From the moment George Washington took the oath of office until Obama did, America had borrowed $9 trillion. Under Obama, it has borrowed $3.2 trillion more, in less than two years.

To me, it is extremely important to remember that it actually started before the Amateur became president, and it isn’t only the Democratic party who is  responsible.

I’m all for a November fire sale:  everything must go!

I’ve got several problems with that, personally, but there’s one I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else yet, which is this:

People, generally speaking, will expend the least effort to produce the greatest rewards possible under a given set of circumstances.

Call it rules-lawyering. Call it playing the system. Call it exploitation. Whatever you call it, it’s basic human nature. We want the most stuff for the least work. Which, in this case, means that people who otherwise would never set foot in the direction of a charitable organization will instead show up and do a half-assed job of it. Maybe even quarter-assed.

They won’t care about whatever cause they are working for. All they’ll want is the tax refund, so they’ll do as little as humanly possible to qualify for it. The country will be awash in unmotivated clockwatchers, who will probably wind up doing more harm than good, and getting in the way of those who actually want to serve their communities.

I know there are those who think that once people get involved, they will find reason to do their best to aid their fellow man. Those people are wrong. You can barely get some people to do jobs they actually applied and interviewed for in their chosen career fields. People will wander the sides of roads instead of picking up the trash they were sent there after. People will work on their novels instead of answering the suicide hotline. Do you want to live in a house built by people effectively forced to be there? If so, how far behind schedule are you willing to let the project fall?

The government can’t use results-based qualifiers to determine if the volunteerism was sincere, because there will be people who are properly motivated, who want to put in the time, but who, due to circumstances, physical or mental limitations, and/or the glut of their fellow citizens, simply cannot get the job done. They’d be asking for lawsuits.

You cannot make people be nice. All you can do is annoy them, and make them resent your attempt. “Mandatory volunteerism” of any stripe is doomed to failure from the outset.

I am SOOOOO excited by this election year.  *yawn*

McCain’s selection process has been conducted mostly in secret, but officials said he was considering one or more candidates who support abortion rights. The disclosure set off a fracas on the right wing, with talk-show host Rush Limbaugh saying such a selection would destroy the party.

You know, Rushie…both parties NEED destroying.  They’re archaic, hold antiquated ideals, and serve no one but the old white men who populate them.  The more I think about it…which seriously causes the acid stomach, let me tell you…the more I believe the reason we haven’t lined you all up against the nearest wall is the price is just too high, and we’re too comfortable.

It won’t be that way forever, boys.

“As far as I’m concerned, at 3 o’clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law,” Councilman Eugene “Red” Johnson said. “Anyone out at 3 o’clock shouldn’t be out on the street, unless you’re going to the hospital.”

The Mayor went on to justify this, the second curfew he and police have imposed on the town with the following:

“Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I’m fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here,” Mayor James Valley said. “The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution.”

Unfortunately, some whiny little ACLU lawyer is trying to ruin the police action by citing the Fourth Amendment. One can only hope this lone voice Hottentot is run out of town on a rail.

That’s the news from here, Your America, 2008. Back to you at the desk.

Now I know that Ted and Hazel like to keep a clean house here, so I apologize if I intrude on anyone’s delicate nature. Ya’ll can just go somewhere else for a bit. For the rest of you that have the stomach for it, continue on past the fold.

Ok, just us now.

Your House and mine today shot down yet again a plan to open up the Outer Continental Shelf for petroleum exploration. In fact, the proposal never even made the hell out of committee. I will give you here some of the dumbassery:

“We are kidding ourselves if we think we can drill our way out of these problems,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., said during the bill mark-up session.

Sierra Club lands program director Athan Manuel told a House committee Wednesday that drilling has been unsuccessful in driving costs down.

“The disappointing part about some of the energy policies being promoted (is) that it calls for more drilling when drilling really is the problem. And all we’ve got to show for pretty aggressive (domestic) drilling for the last 35 years is, again, $4 for a gallon of gas,” Manuel said, adding “since the first Arab oil shock in the 1970s, the U.S. has produced almost 90 billion barrels of oil since then, so we’ve tried drilling our way out of the problem and it just hasn’t worked.”

