No matter what country you may live in, you have likely heard about how the new President and the Democrat controlled Congress was going to save the world and solve all of the world’s problems from the economic issues, environmental issues, and more.

The media is bragging about the $ billion dollar “economic stimulus” that is supposedly needed immediately for the purposes of “saving jobs and saving America’s economy.” They talk non-stop about how it will create jobs for all of the infrastructure projects.

Either they are clueless or lying. Read the bill yourself. The safe conclusion is they aren’t total morons and the President, Congress, and most of the American media is lying through their teeth. It is $1.1-$3.27 trillion dollars and counting in utterly useless spending.

Total amount that can be argued as economic stimulus:
$20 billion for business tax cuts
$40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects (better if done by private sector)
$30 billion for roads and bridges,
$9 billion for public transit and
$1 billion for inter-city rail

Add that up and it tops out at $90-$100 billion. (*Note: None of those projects would even start for 3+ years realistically.) So what about the remaining $719 (or whatever the number ends up) billion then?

Here is how some of it is being spent.

$83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don’t pay income tax (Take from those who work hard and give to the lazy.)
$20 billion to increase food stamps, (Same thing.)
$81.2 billion for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments, (When the programs are almost bankrupt already, let’s take the nation down with them.)
$11.2 billion for housing assistance programs administered by HUD, (Giving money to those who can’t afford a house normally taking from those who are responsible.)
$36.1 billion to increase unemployment benefits, (Won’t be enough as they’ll be making certain nearly all are unemployed.)
$13.3 billion to increase health insurance for unemployed workers. (At the expense of those working…)
$11.1 billion for other unemployed compensation. (What the heck is “other” unemployed compensation?)
$1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; (Good example how they think business should operate. Throw lots of our money at failed concepts. Heck, they had to outsource their restaurant because it was going under by the guiding eye of the government. They even had a whore house once and that went bankrupt.)
$2 billion for child-care subsidies; (This is for all of the children they didn’t manage to murder with abortion.)
$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another (Need more money to prove a non-existent problem.)
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. (Gotta get rid of that one thing that plants need to grow.)
$1.2 billion for environmental research (Likely didn’t like the first set of answers so they need to buy different ones. When the government is the financial supporter of the grant money, you know the scientists value their careers and paychecks enough to fudge the measurements to fit what the politicians holding the purse strings are saying.)
$650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons. (Yup, they are telling everyone what kind of TV to buy – and taking our money to fund it.)
$600 million for Universal health care project (Let’s see, run a railroad profitably? Nope. Restaurant? Nope. Whore House? Nope. Pay their taxes? Nope. Run Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid with a savings system? Nope. Of course they’ll get health care for all right.)
$600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars (This is for plug-in cars that do not currently exist in the USA. So much for that Buy American aspect.)
$7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities (This isn’t an annual budget item? This is a given expense which they can’t figure out. Wonder if the prostitute house went bankrupt because of a leaky roof.)
Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million (Smithsonian is a museum. Big job creator here – not.)
$54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as “ineffective” or unable to pass basic financial audits
$66 billion more for education with some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that “No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools.” (Wait, there is more. This also is a breach of the 1st Amendment as it encourages discrimination of religious groups.)
$75 million for smoking cessation (But smokers are supposed to subsidize the S-CHIP universal health care being made available to illegal immigrants)
$1.5 billion for a “carbon-capturing contest” (Naturally, Congress thinks it can regulate nature by aiming for a non-pollutant. Reductions in this would amount to the width of a hair in a 100m race. Someone needs to tell them the #1 greenhouse gas is water vapor.  If the vast majority of politicians held their breath for 2 days, the world would be a better place.)
Coast Guard wants more than $572 million for “Acquisition, Construction, & Improvements” They claim these funds will create 1,235 new jobs. Crunch the numbers and this brings the cost of “creating” each job to $460,000+
$400 million for HIV and chlamydia testing (Must be trying to revive the whore house of the past.)
$25 million is for recreation maintenance, especially for rehabilitation of off-road vehicle routes, (Riding small motor cars on dirt roads for fun. This obviously is a massive need in a near-depression.)
$20 million is for trail maintenance and restoration (Need to keep them pretty.)
$200 million for DoD plug-in car stations which comes to about $3700/car (For cars that don’t exist in the USA nor are they produced here.)
$300 million for grants to assist American Indian and Full Committee Print Alaska Native tribes in criminal justice efforts in tribal communities
$218 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology to increase competitive grants for external partners to perform research and measurements in support of NIST’s mission (Someone has to buy all of those rain gauges to measure how much water is leaking through that roof of the whore house.)
$4.19 billion pot of money for “neighborhood stabilization activities.” – i.e. ACORN (Those involved in extensive voter fraud issues that just happen to have amazing turnouts of dead people voting for Democrats.)
$246 million in new targeted tax breaks – for Hollywood (Whoohoo, this one got axed. But doesn’t it make sense that ultra rich directors, actresses, and actors need a financial break?)
$24 billion for “green jobs” (non-existent or based on tech not yet invented)

