The Wisdom Of Mr. Jefferson Remix

They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please...Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.

Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on National Bank, 1791

The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, Mar 9, 1821

The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Ritchie, December 25, 1820

It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression... that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary;... working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Hammond, August 18, 1821

One single object... [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Livingston, March 25, 1825

The Constitution... is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819


Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Wilson Nicholas, September 7, 1803

Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823

The construction applied...to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate Congress a power...ought not to be construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument.

Thomas Jefferson, Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798

The Declaration of Independence... [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Samuel Adams Wells, May 12, 1821


On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 182

It is an established rule of construction, where a phrase will bear either of two meanings to give it that which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that which will render all the others useless. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given to them. It was intended to lace them up straightly with in the enumerated powers, and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.

Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, February 15, 1791

On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 12, 1782


It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.

Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on Debts Due to Soldiers, 1790

Nothing then is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Cartwright, 1824

It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Hugh P. Taylor, October 4, 1823

In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson, fair copy of the drafts of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, 1798

For example. If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens. (In other words, since there is now a federal "income" tax, then to Jefferson it was then "double jeapardy" to then tax "consumption" also such as court fees, patent and trademark fees, gasoline taxes, etc., etc., on top of the "income" tax - either one or the other) . The same would hold true in those states with an "income" tax also which are then taxing "consumption" with sales taxes, use taxes, gasoline taxes, etc., etc.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816

He who is permitted by law to have no property of his own, can with difficulty conceive that property is founded in anything but force.

Thomas Jefferson, January 26, 1788

It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia Query 19, 1781

It must be observed that our revenues are raised almost wholly on imported goods. (NOT "free" as in "no cost" trade, but "free" as in unregulated as to our ports for commerce between all nations).

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Gouverneur Morris, 1793

Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own. (No world government)

Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774

Taxes should be proportioned to what may be annually spared by the individual.

Thomas Jefferson, 1784

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to The Republican Citizens of Washington County, Maryland, March 31, 1809

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Abigail Adams, February 22, 1787

Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands.

Thomas Jefferson, 1784

The New America: Socializing The Workforce

As an American who due to piggy-back financial reversals which have occurred during this U.S. economic tsunami (and even really before due to progressive legislation that has occurred at both the federal and state levels in the past 10-20 years), has been attempting for literally months to re-enter the job market to put my life back together in later middle age, the changes which have occurred in even the job search process have been an eye opening experience for this boomer.

I had been a semi-retired single mom who had started a small business with my savings mostly from a lifetime of working in the legal profession, and then travel and hospitality fields. I have been involved in at least three "start-ups" of small or family owned businesses personally (in the corporate law field, my ex-spouses new professional practice, and my own website-based retail business) during my working career.

But even having worked in the employment and corporate law fields, and I guess especially so, I have been literally taken aback by the process that is now utilized by most of the major employers and industries in all sectors of commerce at this point.

It isn't a jungle out there anymore and you really aren't competing with the user at the computer station next to you for that open position.

It's a network.

Hour long (and longer) internet employment applications, follow-up questionnaires, disclosure forms for drug, credit and background checks, "big brother" affirmative action forms requesting information on race, ethnicity, veterans status - yada, yada, yada.

No matter what is represented, HAL from 2000: A Space Odyssey is doing the hiring, that much is clear.

From checking your credit scores, investigating your personal history for those background checks through unregulated Internet security firms for infractions and the like, to crunching your resume into "key words" for filtering before it ever even gets to a human being, HAL is at the helm.

And some of the questions!

Here are a few, for those who have not gone through the "New Age" application process:

1. What percentage of politicians do you think are dishonest? (multiple choice: retailer)
2. If you were offered a position by another company at a greater salary, would you accept? (multiple choice: retailer)
3. How often do you use the Internet? (Survey after application and questionnaire, voluntary but would be appreciated)
4. How many rings before answering do you feel are a demonstration of good customer service ( multiple choice: secretarial position)
5. Have you EVER pled guilty or even no contest to a misdemeanor or felony offense (not even been convicted anymore?) (All applications)
6. Have you ever had a bad day (multiple choice: all)

You most likely will never know why you weren't hired, but it just might be that traffic ticket from three or four years ago or unpaid parking fine. Or an identity theft that has messed with your credit score, or losing a home, being unemployed itself and thus late with your bills just might prevent you from being able to secure employment to even attempt to rectify that situation in any respect at all.

Forget work experience. Only the past ten years or so matter in this "science based" hiring process. Even for those fast food restaurant jobs, or seasonal work positions.

As one who was employed for many years in the employment law field, experiencing this first hand at this stage of my life has truly been mindblowing.

It just may not be that there aren't enough jobs out there at all for the available workforce.

Maybe, there just aren't enough HALs that match HALs formula.

Seems maybe our discrimination laws have missed the mark in 21st Century America and may need updating.

More Foreclosures, More Economic Disasters To Come

After the earlier reports this week that Bank of America was delaying any more foreclosures on homes pending an investigation into the paperwork surrounding those planned in the "judicial foreclosure" states, it was announced by the AP yesterday that such is not the case and planned to execute on over 10,000 pending foreclosure actions.

Gee, with all that stimulus money which Bank of America received and then used to purchase all that Countrywide debt and paper, I just wonder how much equity those owners have invested in total which Bank of America will be getting, and it does appear that the federal "disclosure" law that simply requires mortgage banks and lenders to disclose the fact that the loan or contract you sign today just may change tomorrow if that note is purchased by another bank or entity is repaying all those lobbying costs those banks used on Capitol Hill the last few years in spades. Over and above all those "bailout" sums.

So what occurred here is that Congress extended credit to Bank of America so that they could then purchase Countrywide, at the taxpayers' expense, which then afforded them the right to foreclose on taxpayer properties which were "at risk," no matter how much equity those owners might have in those homes?

As one who had an original mortgage which was then sold to Countrywide at one point, who then attempted to charge me when I went to refinance for simply providing the payoff figure for the original note, I continue to find it hard to believe that ANY of these banks were "at risk" or bankrupt.

Especially after that revision of the bankruptcy code which also occurred due to banking lobbying efforts back in 2006 right before this tsunami began which in effect precluded then Americans who were facing bankruptcy from in effect writing off any of their credit card debts or home equity loans without going through the Chapter 13 "reorganization" procedures first (which takes a lawyer now to go through, the procedure is so complex) before filing under Chapter 7.

Almost all protections for debtors in bankruptcy procedures have now been removed, yet we continue to live in a credit based society where even paying off your credit card debt counts against you in the configuration of your credit score.

I mean post 9-11 what did President Bush advise the American people to do?

Go shop.

And what has Mr. Obama done also since taking office?

Advised the jobless and homeless American people to either get re-educated (taking out loans for that re-education), or refinance their homes (and pay even more ultimately for your property using those mortgage counselors with additional closing costs and "new" even more restrictive loans most likely than you originally had).

With Washington and the state legislatures continuing to scratch their heads and wonder why the housing market isn't improving?

Sub-prime loans were not the problem (and most of those loans in the areas most affected were not even sub-prime loans but loans based on the London Interbank Origination Rates, not even the U.S. prime), the terms of those 50 page loans and slight of hand which has occurred post the banking bailout defining mortgages as "paper debt" and not the contracts that they are, is what has increased the foreclosures and bulked up Wall Street once again at the cost of the American homeowners.

