US military is in Afghanistan for two reasons. First to restore and control the world’s largest supply of opium for the world heroin markets and to use the drugs as a geopolitical weapon against opponents, especially Russia. That control of the Afghan drug market is essential for the liquidity of the bankrupt and corrupt Wall Street financial mafia.
Geopolitics of Afghan Opium
According even to an official UN report, opium production in Afghanistan has risen dramatically since the downfall of the Taliban in 2001. UNODC data shows more opium poppy cultivation in each of the past four growing seasons (2004-2007), than in any one year during Taliban rule. More land is now used for opium in Afghanistan, than for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 93% of the opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. This is no accident.
It has been documented that Washington hand-picked the controversial Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun warlord from the Popalzai tribe, long in the CIA’s service, brought him back from exile in the USA, created a Hollywood mythology around his “courageous leadership of his people.” According to Afghan sources, Karzai is the Opium “Godfather” of Afghanistan today. There is apparently no accident that he was and is today still Washington’s preferred man in Kabul. Yet even with massive vote buying and fraud and intimidation, Karzai’s days could be ending as President.
The second reason the US military remains in Afghanistan long after the world has forgotten even who the mysterious Osama bin Laden and his alleged Al Qaeda terrorist organization is or even if they exist, is as a pretext to build a permanent US military strike force with a series of permanent US airbases across Afghanistan. The aim of those bases is not to eradicate any Al Qaeda cells that may have survived in the caves of Tora Bora, or to eradicate a mythical “Taliban” which at this point according to eyewitness reports is made up overwhelmingly of local ordinary Afghanis fighting to rid their land once more of occupier armies as they did in the 11980’s against the Russians.
The aim of the US bases in Afghanistan is to target and be able to strike at the two nations which today represent the only combined threat in the world today to an American global imperium, to America’s Full Spectrum Dominance as the Pentagon terms it.
The lost ‘Mandate of Heaven’
The problem for the US power elites around Wall Street and in Washington is the fact that they are now in the deepest financial crisis in their history. That crisis is clear to the entire world and the world is acting on a basis of self-survival. The US elites have lost what in Chinese imperial history is known as the Mandate of Heaven. That mandate is given a ruler or ruling elite provided they rule their people justly and fairly. When they rule tyrannically and as despots, oppressing and abusing their people, they lose that Mandate of Heaven.
If the powerful private wealthy elites that have controlled essential US financial and foreign policy for most of the past century or more ever had a “mandate of Heaven” they clearly have lost it. The domestic developments towards creation of an abusive police state with deprivation of Constitutional rights to its citizens, the arbitrary exercise of power by non elected officials such as Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and now Tim Geithner, stealing trillion dollar sums from taxpayers without their consent in order to bailout the bankrupt biggest Wall Street banks, banks deemed “Too Big To Fail,” this all demonstrates to the world they have lost the mandate
In this situation, the US power elites are increasingly desperate to maintain their control of a global parasitical empire, called deceptively by their media machine, “globalization.” To hold that dominance it is essential that they be able to break up any emerging cooperation in the economic, energy or military realm between the two major powers of Eurasia that conceivably could pose a challenge to future US sole Superpower control—China in combination with Russia.
Each Eurasian power brings to the table essential contributions. China has the world’s most robust economy, a huge young and dynamic workforce, an educated middle class. Russia, whose economy has not recovered from the destructive end pf the Soviet era and of the primitive looting during the Yeltsin era, still holds essential assets for the combination. Russia’s nuclear strike force and its military pose the only threat in the world today to US military dominance, even if it is largely a residue of the Cold War. The Russian military elites never gave up that potential.
As well Russia holds the world’s largest treasure of natural gas and vast reserves of oil urgently needed by China. The two powers are increasingly converging via a new organization they created in 2001 known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). That includes as well as China and Russia, the largest Central Asia states Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The purpose of the alleged US war against both Taliban and Al Qaeda is in reality to place its military strike force directly in the middle of the geographical space of this emerging SCO in Central Asia. Iran is a diversion. The main goal or target is Russia and China.
Officially, of course, Washington claims it has built its military presence inside Afghanistan since 2002 in order to protect a “fragile” Afghan democracy. It’s a curious argument given the reality of US military presence there.
In December 2004, during a visit to Kabul, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld finalized plans to build nine new bases in Afghanistan in the provinces of Helmand, Herat, Nimrouz, Balkh, Khost and Paktia. The nine are in addition to the three major US military bases already installed in the wake of its occupation of Afghanistan in winter of 2001-2002, ostensibly to isolate and eliminate the terror threat of Osama bin Laden.
The Pentagon built its first three bases at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, the US’ main military logistics center; Kandahar Air Field, in southern Afghanistan; and Shindand Air Field in the western province of Herat. Shindand, the largest US base in Afghanistan, was constructed a mere 100 kilometers from the border of Iran, and within striking distance of Russia as well as China.
Afghanistan has historically been the heartland for the British-Russia Great Game, the struggle for control of Central Asia during the 19th and early 20th Centuries. British strategy then was to prevent Russia at all costs from controlling Afghanistan and thereby threatening Britain’s imperial crown jewel, India.
Afghanistan is similarly regarded by Pentagon planners as highly strategic. It is a platform from which US military power could directly threaten Russia and China, as well as Iran and other oil-rich Middle East lands. Little has changed geopolitically over more than a century of wars.
