Saturday, April 27, 2013

Governor Scott Walker's Continuing Plan to Destroy Poor People

In Governor Walker's budget for the next fiscal year, he is allowing Rent-to-Own companies to operate without disclosing their interest rates.

Typically, rent-to-own companies operate like this.  They sell you a $1000 refrigerator on a time payment plan.  After six years of paying for the refrigerator, you will finally own it, and you will have paid about $5000 for it.  These companies prey on disadvantaged families who cannot get credit through conventional lending companies.  In Walker's budget, these companies would be allowed to operate without telling the consumer just how much their financing plan is going to actually cost them.

I understand we live in a predatory society --- survival of the richest at its core.  But this is just plain homicide by interest rate. 

Here is my advice to people who find themselves in this situation.  Go and buy a houseful of furniture from these parasitic companies.  Then move.  No forwarding address.  Use a fake social security number to obtain the credit; preferably that of a long dead relative.  I'm telling you to break the law by any possible means to get what you need.  These people are breaking a moral code to get your business in the first place.  On the streets where I've learned my lessons, fight fire with fire.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The First Warm Day in Wisconsin

Here's a picture of the first warm day in Wisconsin:


1.  It probably will never get here.

Errr, sorry, just feeling rabidly pessimistic these days.  Try again:

2.  Great clouds of flies and mosquitoes will begin biting viciously.

3.  Rabbits will eat all the garden plants.

4.  Giant white lumps will take over downtown, smelling like yeast dough rising.  Just before everyone panics, these lumps will be recognized as people's arms and legs, which haven't seen the light of day in months.  They've been doubling in size since September, they're almost ready now!

5.  The pot holes will give way to sink holes, swallowing all cars with spinner hubcaps.  Did you ever see a Lexus with spinner hubcaps?  You can sure see one here in Milwaukeeland.  If there's something ridiculous that can be done to a car, it is done here, full tacky.

6.  I will uncover half a dozen of my shoes (not pairs of shoes, just odd lot shoes) that my dearly departed dog has buried around the back garden.  Won't matter, because I've already thrown out the matching shoe in frustration.

7.  Lake Michigan will cough up a few dead bodies.

8.  The wiener carts will make an appearance on downtown street corners.  Personally, I can't wait for this!  Nothing like a tube steak and a Coca Cola on a hot day.  Makes you feel like you're at the ballgame instead of at work.

9.  Muffin tops will poke their round little faces out of midriff shirts, and some navels will have become elongated smiles.  Why not.  Everybody's happy it's warm outside!

10.  Aging men will wear Bermuda shorts and tennis shoes with black knee highs.  On the first warm day, we can flaunt our fashion sense because we don't have to wear puffy coats anymore.  Milwaukeeans will truly celebrate!  It will be a sight.  I should get my camera and prove this to you.  Stay tuned for future pictorial documentation!












Sunday, April 21, 2013

The Daily Koch

Rumor has it that the billionaire industrialists, the Koch Brothers, are looking to buy eight major newspapers, which they will surely use as a method to get out their conservative message of less government (and less taxes for the uber wealthy).

This should be very concerning to American citizens who trust that journalism and the papers they read will be held to high standards. 

Fortunately, the focus group for the Koch's message do not read newspapers; depending instead on such media celebrities as Rush Limbaugh to form their ideas.  Whenever someone tells me they don't read newspapers, I, almost immediately, have a very biased idea about their IQ score.  Granted, it's unfair, but it's almost a Pavlovian response for me.  Doesn't read newspapers = doesn't even attempt to get much.

Once our media is firmly in the hands of people with a very definite agenda, it will be difficult to live in a supposed "free" country, because that free country won't exist anymore, except as designated by a bunch of suits deciding what information is acceptable to publish.

Big Brother rewrote all history in the novel 1984 and it is certainly possible that the Koch Brothers are America's own Big Brothers. 