And contrary to the "economists" predictions, there are thousands of vacant and empty homes at this point, since this tsunami started in 2006 four years ago, so it isn't a dirth of "inventory" that is depressing the market.

It is the refusal of the American people to buy into a now very "risky" investment since I'm sure that what has occurred this past four years had not been lost on the upcoming homebuying public, and just who was "protected" and who lost their shirts...

And shelter.

The announcement that the 50 Attorneys General that are calling for an investigation into the foreclosure mess right before an election is just oh, so typical and oh, so political once again.

Now four years later? Sort of like closing the barn doors after the horse has escaped, and seems merely another job stimulus for the job security of the legal profession. I mean, who will you need to address such a case if not, once again, the foreclosure lawyers who have made a bundle this past four years and seems that the collection and foreclosure industry is another of those "favored special interests" that has benefited tremendously during this recession.

Depressed and vacant housing, thousands of Americans with black markets on their credit unable to get jobs due to the use of those reports by most of those national and global industries, and a low paid workforce due to all the outsourcing and insourcing which has escalated since the Reagan years.

With such a scenario, just how does Washington expect the economy to revive since it has bankrupted at this point a good segment of the American people, at least the middle class and boomer and World War II generation, at this point?

Social Security COLAs denied based on the fact that the COLA has not increased? Just where is the Department of Labor getting those figures, because the cost of living for those over 55 has definitely increased.

Many now have extended family members living with them. Their medical expenses have exploded due to lack of regulation over the mega health care providers, and for those assisting with college costs for the grandkids even, those costs have gone up.

Food prices have increased, and gas is still higher than it was before this recession began.

Instead, a $250 check is in the mail? Seems the new mentality in Washington has also been borrowed from corporate America.

Not benefits, but annual Washington configured rebates. Just where did they get that figure?

Meanwhile, the president and those running for re-election are running around the country contributing to the carbon emissions in order to bulk up those revenues eventually for the new carbon tax.

I've got news for the Washington, the bankers and economists.

The stock market is no barometer of the economic health of America.

The local unemployment offices, residential neighborhoods, and Main Street USA are.

And just where ARE all these candidates getting all that campaign money for all those ads on TV?

Let me guess. The bankers, or "government" contractors in rebates.

Saturday Night Live Needs An Extreme Makeover

As a boomer who remembers the New York based "Saturday Night Live" from the beginning and watched the very first show, it has amazed me on the very, very few times I have tuned in since those first few seasons the "changes" which have occurred.

Known for its outrageous skits and occasional timely political commentary, it has taken a rather dark turn it appears as of late, and not in a good way.

Always, always liberal in its political focuses, that liberalism also has become simply irrelevance at this point in America's history, and its formerly "gross" humor not even very funny to a large segement of the population, it seems.

And some of the musical entertainment clearly even more far out and just as wacky and politically off the wall for any residing apparently outside New York (or L.A., its sister city).

Cases in point in just the few that I have watched for partial programs the last year (and this IS a show that starts at 10:30 or 11:30 in most of the country, but appears directed more so at a "youth" and younger audience with each decade who mostly are at home up late during the weekend - since as those young comics age also they routinely disappear into either spin offs of their characters in movies or eventual oblivion):

1. A skit in which Tina Fey as a teacher fantasizes over a pre-teenish "student" Justin Bieber(?), a Canadian pop star being marketed in the U.S. to pre-teen girls as "wholesome entertainment."

2. A skit in which a "loving family" mouth kissed mere strangers and extended family members (and their pets) to demonstrate their love for one another at the funeral of a relative, in which one of the family members licked and mouth kissed eventually the deceased laying in a coffin.

3. An entire segment on the Weekend Update segment this past week with Amy Poehler and Seth Myers addressing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies of gay men and women in the military in the name of "equality." I wouldn't hesitate to guess that the comics and writers on the program support unlimited abortion rights for women under the guise of "privacy," but believe that the "privacy" of gay individuals now serving in the military doesn't also come under those same Constitutional provisions of such a personal and private issue as an individual's sexual preferences?

I mean, just how many in the military who are gay truly want "big brother" to have such intimate and personal information documented in their enlistment papers on government databases?

The rest of the segment was dominated by the blind Governor of New York, inside jokes on the New Yorker-Jerseyite relationship, and the Governor's past term of office and irrelevance at this point in time during the upcoming elections, and his disability with the Governor, of course, then making an appearance alongside the "imposter." None of which I'm sure the other 49 (48 outside Jersey) states would have any interest in as "inside jokes."

4. And also on this particular program, a pop tart star ala another Madonna dressed to Bob Mackie rhinestone excess in glittery teenage cheerleader style mini-dress with backup football players singing a song devoted to having a back seat teenage sex session and while singing the chorus then rubbing her legs suggestively promoting her "skin tight jeans?"

I mean the Bees and Blues Brothers have a place in the history and television archives for this 70's ground breaking comedy, but I just wonder what new drug they are smoking during those writing sessions?

The only segment that appeared even remotely funny was the impersonator of Will Smith ala Eddie Murphy.

Maybe "Home Improvement" needs to do an extreme makeover," from the ground up with new writers. Or better still...

"Live from (take your pick outside New York) it's Saturday Night!" just might clue them in as to what is politically relevant and comic, and just what is just so, so New York, and not "out there" but "in there" in truly messed up New York Gomorrah-land.

Definitely not for that ever-growing Tea Party crowd, or former Republicans and Democrats who are now independent of any political party affiliation.

Those Indians clearly came out with the better deal on this one.

Election 2010: More Spins Than The NFL

Since the November midterm elections are coming to the wire, the political ads and spins are coming as fast and deep as those touchdown passes on Monday Night Football.

But at least those arm-chair quarterbacks in the booths can't spin quite as much as the special interest two mainstream political parties can.

As one who lived in two states that have been "political" hotbeds especially these past ten years, Arizona and Louisiana, (the former my "home" state, and later that of extended family members in which I was located for a couple years after fleeing Arizona in 2006 after over 45 years for various political reasons), it is rather discomforting to know that the same old, same old occurs now in this country no matter where, it seems, you may be at election time.

That Citizens United case was a boom for the telecom industries, and certainly has stimulated their budgets, while of course making our elections less and less Constitutional by the year...

I mean, how can you have a representative government when those running for office are afforded to now accept massive campaign monies from "out of district" bundlers and global and national corporate entities in state elections?

Such another wacko decision by the "liberal" Supreme Court once again undermines and clearly negates the entire foundation upon which our Constitution is grounded as those representatives being the voice of the "people" in their particular districts.

In any event, the two parties are at it again, and with more fervor than ever.

There is an election here for a Senate seat.

Of course, the Democratic ads are portraying the opponent as one who is behind cutting and/or eliminating Social Security, cutting education funding, increasing the budgets for the prisons (for those federal grant monies, of course, and also since I have learned this state also has "privatized" some functions of the penal system under outsourced "corporate" government contractors, unconstitutionally transferring a clearly governmental function), and a host of other "benefits" for big business.

The Republican ads, of course, have the same tenor but different spins. These ads portray the opposing candidate as one who voted for "government run" health care (although that is definitely NOT what occurred, rather, the Democrats too fed big business on that one in those upcoming clearly unconstitutional "health care taxes" and mandates and then even without absolutely any regulation over those mega health care networks and insurers whatsoever), and a "wasteful" spender on the stimulus which stimulated nothing but the government, and both parties government contractors and special interest corporate campaign supporters.