All this and more adds up to $ billion (and growing) which is to be repaid by 2020. But wait, there is still more. The interest on the loan is about $345 billion for a grand total of $1.1 trillion for $100 billion used for job stimulus in 3+ years. All this is payable by the taxpayers, namely us and our children.

It doesn’t stop there either. This “economic stimulus” also pushes through the creation of a national medical database on each person documenting abortions, mental health problems, impotence, non-compliant patient labels, lawsuits against doctors, your sex life and more so it can potentially be sold to the highest bidder. What to you get? More junk mail and manipulation.

What does the President who is pushing this say?

“We can’t embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face; that ignores critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, or the soaring cost of health care, or falling schools and crumbling bridges and roads and levees,” Obama said at the retreat in Williamsburg, Va.

Did you see anything listed that addresses anything he’s talking about? Also, he really isn’t paying attention to the world much. Ireland has a booming economy. Why? Less spending and massive tax cuts are the answer.

To quote an old American phrase: “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” Does this stimulate the economy? No. Does it minimally breach the 1st, 2nd (see House Resolution 45 that is attached to this monstrosity), 9th, 10th Amendments as well as the articles of the Constitution? Oh yeah and it has pissed many, many people off.

You wanted Change. Washington DC is changing into something far worse than the Philippine government ever has been. The Third Reich comes to mind.

For far too long, it has been a hit and miss situation of getting two things on my to-do list done. This past weekend, we finally got a chance to take care of one of them.

By © Guylain Doyle

The two items on the list are walking on the top of a lake and sledding down a hill covered with snow. How can I walk on the top of a lake? That would be due to Mother Nature and an effect of winter. If a winter is cold enough for long enough, a land-locked lake of medium size will freeze over and the ice will extend from anywhere from 4-10 inches deep. Is it safe to walk on? When it gets the right depth, you can safely walk on it. As a matter of fact, I saw a number of pick-up trucks and cars parked on the ice-covered lake as well as shacks where the individuals were cutting holes through the ice and fishing. Needless to say, it is quite the sight the first time you see it. However, this is the one thing left on my winter to-do list.

But we got to go sledding down a hill this weekend - almost 2 weeks ago. Like I just said, you have to experience it to fully understand it but I will do my best.

Because of issues of finding a suitable and approved hill, having available time, not having a sled, or having the time, the sled, the hill, the snow gear but no snow, it just didn’t work out until this past weekend. What an experience it is when you finally do get to go though.

What is it? Basically, you and maybe 1 or two more sit on a piece of plastic and zoom down the side of a hill skimming along the surface at the snow with no control after you start. If you attempt to steer, you have very good odds of tipping the sled over and rolling the rest of the way down the hill or sliding down it on your rear. How fast can you go? I doubt many have tried to clock the speed of a sled down a hill but I wouldn’t be surprised if you go 10-30 mph. Watch the video link to get a first-hand point of view of flying down a hill at 30 mph.

Our first trip down was based on a minor mistake my daughter and I made. We used the sled backwards. They aren’t designed to go backwards and we discovered that as we wiped-out. I ended up on my side kissing the snow and my daughter landed with her face planted in the snow. Did it hurt? Nope, it was a blast and we just cracked up laughing. Was it cold? Of course the snow that got in our clothes was cold but you are so bundled up and the snow is soft that injuries usually don’t happen normally. You can get injured if you spill out of the sled, ram something or someone, get hit by someone sliding down the hill, or slipping on the snow and falling on your rear when trying to walk back. But no risk, no reward.

Rules of sledding – 1) Use the sled in the right direction. 2) Bundle up. 3) Never stand in the way of someone coming down the hill as their speed can be deceptively fast. (Reaction time and ability to dodge is seriously diminished when standing in snow and ice.) Here is a visual reason why those three rules are so very important.

Thank you,

Anah

Obviously, I am an immigrant to the USA. If you read my blog at all, that much is very obvious. I am a bit more sensitive to a few topics such legal versus illegal immigration and the quality of life provided to my family in the nation I am living in. My views are based on that which is proven to work which happens to be conservative in nature. You can read my blog go figure out what that all means. But there are times when someone can say something that just sticks in your mind no matter what.