If the Koch Brothers are going to go into the newspaper business, it spells big trouble for little people.  Beware of these bastards, people.  They are totalitarian, tax evading twits, out to twist history to their liking.







Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Is the NRA America's Top Terrorist Cell?

The NRA constantly promotes the ownership of guns for all American citizens.  Let me clarify.  The NRA constantly promotes that every American should be able to own an assault rifle and unlimited access to ammunition.

Does this not promote terrorist principals?  The NRA says we need these guns to protect ourselves from a democratically elected government.  Excuse me?  Since I've lived in the United States, not one government agent has come knocking on my door, threatening my safety.  Not the President.  Not the Senators.  Not the Congressmen.  Not the Governor (although he does threaten my idea that I live in a rational world).  Not the Mayor.  In fact, not so much as a census taker has come to my door and made me believe I need to own an assault weapon.

I think the NRA is just a mouthpiece for gun manufacturers.  That fact, alone, should disqualify them as any kind of meaningful organization. 

The NRA needs to be abolished as its core values are in direct conflict with global peace.  Why we tolerate this group, America's very own Al Qaida, is beyond me.  I understand America has more rednecks than a Texas pool hall on a Saturday night, but do we honestly need to have these yahoos spewing their uneducated vitriol into every corner of our society?  You can dress a redneck in a suit and tie and give him national media coverage, but it doesn't change the fact that their message is the promotion of violence.

While we change the gun control laws in this land, let's also change the deeply entrenched idea that the National Rifle Association is an organization which does any good whatsoever.  They are America's very own, homegrown terrorist nation.  And they need to be stopped right along with the sale of assault weapons.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Wagging the Dog Yet Again

Here we go again; America wagging the dog, Korean style.

Any entity which bases its success on the misery and decimation of other people (what the United States has been all about since Day 1) is doomed to failure.

Can't happen soon enough, in my opinion.  Let's face it, the U.S. has had a good run, building itself into the world's superpower at the expense of  - well - everyone on the planet.

Anyhow, between a government that can't be trusted, a populace that can't (seemingly) be educated and an agenda that is clearly not in keeping with intelligent, forward and global thinking, why do we accept the United States as functioning?  It certainly seems to be one of the most violent, unhappy places on the planet.

What astounds me is that we accept this. 

Where's the revolution?  Where's the youth who inherit this disaster and where is their understandable outrage? 

I guess we're all socially autistic, so connected to our devices that our tunnel vision has turned into having the wool pulled over our eyes. 

Ah Americans, what fools.



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

900 Jobs Lost in Oshkosh

Well, perhaps Scott Walker's campaign promise should have been the disintegration of 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin.  That would have been more accurate.  Wisconsin - open for ridicule.

Just got the news that a major Wisconsin manufacturer of military junk is going to lay off 900 workers because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down. 

This definitely proves the alarming fact that our nation's economy is based on the military/industrial complex.  We cannot thrive unless we're at war.  Like the Romans, the folly of that approach is a major step in the decline of the United States.  Our empire is starting to crumble.  Don't really feel bad about that.  Despite all the propaganda being shoved down our throats right now about that little gang man in North Korea posing a threat, most Americans are fed up with the conflicts into which we always mange to insert ourselves.  I don't think any Americans will tolerate any more media-created wars. 

Ah well.  I'm lucky.  Financially doing alright - but a far cry from rich.....no....more like a far screaming howl from rich.  However, when you compare my life with the life of most people on the planet, I'm livin' the dream, no question.  I sometimes feel bad about how easy my life is.......and I wonder how people like Donald Trump and the Koch brothers ever sleep at night.  Oh I keep forgetting, these people are soul-less.

It is so easy to turn a blind eye to reality while we live completely isolated in our fantasy worlds.  We buy boats while kids all over the continent of Africa drink stagnant water, and die.  There is a lot wrong and I'm always concerned and curious about how any of it will ever be righted.  But, poetic justice is the one thing I believe in; it's my religion.  So I keep true to myself, I try to limit my carbon footprint, I do what I can when I can and I believe we all will get exactly what we deserve.




Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Have To Do It

I have to complain about Wisconsin's climate, again.  Second week of April; rain, cold, snow predicted in a couple of days.  No wonder Norwegians are so dismal, disdainful, dour and a drag; they settled a place that is exactly like the same frozen wasteland they left in the old world.  Lack of imagination.  Lack of sunshine, lack of vitamin D.  Lack of smiles.  Lack of outdoor life.  Lack of compassion brought about by chilly temperatures; people here are chilled to the brain.

I am very quickly talking myself into hating this place rather than just disliking it.  It is so time for me to saddle up the palomino.

Things that suck the most about Wisconsin:

1.  The weather.
2.  The politics.
3.  The absence of any real spring.
4.  The absolute ignoring of the real problems that exist in the black community.
5.  No mass transit.
6.  No affordable housing for low income families.
7.  No jobs, and less jobs everyday.
8.  Poverty stricken urban areas.
9.  Snow.
10. Ice
11. Slush
12. Salt damaged shoes/cars/concrete/cat paws
13. Inner city war zones
14. Potholes in every street
15. Outrageous prices for simple utilities like electricity and water.
16. A city police force that is basically unaccountable, i.e., a police state.
17. Ugly fat alcoholics everywhere, especially driving the highways on weekends.


Okay, I've got that out of my system for a little while.  Sorry.  I just hate it here.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Scott Walker Begs for Money

In a letter to potential financial supporters, Scott Walker begs people to "not personalize" issues with his politics.

He also begs for money.

Scott Walker does not understand how personally thousands of teachers took it when he basically trashed their lives.  Asking them to not take it personally is tantamount to adding insult to injury.

Scott Walker demonized public employees and the unions that represent them.  I think that's taking things personally.  Now he says, basically, that was just good economic practice and a new vision for the state, but it wasn't personal.  I guess we're all lucky we are not living in Salem, MA a few hundred years ago, where he probably would have burned public employees at the stake.  Nothing personal, of course.

Scott Walker is going to have to beg for money, at least from most citizens in Wisconsin.  Never has a public figure been so reviled, at least not since Joe McCarthy went on his witch hunt.

The best thing that can happen is for Scott Walker to be removed from the governorship of the State of Wisconsin.  Every campaign promise he made, but failed to keep, should come back to haunt him.  Every underhanded, sneaky hidden agenda he pushed through should rise up and bite him like 10,000 venomous snakes. 

Every lie he has told should be a pound of bloody, raw, diseased meat he should be forced to eat, just so he knows how unpalatable his politics actually are to the thinking class.

In short, let Scott Walker beg on his knees for money; but don't contribute to your own seriously compromised future by this snake oil salesman and the pile of bull$hit he's selling.


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Wisconsin - Nothing to Offer

This state is a nightmare, politically speaking.

Climatically speaking - I cannot believe I'm still here.  There are a ton of Scandinavian immigrants who came to Wisconsin, of which I'm a descendant.  I've heard, "you betcha", "jumpin jimminy" and "yer darn tootin" my whole life.  I grew up on sugar cookies and herring.  Yuck.  I'm so ready to leave my roots. 

Scandinavian families are rather punitive.  I know in my family, one mistake marred you for life.  You could never recover.  With my rather long and checkered history of mildly to awfully bad decisions, I have no standing in my family.  But I'm okay with that.  After trying to be a member in good standing of this particular club, I finally realized what another bad decision that was!  I've shed my Norwegian skin.  I'm not quite sure what exactly has emerged, but I like it better.

It's cold here today.  It seems Wisconsin is always right above the jet stream.  It's still a landscape of gray -- no spring green peeking out anywhere.  It's boring - I mean mind numbingly boring.  Drinking alcohol is the Wisconsin past-time and I NEVER could hold my liquor.  I used to be three drink Trish, drink one, spill one, puke one.  I stop at one, now.  I've been to every museum, zoo, art gallery in the city and all its other "cultural" (I use the term loosely) offerings.  In short, I hate the city I live in.