Feeding the global and national special interests on both sides of the aisle, of course, and due to Citizens United then there is so much more "outside" campaign monies to tap again come next election by those two mainstream parties whose platforms have really nothing whatsoever to do with Constitutional government at this point whatsoever.

I mean both keep funding the war, and both keep feeding Wall Street and the global economy at the cost of America's own.

We clearly do have at this point, the "best" government that the most lucrative "special interest" can buy.

And after that bank and Wall Street stimulus, I wonder which sector that might be?

We're in the final quarter, and I just wonder how many of the voters already left at halftime?

But before you cast your vote, you might check with the Vegas bookmakers on this one.

Since I'm sure they, rather than those mainstream "political analysts", have the inside track.

Michael Moore and Larry King Spin on Chilean Rescue, Deepwater

Although I personally watch little television and haven't for quite a number of years with the exception of the weather channel, I was visiting one of those all night markets for a few items and while walking through the electronics department caught about five minutes of an interview Michael Moore had on Larry King last evening.

The short segment I viewed had them discussing the recent rescue of the Chilean miners after 69 days, and all the celebrating that is going on throughout the world on the rescue and positive outcome, and efforts of all those involved.

A monumental moment, that's for sure, given the number of days in which they were trapped.

But then Mr. Moore went on to somehow compare the rescue to the efforts taken during the Deepwater Horizon disaster in Louisiana, and how long it took "us" to plug a seven inch hole, far longer than it took the Chilean government to rescue these trapped workers.

I had to laugh, really, about the comparison and also the "blame" which was levied leaving out much again of just what did occur post-Deepwater.

After all, it didn't take "us" longer to plug that hole, it took the British that long.

Since the entire cleanup and resulting ramifications were transferred by the Obama Administration to that huge global British corporation, with the Coast Guard merely acting mostly as backup and liason on the repair and cleanup efforts. And yes, it certainly did take longer since there really wasn't much of an incentive for the British to plug that hole very rapidly.

Instead, they got permission to drill two MORE wells under those lease agreements with the U.S. government renegotiating the terms in the process of their "take" of America's offshore mineral reserves (while we continue to fight the major battles in the Mideast for the British and European's future oil needs most of all, in addition to continuing to search for bin Laden?).

This is the country whose National Health Care plan Mr. Moore couldn't lavish enough praise and attention to in one of his most recent political docudramas, and how much superior it is to the U.S. in its coverage and affordability.

In a country that has one of the highest tax burdens, and for which many of their citizens have sought citizenship in this country in order to escape. Or Greenland even.

Including my own grandparents back in the 1920's.

With, of course, Larry nodding in agreement at what a mess "we" made of Deepwater.

Which was, after all, the second "accident" by this British global corporation involving the loss of American lives.

While, of course, downplaying in his political docudrama the enormous waits that most of the Canadians also have for non-emergency procedures in their own country under their "better" taxpayer funded plans, who have also been immigrating to the U.S. by the score in the last few decades, at least in the Sunbelt states owning second homes there while being almost full time residents (except those ghastly months of June, July and August when they are on holiday elsewhere somewhat cooler or more temperate, due to their higher currency).

I applaud the Chilean government on a job well done, although do wonder if such were the case in this country, since Canadian and South African companies own the majority of the gold mines in the U.S. (with the U.S. the third country in production after Australia and South Africa - so first our oil, now our gold mineral rights have been outsourced!)...

Just how many more days in such an event would it take for either of those British or formerly British countries global corporations to rescue any trapped American miners?

If Deepwater is any indication of British know-how or priorities?

But then again, I did only watch a very small segment of the program so maybe they got to that later on...

This is not to say also the U.S. health care system is not a mess, but then as what was evident in what recently occurred also in that respect, it doesn't appear the "stakeholders" that were consulted by the Obama Administration for this health care reform had really reform in mind, other than reforming the amount of their "stake" with those new health care mandates and taxes through the backdoor - with absolutely no regulation over those health care costs, or some of these huge megacorporate health care systems and practices in any manner whatsoever.

And although the increasingly bankrupted American people and "market" have been and are continuing to speak out over both their now "British" tax bites, and health care costs, it doesn't seem the Washington "stakeholders" are listening.

I mean, the entire HMO and "corporatized" health care legislation ala Richard Nixon has simply increased costs, not decreased them, so I just wonder also about the much ballyhooed Internet markets and "new" co-op "cheaper" plans which were thrown around in order to placate the masses with this "deform" and just how effective those will be, rather than simply just another "jobs creation" bill at the general public's ultimate expense for the financial sector and medical conglomerates once again.

Luis Ramirez Case Demonstrates Criminal Justice System Gone Awry

The highly publicized ongoing "hate crimes" case in the death of Luis Ramirez at the hands of a group of white American football players/teenagers in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, a mostly blue-color small town northwest of Philadelphia, appears to this writer to demonstrate how the American criminal justice system has truly lost its way.

Primarily also due to the inconsistent reporting also that has occurred throughout the nation on the case.

With the first inconsistency being just whether or not the victim was a 25 year old American citizen of Mexican descent, or an illegal immigrant.

Sources in the news media have portrayed him as both, and his initial trial was in state court in which the teens involved were convicted of criminal assault in the beating death of Mr. Ramirez, who they encountered in a park where the victim was out with his 15 year old girlfriend late one evening.

Apparently, the group of teens had had too much to drink and were spoiling for a fight, and from all reports insults were hurled prior to the eventual encounter in both directions. I wonder if the proprietor of the establishment who sold those kids the alcohol has also been brought up on charges, since they were, after all, 16 and 17 at the time of this incident and apparently it occurred after a football game.

The teens were also charged with "ethnic intimidation" under state laws at the time of their trials, but apparently those charges were either dismissed or they were found not guilty on those counts.

Much, of course, has been made that an "all white" jury was involved in the state action, and apparently there are also charges that local authorities were involved in some cover-up of the investigation then thereafter, some of whom are scheduled to be brought up on those charges at some later point in time (although this incident occurred more than two years ago).

The community, of course, has been adversely impacted as this is a town that is a magnet for the claimed "Hispanic community" due to the draw of jobs in the agricultural and industrial (factory) sectors. Of course, Pennsylvania's major industrues are in the coal/steel/industrial sector, with many during this recession also hard hit and out of work.

The uncertainty of this young man's immigration status as reported in the media does bear scrutiny as the prosecution in the subsequent federal case has also inconsisgtently been reported as under the "hate crimes" bill recently signed by Congress (about the same time as this incident occurred, it appears, but that also bears scrutiny). Even more strange is that the federal case is actually being prosecuted against the teens as a violation in affording the victim fair housing under the "Fair Housing Act."

Say, what?

Apparently, since the state dismissed the charges against the teens under the state provisions for "ethnic intimidation" the federal government is barred from then bringing an action under the "hate crimes" legislation passed in 2008, or it was an ex-post facto law in any event passed after this particular incident. Or to then proceed and charge the teens with violation of the federal Hate Crimes Act would, in effect, be double jeopardy since the state prosecutor or the jury had dismissed those charges at the state level.

But now prosecuting them under the "Fair Housing" Act?

MALDEF, a federally funded "educational" group, of course, is involved in the prosecution of the case. Another group that stands to benefit from any and all actions which can in any way be deemed a "civil rights" matter - apparently whether brought on behalf of an actual American citizen or not, since the status of this man's citizenship has been reported, at least in the Boston papers, as an "illegal immigrant."