One such line came from a comment from someone surprising. The line was …

“Why would anyone who wasn’t born here (USA) want to come here (USA)? I will never understand.”

That line floored me. First, the ignorance of the statement astounded me. What stuck in my mind was I am from a different country and came here. She said that question to me, the legal immigrant. Did it dawn on that person’s mind who she was saying that too? For obvious reasons, relations are a bit strained between us now.

But let me focus on the line itself and a variety of related issues. As is the case in most of the world, there are significant portions of people who really never leave the area they were born in for a variety of reasons. Some flat out do not travel for whatever their reasons. Often, the same people do not bother reading much and just focus on their busy lives or the idiot box, the TV. Whatever the combination is, they end up with little written knowledge or personal experience outside of their world. This makes them ill-suited to understand life elsewhere. The attitude of the person comes into this equation as to whether they are willing to learn and strive to understand or are close-minded and define the world based on their limited experiences.

None of that excuses such ignorance of reality, the history of the nation she is living in, and the general public image of what the USA is. The basic level of reality that is being ignored is the entire basis of tourism. Some individuals want to see what the world is like. You can read about it but experiencing it is totally different. You can read about winter, watch movies about winter, but until you freeze your nose off and get stuck in a snow drift, you won’t understand what winter really is. Substitute whatever feature of any tourist destination of your choice and that is the basis for why people want to travel.

Ignoring the history and general public image of the USA as the land where freedoms are many and far greater than nearly any other nation on the planet and the assumed astounding wealth (as portrayed by Hollywood and understood by the general populace of the world) is nothing short of jaw-dropping ignorance. I can’t think of a better term for it. Between the freedoms and the standard of living, there are many reasons for visiting and immigrating to the USA. (Some may not be as well-founded in actual reality but I’ve written about that.)

Here is the greatest punch-line that person doesn’t get. She isn’t a Native American. Her ancestors immigrated here. Perhaps she should trace her family tree and ask why they decided to come to the USA or the land that was to be the USA.

Thank you,

Anah

In this entry of Life Here & There, I’m not going to compare the USA to the Philippines. Instead, I’ll pick on a neighbor to the north of the Philippines in Japan. We get enough exposure to some Japanese shows to capture their rather funny humor.

Here is one example of a show in Japan:

That has me cracking up every time I watch it. I also realize that such pranks will never happen here because of the lack of sensibility that is increasing in the USA. So many are losing their grasp on sanity that being in such a prank would definitely result in a lawsuit.

Why do I say that? You only need to look at the utterly ridiculous cases that have gone through or are going through the US court system. I’ll give you five examples with 3 that succeeded and 2 that are in progress.

First, a burglar attempted to break into a house through the skylight. He made a mistake and ended up falling through the skylight and broke his leg upon landing in his targeted victim’s house. He was arrested for Breaking and Entering after the owner of the house called the police. What happened? The injured burglar sued the owner of the home because the burglar got injured on his property. The burglar won and was awarded millions – for breaking the law!!

Second, a lady spilled hot coffer on her lap. She purchased it and drank it at McDonalds. See an issue? I don’t. But she sued McDonalds because she spilled the hot coffee and it burned her. She won $2.4 million dollars that later got reduced to $640,000. So she was rewarded for being a clutz and an idiot. Hot coffee is hot and will burn. Duh! If you spill it on yourself, how is that the fault of the company?

Third, we turn to New Jersey for a truly mind boggling case. An ILLEGAL immigrant sued his employer in a court of LAW for not paying him minimum wage – and won. So a COURT OF LAW rewarded the ILLEGAL immigrant who was employed ILLEGALLY and rewarded by the JUDGE. Call me silly but I though the Court of Law and Judges were supposed to UPHOLD the LAW not reward breaking it!

Fourth, let us continue on the quality of judges in the USA. In this pending case, a former judge in Washington D.C. is attempting to sue his dry cleaner for $54 million because the dry cleaner lost a pair of his pants. Why $54 million for a pair of pants? The better question is what kind of garbage cases did this former judge allow into the legal system? With insane judges like this, you can’t trust the courts.

Lastly, we will turn to another pending court case involving a surgeon. In this case, the surgeon had donated one of his kidneys to his wife. His wife had an affair and they are now headed to divorce. What does the surgeon want? He wants his donated kidney back or be paid for his kidney.

I thought you were supposed to be able to trust the courts, judges and surgeons. Knowing how insane it has gotten in the USA, I wouldn’t be surprised if an atheist tried to sue for their own holiday. Wait, we just got a call from my mother-in-law…. An atheist did try to sue the country because there isn’t a holiday for them. The atheist lost his case and got ridiculed in court. The judge told him atheists already have a holiday – April Fool’s Day.