Since Scott Walker took office, we're now a state of right wing buffoons.  That anyone could take Wisconsin seriously as any political model proves that the IQ of many people in this state has dropped dramatically; if it ever existed at all in the normal range.

I just want to get out of here; in the most expeditious way possible.  Help!  I'm dyin' here!






Thursday, April 4, 2013

I Miss My Dog

I have spent the past few days missing my dog.  She was old, blind and leading a very unhappy life when we made the decision to end her misery.  Her passing was peaceful.  That doesn't begin to comfort me for the gigantic void left in my life.

She no longer greets us when we come home.  She doesn't lie patiently on the floor waiting for us to feed her something from the table.  She's gone.  It's painful.  I'm sad.  I still can't put her stuff away.  I haven't cleaned the leather sofa where she used to lay down with her muddy paws.  Her leash is still by the front door; her toys are still strewn about.

I won't have anyone to play fetch with anymore.  She won't steal my shoes and hide them on me.  I think I've spent hours looking for at least one of my shoes in the past five years.  Now, they're just always where I took them off.  She won't be digging the holes for me when I plant the annuals.  She won't bark at the mailman or chase rabbits in the yard. 

She gave me a great deal of love and affection, loyalty and trust.  Now, she's just gone and I feel empty inside.  She was my first and only dog.  I think I'd get another one, but my life is too up in the air right now because I want to flee Wisconsin at the first available moment.  It would be terribly inconvenient for me to take on the responsibility that comes with a puppy, not knowing where I'll end up, or when I'll get there. 

I admire people who have had many dogs and who have been through this.  It is not easy.  The joy she brought us is about equivalent to the pain of her absence.  I just miss my dog.  No politics.  No satire.  No sarcasm.  I just miss my dog so much.


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Election Results

I have only one thing to say.  Wisconsin is on the down road; it's as close to political hell here as Birmingham, Alabama was during the civil rights movement.  Enough said.  Get me out!  All I can say, if what exists now in Wisconsin can be considered a "supreme" court, we're all basically screwed.  Royally.

Meanwhile, let me speak to something that won't provoke my seemingly unfathomable depth of disgust for Wisconsin politics.

I saw the movie "Stoker" last night.  It is simply an awesome film experience.  Granted, it's an old idea for a horror film, but the Korean director conveyed so much emotion and cinematic artistry in this picture, that I felt absolutely enthralled at the end.

See this movie, if for no other reason than it is a fabulous piece of art. 

The reviewer in Milwaukee's own newspaper didn't think much of this film, but I think it just was simply over his head in so many obscure ways.  This is a thinking man's movie.  All I can say is "flowers don't choose to be a certain color, they just are".  Same with this movie; it didn't choose to be such an excellent work of art, it just is.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Voting is not just a Right - Its a Responsibility

I went out and voted to hopefully oust Patience Roggensack from the Supreme Court here in Wisconsin.  Her one claim to fame was keeping a child molester behind bars back in 2004.  Since then, she's just been one annoying piece of work who has accomplished  absolutely nothing.  She needs to go home and bake injustice cookies. 

I also voted for the former DA, Janet P ..... (really hard to remember how to spell her last name) for circuit court judge.  You have to remember that any appointee by Scott Walker is a step in the wrong direction, so Rebecca Bradley needs to go home and learn more hooker tricks for her next Scott Walker appointment.  Anyone who associates themselves with Scott Walker inherits a rarefied stink that won't wash off.

Point is:  I voted.  I hope you other believers in democracy made it to the polls today to cast your vote in the local elections.  Voter turnout is expected to be very low. 

In this day and age, why we can't all vote from the convenience of our own homes is beyond me.  Not enough options for electoral tampering, I guess.  But if all of our banking, securities trading, bill paying, etc. can be handled on line with little cause for concern, why can't we all vote on line?  More proof that American is not progressive at all.  Just greedy and corrupt.