Although one of the Washington news sources reports him as an "American, of Mexican descent."

But I guess if MALDEF is involved then he must be a Mexican-American. Or the federal statute providing for those legal fee awards makes no distinction, since the words "civil rights" are being used quite liberally by the federal prosecutors for this now Fair Housing case.

A tragic incident, and while the state has actually got the technicalities correct in at least the fact that "ethnicity" just may have been a factor, the federal government is using the "racial" discrimination label - when Hispanic is not actually a "race" at all any more than being of German, Irish or Russian descent.

I wonder when those cases will be brought under the Fair Housing Act?

Alcohol and teens do not mix, but then neither do hormones and teens.

When I was growing up in Arizona during even the grammar school years, the "big tree" outside the schoolyard was famous as the site where any and all fights between the pre-teen boys occurred. Although they were equally matched in most cases, at least one-on-one.

But instead of charges of "bullying" as would occur in any other such incident due to this young man being outnumbered at the outset, and by a group of high school teen football players at that, we are charging them under the Fair Housing Act, after they were already convicted of criminal assault?

It seems to me this new "hate crimes" legislation is going to result in an increase in our adolescent jail population also progressively, and of course our deficit for all those legal fees to all these special interest groups on the illegal immigrant gravy train, when if our borders were secured and then the immigration process also then simplified and made less costly for all those from poorer countries especially who wish to immigrate such cases as these just might also progressively decrease.

I just wonder also, will the ACLU be there for the next European-American young male who is beaten by some Mexican gang members in one of the border state neighborhoods in order to protect their civil rights?

I guess that question is rather rhetorical, since the Fair Housing Act doesn't apply to that "ethnic" group.

And with all the demonstrations and unrest that the illegal immigrant and border situation has resulted in these past few years, and actually since the Reagan amnesty in the 1980's as reported in the media night after night, and being used by the politicians for political purposes most of all each and every election, and in this ever spiraling economic tsunami with more and more Americans continuing to be homeless and jobless by the month, is it any wonder that such a mentality would filter down to especially the adolescent males in a small mining town in Pennsylvania.

I mean, this does appear to be another case of federal negligence at the eventual cost of the public at large, and increasing the tensions over this issue.

This community, far from the border, it also has been reported has been "at war" ever since this incident took place.

Which does not excuse what obviously occured and the "mix" of the circumstances, alcohol, and hormones which eventually led to the death of this young man, but is it any wonder?

And call me somewhat a formerly "overprotective" mom of teens, but just what was this 25 year old young man doing with a 15 year old girl out in a park late at night anyway who it was reported also was a father and had children?

The Fair Housing Act violations seem a stretch, since I wonder if those teens even knew about the Fair Housing Act.

And I wonder what MALDEF's bill will be eventually for this one, since there is also a "Justice" Department lawyer involved in prosecuting this case?

A Personal Story: The Patriot Act, Unemployment And Political Harassment

In this post-911 world, and after passage of the Patriot Act, it has been amazing to this writer just how this Act of Congress is being used also by special interest groups and politicians in order to use as a means and weapon subliminally in order to facilitate their agendas against Average Americans who have been more and more addressing the two party system and also the continued Constitutional violations which have escalated since that time.

I was nothing more than a "retired" legal professional, and also mostly at home employed then "self employed" mother doing her best to raise three children post a divorce in the 90's in a city that I grew up in that was spinning out of control over the border situation, and explosive growth which had occurred through the past several decades - Phoenix, Arizona. Adolescence particularly was tough under those circumstances, especially given the area in which we resided post-divorce off a major metro thoroughfare not so very far from the north-south corridor and interstate throughout the State of Arizona.

An area particularly hard hit after the expansion of that interstate from Nogales to Flagstaff in the 1980s for "commercial" reasons.

My costs of ownership on a home I had purchased post-divorce were also spinning out of control, and escalating not merely by the decade, but by the year. And also progressive loss of any and all ownership rights I even had to the property due to special interest legislation that also escalated post my purchase.

I eventually lost the house, or any interest in retaining it since the writing was clearly on the wall and a legal action pretty much "took" my home from me in the end. I, of course, wished to spread my story so that at least some unaware Americans could be spared my fate, also from a historical perspective as one who had almost seen it all through four decades.

What has occurred since that time due to also progressive policies of Washington could be characterized as "subliminal" harassment through both my published articles, and also other means.

My credit rating after what occurred is not "prime," although throughout the first almost four decades of my life received offer after offer of increasing my credit limits, or taking out new credit cards due to the access those credit companies had to my credit scores in the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's prior to my divorce. With children that had, through my spouse's and my joint income, during their most formative years come to a certain standard of living that I most certainly struggled to maintain post divorce.

And was mostly successful in downsizing quite a bit our housing, and other costs but of course those teen years were trying, and those expenses quite high with new drivers in a state where auto insurance rates for youth, especially, not to mention the general public had gone off the charts primarily also due to the open border situation, accident rates in a city which had quadrupled in size in less than two decades, and as a tourism spot for snowbirds.

I started writing the legislature about what had occurred, and also political matters which had adversely impacted the state, and low and behold started receiving speed dialed "collection" calls on a cell phone which continued even after I discontinued the original service, and started buying some of the cheaper "pay as you go" models due to my lower credit score after the litigation, and losses I had suffered in a business then also going under during that "abuse of process" action based on a small claims action that resulted in an over $17,000 attorney fee award - a great deal of the equity eventually of my home, along with the $16,000 realtors "fee" for handling the eventual transaction. And all those other "closing" costs.

When I say subliminal, here is what occurs.

You begin receiving "collection" calls daily from a lawyer's recorded message that indicate they are looking for someone else, and to call them in order to be removed from their lists after being instructed to "hang up" if you are not the party they are seeking. And usually these calls occur later in the evening. I've had at least three different entities at this point seeking three different individuals with their recorded messages contact me in such a manner during the past four years after leaving my former home state.

And usually right after I publish any article on some of the citizen journalism sites, my own blog or forward any of them to my former legislators.

Since, of course, these collection lawyers have carte blanche to access under that Patriot Act any citizens personal information or phone numbers even through those telecom companies, or their private "homeland security" trained investigators in the name of creditor rights.

And politicians also, who just might be a little peeved at having the public get any information at all on what is truly occurring in this American economic meltdown and national security fiasco from any source other than those which have been deemed "politically correct" which will publish the fiction.

Those credit scores and credit reports, and background checks are being used to politically target quite clearly those citizens who are not simply the "sheep" but were actually educated in American history and government at a time when the federal government had far less power over the state and local schools, and take exception more and more in what is going on in our courts, our schools, and our federal and state government which truly has led to where we are. And America's intended form of Constitutional government revered above all other countries. Not world government, but American government.

And it seems that although what I and many writers who have become more politically active disclose, although the truth and clearly more mainstream than those publishing the spins, the politicians and government leaders still don't get it.

The proof of what we speak is all around them in the fact that the housing market hasn't picked up, the war is costing this country and its future posterity their legacy, and this globalization in this global economy is bankrupting this country by the week, at this point.

Instead, they spend their time harassing the victims and attempting to marginalize them while this scenario gets worse and worse.

And it is quite clear to see, that a Harvard or Yale education clearly isn't worth the parchment anymore it is printed on, and Joe the Plumber (actor though he may be) has a better feel for the pulse of the American people than those serving at the state capitols, or on the Hill.