In my humble opinion, any attorney who brings any case like any of the above to court should be disbarred and forfeit their careers.

Thank you,

Anah

If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would conclude that many of the actions of the US Congresista are acts of treason. If the laws they are promoting are by well-thought-out design, then all of the members of Congress and the Presidents who signed them into law should be held accountable in a court of law.

There are two other options that are possible. It is possible that those in Congress and the Federal Government are so detached from the real world (Hoy Gising!!) that they are clueless. It would explain why so many things they are doing only end up ruining the country instead of helping it.

The other option is the school systems and universities have gotten so bad here that those who run for office have become profoundly retarded. I really can’t think of a good way of spinning the insanity we hear. They sure are not following basic logic. Here are some examples of their treason / cluelessness / profound stupidity:

Despite massive numbers of the American population being highly opposed to Amnesty for those who break the law in coming here, the Senate leader still wants to push it through. Despite 2.4 million layoffs in 2008 and a current rate of 500,000 more layoffs a month, Senate leader Harry Reid wants to INCREASE the amount of legal foreign workers by 138,000 a month. Naturally, you want more workers when your existing workers are getting laid off in the hundreds of thousands. Far fewer jobs and a deepening recession as companies go into survival mode, home sales continue to plunge and foreclosures rise, obviously mean we need more workers. Someone needs to send Dr. Phil to Congress and examine them all.

But hey, they aren’t done yet. Congress and the President have opted to nearly unanimously make certain there are many more layoffs, bankruptcies and foreclosures. To “protect the children,” the children must suffer. The Consumer Product Safety Commission created by the HR 4040 bill nearly single-handedly will break the backs of schools, businesses and households by increasing the cost to ridiculous levels on all items sold for use with children 12 and under.

Want to start up a business and build it from bottom up? Don’t bother making anything for kids though. You will be out of business before you start. But when the government is busy killing off the businesses of 1.9 million farmers, jacking up the cost of food, and making the cost of raising a child incredibly high (cost of the tests being absorbed into the cost of the product or the bankruptcy that kills off small business and promoting the giant companies), we can pretty much start giving up on the American Dream of ensuring a brighter future for our children. The government is too busy destroying the country.

The US Government should keep in mind another quote from Albert Einstein. Look to the photo for it.

Thank you,

Anah

This entry is unfortunately based on completely perplexing items being promoted and the sheer stupidity of them. It is my opinion but I think the US Federal government has gone off the deep end – nabuang na, nuts, crazy, or insane.

There are 1.9 million farmers in the USA and 200,000 large commercial farms. The 1.9 million farmers that obviously make a tremendous amount of food are in danger of being put out of business by the Federal Government. Why would the USA government due something so suicidal to the food supply?

The answer is because cows and pigs fart.

I’m not joking. The Environmental Protection Agency has ideas of taxing farmers based on the number of cows, cattle and pigs they have because of the insane and disproven idea that cow and pig farts cause global warming. (Let’s overlook that it isn’t warming and CO2 has nothing to do with it.) I’m not kidding.

If the farmers can survive, then a basic fact of the marketplace kicks in. The taxes and costs are always passed on to the consumer. So when times are tough, we need to put farmers out of business and make food much more expensive so we can combat cow farts. The Federal Government doesn’t factor the rising cost of food into their inflation index. So they’ll stare blankly at increased foreclosures and wonder why people aren’t spending more money on useless junk. We hear it now. …

“Buy more, spend more money!”

Except people like to do silly things like purchase food, pay their mortgage or rent, get all the forms of energy needed, reduce debt, and some pay for day care.

Of course the most obvious thing, while the government makes life harder to live, is to have the government spend us into oblivion to fix the economy in ways that have no chance of working. When the world is in a global recession, our manufacturing base is in pieces, the main economic driving force (the Baby Boomers) are retiring, we should obviously spend immense amounts of money we do not have nor can recover. But hey, FDR did it so why not do it now?

The best argument is because it failed miserably the first time. But who cares about history and what the entire world knows! Let’s do it anyway and maybe this time Einstein’s definition of Insanity will not hold!

How do we know it flopped badly? History tells us at the end of FDR’s second term the economy was getting worse, unemployment at over 20% and the Treasury Secretary of then gave the best answer.

“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. … I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. … And an enormous debt to boot.”

But hey, that’s the past. Let’s give it another crack while we tax the farts out of farmers.

Nakakaloka!

Thank you,

Anah