Afghanistan is in an extremely vital location, straddling South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Afghanistan also lies along a proposed oil pipeline route from the Caspian Sea oil fields to the Indian Ocean, where the US oil company, Unocal, along with Enron and Cheney’s Halliburton, had been in negotiations for exclusive pipeline rights to bring natural gas from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan and Pakistan to Enron’s huge natural gas power plant at Dabhol near Mumbai. Karzai, before becoming puppet US president, had been a Unocal lobbyist.
Al Qaeda doesn’t exist as a threat
The truth of all this deception around the real purpose in Afghanistan becomes clear on a closer look at the alleged “Al Qaeda” threat in Afghanistan. According to author Erik Margolis, prior to the September 11,2001 attacks, US intelligence was giving aid and support both to the Taliban and to Al Qaeda. Margolis claims that “The CIA was planning to use Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda to stir up Muslim Uighurs against Chinese rule, and Taliban against Russia’s Central Asian allies.”
The US clearly found other means of stirring up Muslim Uighurs against Beijing last July via its support for the World Uighur Congress. But the Al Qaeda “threat” remains the lynchpin of Obama US justification for his Afghan war buildup.
Now, however, the National Security Adviser to President Obama, former Marine Gen. James Jones has made a statement, conveniently buried by the friendly US media, about the estimated size of the present Al Qaeda danger in Afghanistan. Jones told Congress, “The al-Qaeda presence is very diminished. The maximum estimate is less than 100 operating in the country, no bases, no ability to launch attacks on either us or our allies.”
That means that Al-Qaeda, for all practical purposes, does not exist in Afghanistan. Oops…
Even in neighboring Pakistan, the remnants of Al-Qaeda are scarcely to be found. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Hunted by US drones, beset by money problems and finding it tougher to lure young Arabs to the bleak mountains of Pakistan, al Qaeda is seeing its role shrink there and in Afghanistan, according to intelligence reports and Pakistan and U.S. officials. For Arab youths who are al Qaeda’s primary recruits, ‘it’s not romantic to be cold and hungry and hiding,’ said a senior U.S. official in South Asia.”
If we follow the statement to its logical consequence we must conclude then that the reason German soldiers are dying along with other NATO youth in the mountains of Afghanistan has nothing to do with “winning a war against terrorism.” Conveniently most media chooses to forget the fact that Al Qaeda to the extent it ever existed, was a creation in the 1980’s of the CIA, who recruited and trained radical muslims from across the Islamic world to wage war against Russian troops in Afghanistan as part of a strategy developed by Reagan’s CIA head Bill Casey and others to create a “new Vietnam” for the Soviet Union which would lead to a humiliating defeat for the Red Army and the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union.
Now US NSC head Jones admits there is essentially no Al Qaeda anymore in Afghanistan. Perhaps it is time for a more honest debate from our political leaders about the true purpose of sending more young to die protecting the opium harvests of Afghanistan.
Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number, and makes
$25.00 per hour with payroll taxes deducted.
Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number,
and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table."
Joe Legal ... $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week = $52,000
per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax. Joe Legal now has
$31,231.00.
Jose Illegal ... $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week =
$31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has
$31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays for Medical and Dental Insurance with limited coverage
... $1000.00 per month = $12,000.00 per year. Joe Legal now has
$19,231.00.
Jose Illegal has full Medical and Dental coverage through the state and
local clinics At a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has
$31,200.00.
Joe Legal makes too much money to be eligible for Food Stamps or Welfare
so Joe Legal pays for food... $1,000.00 per month = $12,000.00 per year.
Joe Legal now has $7,231.00.
Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for Food Stamps
and Welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays rent of $1,000.00 per month = $12,000.00 per year. Joe
Legal is now in the hole -$4,769.00.
Jose Illegal receives a $500 per month Federal rent subsidy, which
entirely pays his rent of $500.00 per month = $6,000.00 per year. Jose
Illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays and gets a part time job after
work
to make ends meet.
Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school.
Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children
get free government sponsored lunches.
Joe Legal's children go home after school. Jose Illegal's children have
an after school ESL program which, again, is provided free of charge.
Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same Police and Fire Services,
but Joe Legal paid for them, and Jose Illegal did not pay.
Most families cannot afford the estimated $1,400 yearly increase in energy costs. With the economy struggling, this bill, with its increased expense to industry, will cause additional unemployment by sending jobs overseas where doing business is cheaper. This bill also further expands the role of government by imposing new restrictions and requirements on everything from light bulbs to water dispensers.
The proposed legislation would have a trivially small effect on global warming while imposing substantial costs on all American households.
Americans should ask themselves whether this annual tax of $1,600-plus per family is justified by the very small resulting decline in global CO2. Since the U.S. share of global CO2 production is now less than 25 percent (and is projected to decline as China and other developing nations grow), a 15 percent fall in U.S. CO2 output would lower global CO2 output by less than 4 percent. Its impact on global warming would be virtually unnoticeable. The U.S. should wait until there is a global agreement on CO2 that includes China and India before committing to costly reductions in the United States.
According to the Heritage Foundation, by 2035 this Cap and Trade bill would:
Reduce aggregate gross GDP by $9.4 trillion (or reduce Florida gross state product by $28 billion)
Raise electricity rates 90 percent;
Raise gasoline prices by 58 percent;
Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent; and
Increase inflation‑adjusted federal debt by 26 percent, or $28,728 additional federal debt per person.