Fox, BBC Worldwide, and the British Barrister's Association, and Ivy League globalists have contributed to the American economic meltdown far more than those Tories of so long ago.

Plea bargained, even low level felony American citizen prisoners were just denied their voting rights?

Hello, Great Britain circa 1776. And I certainly am not the only one in this country that can now see the forest, for the trees.

I just hope with the next number, I can remember it.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell: California Judiciary Does It Again

After the gay marriage issue and the unconstitutional denial of prisoners' voting rights (even while on parole, after serving jail time for low level criminal offenses) now this...

Apparently, a San Diego judge has placed an injunction on the military's "don't ask, don't tell," policy, again just weeks before an election according to a published AP article.

My question on this issue has always been, just how many in even the gay community serving at this point even care or would actually prefer to keep such a private issue as their sexual preference truly private?

I mean, the military is not supposed to be a dating service anyway, so just what has this particular rather personal issue have to do with serving in the military in this country, other than without such disclosure it does make battlefield housing and living arrangements a bit more complex?

This article also set forth that the American people at this point are less concerned with "social" issues such as these and the war than they are with the economy. Which again goes to prove just how far off the mainstream media are, and wonder just who is conducting and what segment of the population are being used for their polls.

The war has much to do with the economy, and joblessness and homeless in this country. After all, the costs for continuing this war for now nine long years has escalated and added to our deficit far more than even those discretionary expenditures for those bridges to nowhere. And will so for decades in all the veterans benefits and costs that will be needed for the next, oh say, fifty to sixty years.

A decision such as this should not be made by a federal or state judge, but as a policy decision, especially in times of war.

I believe this goes along the lines of all those policies regarding "fraternization" while serving, and also during times of war. I mean, just how much time do most of those serving really have for developing romantic attachments?

Maybe we need to rethink this entire "standing army" concept, or leave those decisions to those who are more aware of the ramifications. And again, just how many gays are actually serving, is what I would like to know, since it would seem that the majority of gay individuals are not exactly also supportive of this ongoing war either at this point to begin with, at least from my experience.

So just how many really are enlisting, and I would not hesitate to guess, not many and many of those that are or have, don't seem to be those which continue to push this agenda, but the civilian activists that somehow perceive that in keeping such a fundamentally personal issue private is denying them their "rights." But "rights" to what, I'd like to know.

Solicit?

The courts do seem to be continuing to accept cases and extending standing to "disinterested" parties more and more, including those now brought on behalf of "foreigner's" rights somehow in this country, under our Constitution and Bill of Rights ("We the People of the United States...for US and OUR posterity"), or using some perceived injustice or disenfranchised individual on behalf of a special interest group in order to feed the legal industry most of all under those federal statutes that provide for the payment of legal fees, at the taxpayer's expense, for any and all actions which can in any way be perceived as a "civil rights" case.

Your sexual preference is a "civil right," but while serving in the military (which is not a "civil" organization, in more ways than one, it would appear as of late) is not.

The military and its members are fighters, after all, not lovers.

Just think of the complications of a totally gay and separate unit with such a policy, and the additional questions that would need to be asked in such an event for at least housing purposes.

For example, "What are your tendencies, "butch" or "queen?"

California and its judiciary does it again, and no wonder there continues to be more at least generational Americans leaving that state, than new residents.

I just wonder whether they also just might work, through their political connections, for the AP which more and more does tend to focus on sensationalize, explosive and exploitive politically charged journalism and their "polls" each and every decade, rather than even questioning a military policy being addressed in a civilian court outside any true Constitutional basis or intent of those founders whatsoever.

Who would most likely hold that gays are more than welcome to serve in the military and volunteer army to protect the homeland if it is their desire.

But disclose they would have no time for dating, and if that was their objective than maybe the career military or a foreign engagement during a time of war wouldn't suit their primary or the military's ultimate aims.

Ninth Circuit Denies Voting Rights To Prisoners

It was announced in the mainstream media that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a prior panel ruling (?) which had found the State of Washington's prohibition banning voting by felons unconstitutional.

The case apparently was grounded and brought as a "racial discrimination" case, however, and the basis for the decision appears politics also just may have been a factor in this recent ruling.

After all, with the exception of two states in the nation all have some provisions barring convicted felons from the election process. Some more stringent than others, and even a few that actually prohibit felons from voting for life (forget "letting the punishment fit the crime," or after the punishment has been handed down and fulfilled "records" being then wiped clean upon petition for felons, and automatically for misdemeanor offenses).

Seems to me maybe the lawyers for the case might have missed using that other Constitutional provision, the "privileges and immunities clause," that also might have been another legal avenue to travel. I mean, two states do not remove voting rights for felons, so aren't those prisoners getting a "privilege" that those prisoners in other states do not, since the buzz words also being used by the spin doctors on this one is that voting is a "privilege" in this country, and not a "right?"

Huh?

In a government of the people, by the people, for the people it most certainly is a "right" in this writer's view, but then we have also quite clearly lost any measure of having a representative government due to just such wacko court decisions as these, as of late, all the way to the top branch in that last Citizens United "corporate" case brought by a somewhat "commercial" entity, or perhaps dare I say, federally funded through its "educational" focus?

I mean, foreigners now are exerting their influence in the hallowed halls of Washington more and more, both through their lobbying efforts and also through their campaign donations to those "bundlers."

The court also cited a "precedence" from an 1886 case, and strange that this "progressively liberal" court would hold with a case while bypassing the intent of the founders and their reverence for just what type of government they were creating, and which actually had to do more so with capital offenses in which jury trials actually were given in those days, and cases were not plea bargained, or those jailhouse appeals denied as regularly as they appear to be more and more then thereafter.

Many times, for budgetary reasons.

I wonder if Washington State has privatized its state jails as Arizona has?

I mean, the fewer inmates, the less those Wall Street penal conglomerates get for their budgets and shareholders, and the less the states also get from the federal government in order to also run some of those state prisons. This is, after all, another emerging industry creating all those jobs for those homeland security graduates and ex-military primarily.

Is it any wonder that more and more of those pro se jailhouse appeals are getting either denied, or "lost," as was the case in Louisiana several years ago in a published article which was written after a Clerk of the Court committed suicide presumably due to his guilt over having been a participant in such a court process for at least a decade.

And while Arizona's prisons have been privatized right and left supposedly due to "budgetary" constraints, I just wonder where all those monies also are coming from in order to upgrade and build all those new jails especially with the budget being of such major concerns to a great many states these past five years, while the most monies that went in that stimulus actually did go to the states for such purposes. I guess this is another "outsourcing" of governmental powers and duties to private industry in these now "commercial" prisons once again that will have their bottom line profits most in mind in running them, and with little state oversight whatsoever as was recently in the headlines.

I mean in this "ends justifies the means" style governing now on every level, the more and more that minor offenses are criminalized which don't involve loss of property or injury, the more "jobs" it creates, and dividends for those shareholders who are invested in those commercial ventures at this point.

This is the mentality that seems to be running rampant at the city, county, state and federal levels more and more.

Just think how much crime stimulates the economy, and creates jobs. Construction jobs, security and prison guards for the returning military and homeland security grads, the "tech" industry for all those cameras and surveillance devices, identity theft protection companies and jobs, insurance company profits for expanded coverages then needed on homeowners and auto insurance due to the rising auto theft rates in most state throughout the nation - why it does appear that it is a major stimulus for quite a few sectors of Wall Street.

