Congress cuts entirlement spending... but keeps entitling friends

Here's the numbers showing Federal Tax dollar contributions compared to Federal money ditributed back to the states. My favorite: The difference, per capita, between what Red States get, on average, and what Blue states contribute, on average is $17,415 per capita. Put another way, Blue States lost $8,916 per capita while Red stages gained $8,499 per capita. So those of us who foot the bill for King George II must be complete idiots. How can we be the ones paying when we're the ones getting screwed? I think the Blue states should all secede, possibly joining Canada. See the Tax Foundation website for the source for these numbers.

Other interesting points:

• 25 out of 31 total red states get more Federal tax $ than they contribute
• 13 out of 18 blue states give more Federal tax $ than they receive
• The Top 12 Federal tax contributing states are blue
• The Top 8 Recipients of Federal tax money are Red
• Blue states, not including MD and VA (where much of the Federal Gov't. is located), paid $1.4 trillion more than they got back
• Red states received $800 billion more than they paid

In the meantime, Congress cut $39 Billion in entitlement programs while keeping tax cuts for the rich...

Also in the meantime, check the picture to see how you're hard-earned tax dollars are being spent in Iraq. Robert J. Stein Jr. was happily using $100 bills from the Coalition Provisional Authority to wipe his bottom -- he was working for the defense contractor S&K Technologies, a St. Ignatius, Mont., company that had won Army contracts to provide administrative support in Iraq. See the NYT for full story.

So, as you can see, when Congress isn't busy spending $1 trillion on the war in Iraq (ok, fine, that's the projected total cost -- some bright folks at Columbia B-School published this report and came up with this number), or a $1 trillion on future combat systems, they're giving it away as cold hard cash to convicted felons (Mr. Stein had a felony fraud conviction on his record which S&K failed to notice). So when it gets to be tax time, I get very Charlton Heston... is it time for armed insurrection or what?

Btw, I should probably just give up. The reason this crap happens is pork, plain and simple. Here's an interesting set of facts about FCS:

"The FCS industry base spans 159 congressional districts over 35 states, with 363 companies on board, according to materials released by the program’s industry team.

The bulk of the work is done in California, where companies account for approximately 1,000 of the 7,000 high-tech jobs provided nationwide by the program. Those 7,000 jobs provide about $3 billion in salaries each year, said Muilenburg."

Quote source

An email to Ted Koppel

All around us in America, we are surrounded by examples of low expectations not being met by young people, whether it's academic achievement or television programming. Today's networks are engaged in a race to the bottom with reality TV and news programs that insult the intelligence of most 12 year olds.

Have any of the networks noticed that something happened on cable television, outside the news segment, that suggested that people are interested in watching truly challenging, engaging programming? I'm thinking of shows like 6 Feet Under. Then there's shows like Desperate Housewives and Battlestar Galactica, which combine a pulpy soap opera format with a wink and a nod to slip in some truly thought provoking programming into America's living rooms. Ok maybe "truly thought provoking" is an exaggeration, but it's not utter mind rot either.

News programming is on people's televisions because it is what is on at dinner time. I don't think that many people really watch it. And the main reason is that it is neither entertaining, nor interesting. Fox news is entertaining. The New York Times is interesting. It's hard to both, as it is hard to be all things to all people. But I suggest that the networks could try something no one has ever done on network news before: challenge their audiences and engage them with interesting thoughts and ideas. I think they'd be surprised how many people rose to the occasion. Otherwise it's only a matter of time until we have naked anchor people and circus clowns reading the news.

Those of us who have had the good fortune to live in other country’s, even our next door neighbor Canada, have also had the chance to watch news, state-sponsored and otherwise, that is far more hard-hitting and remains truly investigative. The CBC's "Fifth Estate" has produced thoroughly investigated, highly revealing stories. I would love to hear Karl Rove's spun-up response to the episode they did detailing Bush II's long business history with the Saudis.

One does begin to wonder how much responsibility the news media has for today's sorry state of affairs at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. One wonders if the media tried to pursue the actual facts and substance of issues, rather than regurgitate "objectively" what Karl Rove said the night before, perhaps there would be a louder response to the state of tyranny we find ourselves in. Admittedly, the news media makes a product and sells it and I am not naive enough to think otherwise, but I truly believe you can make a compelling, exciting product that is also beneficial to viewers -- broccoli can be made to taste good. Imagine the sensation that you could generate with a top news story of "Bush policy seems to break the law, again!"

Good night, and good luck.

"It's Very Carefully Done"

That's what General Mike Hayden has to say about the NSA's pre-emtpive, warrantless domestic spying initiative. I wonder if they're using the same careful procedures that the US military has used to re-build Iraq? Tho re-build New Orleans? To rebuild Iraq's oil pipelines? Why does the White House or the NSA think they have any credibility, when they have been so incompetent, they can't even get Haliburton to pump oil in Iraq? These people are so useless they can't even steal money given to them! It's as though the rule of law has left the building in America. Our spying operations in the Middle East have been totally incompetent and useless. We don't know where Osama is. We don't know where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is (or we pretend not to). These are the same people that said Saddam had WMD and was in cahoots with al-qaeda. These are the same people who were offered the 20 names of the future hijackers by the "black prince" of Qatar and said, "naw, not tonight." These are the people who kept tabs on Saddam by calling up the Kuwaiti border guard and asking what they could see through their binoculars. This useless, incompetent, mean-spirited administration is concerned with only one thing: permanent power and money. I'm sure they'll have a nice time talking to Hitler in hell. Can I get a "fuck you"? Can I get a "fuck you"? FUCK YOU!

Feminism Now

Check out this amusing thread between me and my dear friends at Ghetto Bitch HQ.

make love like a pair of black wizards

from reading my posts you can tell i'm no zen master. but i've had an interest in buddhism for quite some time, as it seems to offer practical steps towards a more peaceful and fulfilling life. i'm a little more than half-way through "buddhism plan and simple" and it's helping me keep one thing on my mind at a time. i've always been prone to existentialist thought, and i find this book helps me clear the clutter. it's not that hard for me to accept many of the ideas, but it gives me another way of looking that isn't quite so nihilistic. it's also helped me let go of judging and evaluating what i'm doing or thinking. i can always return to just seeing what is happening.