In fact, if there wasn't crime at all, just think how many more would be lining up at the social service offices right now.

Maybe that is also a factor in this economic depression.

The need for more criminals in order to stimulute also the global economy, Wall Street, and the U.S. economy - after a theft, you have to go out and buy something to replace what was taken, after satsifying that deductible, that is. After your car is stolen or broken into, you need to satsify that deductible when making those repairs, or buying tha new (or used) car to replace it.

Maybe this is why more and more in local communities there are no neighborhood patrols really much anymore in residential communities, since that would affect and impact the economy and jobs of those private security companies too, although they have no real legal authority to do anything really other than place a call to the local police force if the worst should happen and there should be a property crime in their jurisdiction.

It just might not be the budget at all If there were regular neighborhood patrols once again there just might be less crime, maybe, and thus less jobs and profits for those on the "crime does pay" gravy train. Or if the economy actually did improve significantly.

But with lesser offenses, this country IS supposed to be the "land of the free" - so just why has there been such a progressive move to criminalize more and more petty offenses, offenses in which there is no direct victim such as many of those minor "possession" charges on marijuana use, not sale, and others. You can spend jail time even for misdemeanor offenses at this point in most states throughout the nation.

Many of the even public misdemeanor jails are charging inmates for their own meals, or confiscating their wages then from any work they do for the "privatized" jailhouse general stores upon their return. I mean being in jail itself, deprived of your freedom and separated from society for your crime, was SUPPOSED to be THE punishment for major offenses.

Those incarcerated, especially those felonies not involving harm or injury to another, are or were taxpayers - but it appears when handing down their double, triple and even quadruple penalties for even minor felony offenses, the states are forgetting the common law provisions on civil and criminal crimes in this country. And most aren't even "convicted" but are plea bargained also for "budgetary" needs by those public defenders.

Letting the punishment fit the crime has been lost in the process. And even giving those juries the instructions that they also have not only the duty to hand down their verdict on the evidence presented, but also the duty to examine the law and punishments attached by statute also as to legality in their view as representatives of "the people," and not "the state."

Although even obtaining a jury of your peers is almost impossible, since juries are now profiled by the lawyers involved, or are comprised of citizens that truly are not "peers" of the defendant at all - many of whom are themselves city, state, county or federal workers who are paid from some of those fines and fees attached to those crimes - especially the minor offenses.

And yet, there is a concerted move also progressively to continue to attempt to remove trials by jury for more and more offenses even. With the state acting as both the charging party, and jury in more and more "bench" trials for misdemeanor criminal offenses, and with even traffic fines at all time highs requiring most to enter into "payment plans" at added costs even over and above those fines, which should be a clue right there as to the levels at which they are now set. The very definition of fascism, actually.

So how is removal of voting privileges in any manner letting the punishment fit the crime, unless it truly is the highest offense within our Constitution.

High treason.

I mean spies, and those in high political office should not be afforded that "right" when by their actions they have shown that it is not this country or its Constitution which guides their actions, or to whom they owe their fealty.

I wonder, just how many in Washington that are highly publicized casting their votes even while running for office, should have their ballots challenged?

Maybe what we need at this point is a recount ever decade, rather than a census.

I just wonder how many "foreigners" and "party politicians, including those "mavericks" of both mainstream political parties whose political leanings have nothing to do with Constitutional government, votes would then be thrown out.

Another ruling by the Ninth that appears to be following British law at the time of the American Revolution contrary to those Bill of Rights primarily and fundamentally, and not U.S. true law at all, as this ruling to this writer flies in the face of the entire intent of America's founders in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Weighed against the increasing access to the U.S. Courts by foreign individuals for even prosecution matters not to mention their appeals paid for through Americans taxes for those numerous appeals before deportation for true capital offenses, who are not even American citizens, speaks volumes in just how far off this recent decision is as by this court especially, as opposed to Constitutional intent in the entire foundation of America's intended form of government.

Whose "prisoner" voices should be heard most of all really, as those who have been many times "politically" convicted due to "budgetary" restraints, or whose crimes have been criminalized which under the common law are merely civil crimes without a clear "victim" to begin with.

While those pardons are given to high level Wall Street officials whose "direct victims" were literally hundreds or thousands of individuals in property theft, rather than banning them from any further employment in the financial sector for at least a good many years, the pot smokers and low level DUI offenders under those three strike rules are banned from the political and voting process, or those plea bargained lower felony "civil" victimless offenders "for life" in a few states?

Or how about those foreign drug dealers and auto thieves who are peddling their wares to America's youth most of all or stealing cars cross borders, who then are afforded to gain "standing" somehow in the U.S. courts and turn around and sue for "emotional distress," as what occurred by at least one foreigner after having been shot in the rear by the American border patrol, to then profit from their crime?

San Francisco, your "heart" seems to be misplaced, along with this Court's fundamental understanding of Constitutional government.

Bank of America's Spin Cycle and Politics

It was announced today with great fanfare in the mainstream media that Bank of America, the "largest" bank in the United States, has called a halt to its ongoing foreclosures.

However, there appears to be many, many caveats to this story.

First, the foreclosures are simply going to be halted in order to "review" those that are now in the process in simply the 23 states where judicial review of foreclosures is required. That eliminates any "saves" for those state where non-judicial foreclosures are afforded (illegally, but what the heck? If there is ANY equity in those homes, see the provisions on "life, liberty or property" in the Constitution for a clue on what the legal process should be, and for jury trials on deprivation of property if there is actually ANY equity, including offsets in all those upfront junk fees and costs).

Which maybe be good news to those homeowners in 23 states, but does nothing for those in many of the hardest hit.

Second, this review was publicized heavily right before the election, which makes such announcement suspect at best, and also was facilitated due to the fact that the housing market isn't improving under this Administration as with the last, and it has been claimed that one executive of this bank admitted that she had initiated over 8,000 foreclosures last month alone without even reading any of the documents.

Although, of course, most of those loans were Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans merely sold by Bank of America to homeowners with those usurous and banker friendly terms included.

Third, since most of that "paper" (contracts) was rebundled and resold over the global exchange due to another unconstitutional Act of Congress affording these banks to so do in order to "stimulate" the global economy at the Americans expense once again ultimately, for many after that bailout there is actually no underlying debt to many of those mortgages, at least to the banks anyway.

And I have always wondered as a Constitution believing American, how those banks could resell those mortgages to even other banks to begin with without one of the parties to that contracts consent. That flies in the face of the common law of contracts as intended in this country from the outset.

And those mere "disclosure" provisions simply have become nothing more than a license to steal, or renegotiate those contracts by those banking entities almost at will even before the ink is dried on those closing documents.

Those global investors MAYBE may be still out some cash, but I doubt that since many foreign entities and foreign banks were also included in that bailout too, of course, then billed to OUR deficit.

Many of whom, of course, were savvy investors to begin with and some even looking for tax write-offs on their massive wealth. I mean how many average Joes in this country can invest in banking and financial stocks, even at their lower market values now?

Corporations and union pension plans, maybe, but not your Average American.

This "announcement" most of all seems like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.

Of course, the realtors also got into the act, with an agent from San Diego posturing about how this move just might make those "lining up" to buy these cheap properties take a step back.

I mean, the original owner just might have been ousted illegally, and just think of all those lawyers that would then be needed to sort this all out in such an event as the original owner still having a legal claim to the property he maybe has lived in for ten, twenty or even almost thirty years (since these "creative" adjustable rate mortgages have been in existence since at least the early 1980's, and there have been two other recessions since then meaning many also just might still have seconds also on them in order to pay their assundry increasing costs of ownership and debts from those years).

What timing! What publicity! What a political maneuver!

I went into the mall in a community in the West that has kiosks set up by several real estate agencies hawking those foreclosed properties to the public. In over an hour and a half observing while I was visiting a social service agency that has taken up residency in that same mall after the retailer folded, I saw only one person even stop at the kiosk.

Too many have been burned this time, and this is the third market manipulation in the housing industry (or fourth, I've lost count) in my lifetime. Don't you think that those that have been burned, and are standing now in the social services offices have warned their posterity that "if it looks too good to be true, it most likely is."

Or instructed them to simply run the other way?

I mean all those new carbon and health care "taxes" are also coming up, so just how can you budget for those expenses, and still afford all those closing costs?

Not to mention, the next cyclical meltdown in less than 15 years, if history serves. And those 50+ page loan docs now even dictating "useage" and also repair standards and such, not to mention having to send at least your first born out to work should you miss simply one of those payments, if you have any equity in those properties. The hatchet will fall that much quicker for the bottom line profits of those banks.

So don't even think of taking out one of those 15 year "fixed" notes, either.

Nothing is fixed, except the roulette wheel in the 21st century housing market.

Washington, States Now Even Outsourcing Government Jobs?

Recently I had another wake-up call and experience that essentially proves that the increased outsourcing and insourcing of American jobs spreads across both political aisles, all campaign promises and representations to the contrary.

An acquaintance of mine on the federal Food Stamp Program, which is merely "administered" through state and local social service offices failed to receive their benefits for the month which were scheduled to be deposited on the 2nd (the program makes the distributions according to the last digit of the recipients social security number). This individual then attempted to contact the number printed on the plastic food stamp debit card issued through Quest, which apparently has this enormous government contract in a great many states.

Dialing the number printed on the card simply provided a menu of options, none of which addressed the failure to receive the benefits due. So instead called another number printed on the card for lost or stolen cards, and waited through the "choose your language" option until the "rotary" dial option was given which indicated at that point they would be transferred to a customer service representative. This took about five minutes to get through all the menu options.

The individual who then answered the phone requested a social security number and birthdate "for identification purposes" and had a heavy East Indian accent. A request was then made by my acquaintance as to just where this call center was located assisting Americans and the retailers printed on the card. The Quest representative then declined to provide the location of their offices "for security purposes," however my acquaintance then made a second call to the center, and another individual with an East Indian accent then also answered the phone and requested the same information (social security number and birthdate) from them.

So apparently, our federal food stamp program is now, through Quest, being "administered" through call centers located in New Delhi?

Apparently, this question also was one in which the representative wasn't authorized to answer, and simply then directed my acquaintance to go to the local state social service office to then inquire as to why the hold-up, which was ony discovered after they had gone to the grocery store and found out that the benefits were not available that were due to be deposited on the 2nd.

So outsourcing even those call center jobs for social service benefits, which essentially makes these East Indian call center representatives employees paid with U.S. taxpayer funds is now SOP?

This week it was also announced that Mayor Bloomberg, the enthusiastic supporter of the Islamic Center proposed to be built within a few blocks of Ground Zero in Manhattan, has also joined the Obama Administration's fight on childhood (and adult) obesity apparently.

He has proposed that food stamp benefits be further restricted in at least New York to "healthy" foods (which I guess the state is going to hire a dietician to judge), and further bans placed on just what those food stamp benefits can be spent on over and above the bans on cigarettes, alcohol, and household products.

Soda (or pop in the West) was listed as his primary beef with the benefits program in eliminating "sugary" drinks from those individuals on the welfare and food stamp rolls.

I wonder how many martinis the Mayor drinks at some of those conventions and fundraisers?

Mr. Bloomberg, doesn't New York City have enough other problems with a little more priority rather than addressing the dietary choices of the homeless and jobless in that state who must go through reams of paperwork in order to simply have food?

Taxation without representation, at this point in America's history, doesn't even begin to describe the level of corruption originating quite clearly on the East Coast, which has now definitely spread to the West.

I'm not real comfortable having an East Indian, or any foreigner, in possession of my social security number. I mean, I doubt that in a mere seven years when I "officially" will qualify there will be anything left at all given the rate this Administration and the last dipped into those sums, while denying through this "regulatory" body benefits to many homeless and jobless "over 55" year olds already that have been majorly impacted by this American depression, which social security when initiated was clearly meant to provide during that first depression, but still...

And if I am wrong as to the location of this call center and it is in the U.S. merely preferring to hire either foreigners or new immigrants, just what does that say also about the "corporate" priorities running rampant and increasing in their hiring practices?

I mean, two out of two calls?

When even the U.S. government contractors paid with taxpayer sums are not "hiring American" is it any wonder that the U.S. economy is not rebounding?

Hello, Washington?

AP Reports Unemployment Claims Down, Economy Up?

The AP (American Propaganda) press reported today that due to a perceived reduction in the amount of unemployment claims for the "4th straight month" as reported to them by the U.S. Department of Labor, signs that employers have stopped laying off some of their employees.

And reaffirms the economists prediction that this "recession" ended in July.

Although the amount of "new" jobs reported by and large have been government jobs under this and the previous administration and simply funded through the general public's taxes by the taxpayers instead of those unemployment benefits by those major corporations.

And I would not hesitate to question whether the true number of jobless has decreased. During this entire recession/depression there has been no figures published of the amount of new businesses that have gone under, owners of which are not eligible for unemployment benefits nor any other type of social welfare benefits.

And if my experiences have been any indication, most of those government agencies are simply directing the homeless and jobless to the social service government grant civic organizations and churches to assist them, rather than the welfare offices, SSI or the unemployment offices.

So those figures are not at all indicative of just how many remain without a job, or have lost their businesses during this manipulated meltdown. Nor has the mortgage and foreclosure mess been addressed adequately in that arena, and from all indications it does appear that the housing market is not improving since absolutely nothing has been done in order to address the loans and terms under which most of those homes were sold which also led to the foreclosure tsunami.

Namely, loans that were "creatively" sold and marketed that were not even based on the U.S. currency, but the British LIBOR, and upfront fees and costs even in order to get those loans which now make purchasing a home more of a liability, than an asset.

This is, after all, the third banker/Washington market manipulation in housing in my lifetime, as a former resident of one of the states most affected - Arizona. And those 50+ page loan documents that are now part and parcel of this major purchase have put many a potential homeowner alone off purchasing a home at this point, not to mention any and all that have been affected this last cycle who are now both wiser, and have warned their posterity about the changes in the housing market which make that foreclosure "steal" nothing more than an instrument in which during the next cycle, it will be their home on the auction block.

Seems the distant AP press is as clueless as this Administration, and the last.

I wonder if they have walked into any of those unemployment offices lately, or are simply phoning their articles in on their iPhones?

Obama Holds Another Summit on Education

Desperately attempting to get the teachers unions back into the Democratic fold, Barack Obama held another summit on education, this time directed at bolstering the budgets and enrollment figures of the nation's community colleges.

As one who lived for many, many years in a state that has a first rate community college system, Arizona, this push toward encouraging the "middle class" to focus on the more "affordable" community colleges merely is another sign that America's economy isn't getting better but worse, and using the education card another ploy to looking like we are doing something, when really doing nothing at all to help the middle class or support small business startups or emerging industries outside the tech and public employee fields, but offer them "options" and "alternatives" for their increasingly lowered standards of living.

The article quoted the substantial savings that these colleges offer, with averages of "only" $2,500 annual tuition costs.

When I graduated high school in Arizona, that rate was free or nearly so per credit hour as opposed to the $10.00 per credit hour that was being levied at the three major Arizona universities (1970's tuition was $160.00 per semester for a full course load at ASU or $320 per year). The junior college option was less than $3.00 per (before political correctness was the order of the day), or - although the cost of living from the 1970's to today has soared in housing, food, gas and other costs, education appears to be at the top of the list. Even though many of those teachers now at least in Arizona can retire after a mere 20 years, collect benefits, and then resume their teaching careers at other schools.

Or work at the community job center while collecting their retirement.

In fact, more and more it does appear that scholarships and grants are being used as sales tools since few grants cover full tuition anymore as the remaining costs most students or their parents must come up with are well above the COLA from the 70's to today. Although most Americans have been paying for those colleges and their operating costs through their property taxes and a host of other taxes passed on to the public for their costs - including rebuilding and expanding campuses that have been facing decreasing enrollments which is why so many foreigners now are being educated at America's top universities also at the taxpayer's expense.

It appears our four year universities are going to be reserved more and more for the well-heeled, and foreigners for that out of state, out of country tuition higher tuition due to also currency fluctuations, while the American middle class and state residents who have paid for those universities for decades are encouraged to utilize the community colleges for their offspring instead.

Not really such a bad idea as is becoming more clear for other reasons, since the classrooms in those colleges are far smaller for the most part and also since most students commute with no dorms or housing costs involved for the majority of those colleges, less of a chance that their child's roommate just might wish to hone his video skills also and broadcast via worldwide webcam what he or she engages in during his downtime.

It was also announced that there has been created another public-private partnership between government and corporate America.

This time with McDonald's and the Gap.

And the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Obviously, it appears that some of the upcoming high school students just might not be able to work those summer jobs at McDonald's or the Gap since it would appear that those jobs will now take an "associates" degree in order to even get through the application process. Maybe that is also why there is becoming more and more push toward year around schools so that parents are then shouldered with all those extraneous costs for getting those degrees outside even tuition rather than encouraging Junior to at least earn his own spending money for their splurges on their sports memorabilia, bookstore purchases, or fraternity and sorority dues or costs.

And don't think of not encouraging your college student to enroll for those technology classes, since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also contributing for this cause, since they will definitely need that skill so they at least can go through the application process post graduation after obtaining those degrees for any future positions for any position, including the larger retail chains.

Of course, since Microsoft has been the largest also beneficiary of the Obama and previous administrations "Americans Get Educated in Science and Technology" agenda with those massive government contracts at the taxpayer's expense with all those annual upgrades involved in keeping up with "new and improved" software, this demonstration of generosity simply means this Foundation would be then simply returning a great deal of the taxpayer's monies spent privately and through their tax bite back to the schools that have and continue to purchase their product - so really, Mr. Gates is simply utilizing some of his profits from those government contracts to "give back" to the schools those taxes they received that then used a great deal of their annual budgets to purchase those software upgrades.

The competitive edge also was used so that this country can continue to compete in this "global" economy, since we are now "socializing" education with a "science based" focus internationally as the populace becomes more and more "programmers" and data inputers for those mainframes.

While of course outsourcing many of the former industrial jobs and suppliers for those retailers to China, to those jobs provided to those poorer individuals in those countries instead who are working without having to go through the HAL process.

It does seem kids today are being taught and educated primarily to use computers, rather than their brains and critical thinking skills more and more outside the governmental agendas for the 21st century, as when those computers "crash" or are unavailable most major retail corporations and the government itself screeches to a halt. Or banks. Or airlines.

Here is an example of just how "tight" this partnership with the high tech gadget industry actually is. This is from a government website in a city in the western United States for their hiring needs with respect to the application process:

Application Process:

The City of ________________has an online job application system. It uses state-of-the-art technology which gives our candidates greater flexibility in the application process. (for the advantage of the candidates?)

Applications are only accepted through our online application system.

Human Resources will not accept or consider applications that are mailed, emailed, faxed, or dropped off at our office. (and just where is the stated "flexibility in the application" process?)

As a boomer, I'm still having trouble relating to the terms "human resources" rather than "personnel" since, while it may seem to be "politically correct in this "science based technology," era, I think a new terminology is needed here. Instead of "Human Resource" Departments, maybe the term should simply be modified to reflect the true nature of what corporate America and those government offices are actually is looking for.

The "Input Department" and electronic paper pushers for those far off "district" and regional offices, since more and more it is even computers based on software programs with a mathematical formula that are hiring and determining those "humans" it might need as "resources."

Including even who gets an interview.

Online applications are now the "new age" voicemail of the past. Human Resources doesn't wish to speak with you, until you go through their computers for screening and are deemed by "Hal" to be worthy. Or any employment agency, governmentally funded or otherwise.

This now in addition to calling for year around schooling in order to also "compete" in the global community.

I wonder when Uncle Sam will be listed on the "new" birth certificates at America's hospitals, since it appears that after the first five years, your children are not your children at all merely a potential human resource for global corporate interests - with many states are also initiating measures in order to deny public employment positions to those children who are homeschooled (this is not, however, discrimination) and any and all that don't get with the current jobs focus need not apply, but then again try arguing that fact when submitting your welfare or SSI application for your social services "benefits," rather than borrowing money once again to get "re-educated."

The computer has spoken. ONLY computer educated and friendly applicants need apply. Although the actual job itself just may not need much in the way of keyboarding. Or applicants will need then retraining on individualized software programs anyway.

It is, after all, a science to learning how to flip burgers or assist a customer on a clothing purchase at this point, and the corporate HALs are now hooked up to the banking HALs and government HALs and will be checking on your credit scores and traffic tickets in addition to your skills, job history and education.

I hope McDonald's and the Gap are just as supportive of raising that minimum wage in order to cover the advance degrees now needed for some of those positions that formerly were available to those who either could not afford to pursue degrees, or simply are more creative individuals rather than robotic material, in any event that might have an independent thought on just how to build a better mousetrap (another passé' expression at this point, it would appear).

I mean those business majors and graduates and their parents are now working side by side at McDonald's, so why should that industrious or hardworking free-thinking dropout who needs to go to work to help his formerly middle class parents pay the rent, or earn his own extraneous college expenses get a job without having to become indentured to his state government or the bankers and fill out those mandated computer loan applications, and committing the cardinal sin of not being prescreened by going through HAL and his cousins?

The competitive working environment is no longer a jungle out there in any event, it's now a network.

And "private/private" partnership also.

The other day I was in a local McDonald's and plastered all over the walls were cute drawings by some of the local grammar school students in grades K-4 with the message "Buy a burger Tuesday and help us get technology for our classrooms."

I wonder when teaching penmanship and handwriting will soon become relegated to the educational scrap heap, along with those dictionaries (who are now going out of print), since HAL can even help you avoid those awful phonics lessons, word lists and spelling tests.

What's wrong with U? Those online urban dictionaries instead now have the HAL and NEA seal of approval.

And wasn't Lincoln homeschooled?