Environment Florida spokeswoman Holly Binns told the Media General news group that offshore drilling has no immediate impact on prices.

“It would take anywhere from seven to 10 years to bring those resources to shore — to have any measurable impact on supply,” Binns said, advocating renewable energy sources.

Well, just to be fair, (like these fuckers deserve it) I guess it will take seven to ten years to drill, then maybe they have a point. But they would be wrong. It doesn’t take seven to ten years to drill a hole in the bottom of the Gulf.

The Flatrock No. 4 (“C” location) infill development well, which commenced drilling on April 9, 2008, is located between the Flatrock No. 1 discovery and the Flatrock No. 2 wells. The No. 4 well has been drilled to 15,315 feet and log-while-drilling tools have indicated hydrocarbon bearing sands in the proven hydrocarbon column in the Rob-L section approximating 135 net feet over a total approximate 246 foot gross interval. The well will be deepened to a proposed total depth of 18,500 feet to evaluate additional targets in the Rob-L and Operc sections.

By my calculations, that means that from drilling to oil was TWO GODDAMNED MONTHS! And That was an American company operating off the coast of Louisiana, you know where Hurricane Katrina caused all the oil platforms to spill a billion barrels of oil all over the Gulf of Mexico. (THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN EITHER, YOU SLACKWIT BASTARDS.)

But you say, sure, in ten feet of water you could do that; but what about out in in deep Gulf waters? That surely would take ten years, easy. Again, you cock-gargling thundercunts, you are wrong. China started drilling Cuban waters in 2006, and now not only pumping oil out of Cuban reserves, fifty fucking miles off of Florida, but are by-damn slant drilling into the oil reserves on OUR SIDE. So not only are the policies of the august body costing Americans daily in higher prices for every single thing in our oil based economy, but their pussified policies are now allowing uncontested theft of our own assets.

And don’t you shitting dare to talk to me about the ‘environmental danger’ of ocean drilling when the TRANSPORT of foreign oil to our shores is the ONLY significant source of oil spills greater than a thousand barrels since the Valdez incident. (More oil bubbles up from the bottom the sea, Jed Clampett style, than has been spilled from any other single source.) But sixty percent, SIXTY PERCENT, of all oil spills come from transporting it, not drilling it. Transporting by ship that is.

We have enough coal to make coal gasification economically feasible. We have enough goal that we could gasify enough to last us for literally hundreds of years. Some say we could get upwards of a trillions barrels of oil just from the Rocky Mountain shale deposits and the tar sands. But even with those two things going full bore, we would still need the light sweet crude from the tits of mother nature for other things besides gasoline for your car. We need that oil for industry, for AvGas, for plastics, etc. Even if we got two hundred reactors up and running so we could all drive around in little electric deathtraps, we would STILL NEED THE GODDAMNED OIL.

So like I said, when it comes time to vote (if we get another chance that means anything) run the bastards out of town on a rail. They ain’t doing OUR work anymore.

Is there some particular reason the people of NY tolerate this buffoon?

UPDATE:  Here are the specifics:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has moved from outrage to atrocity, said the Second Amendment Foundation, by asking anti-gun activist federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein to ban any reference to the Second Amendment during a civil lawsuit trial beginning May 27 against Georgia gun dealer Jay Wallace, proprietor at Adventure Outdoors.

The New York Sun reported that Bloomberg’s attorneys made the request.  Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, said the move clearly shows that Bloomberg has “total disregard not only for the Second Amendment, but also the First.”

Bloomberg’s attorney on this case, Eric Proshansky, has reportedly argued in a brief that “Any references to the Second Amendment or analogous state constitutional provisions are likewise irrelevant” to the upcoming trial.

How so, fellas?  Because it would be crippling to your case?  Last I checked, that was not a good enough reason to disallow.

The incident was reported as police are being criticized for stopping and frisking record numbers of pedestrians — about 145,000 in the first quarter of this year. The majority were black or Hispanic.

You what? Cops are frisking 1600 people A DAY in New York? Just stopping them on the street, due to skin color, mein, clothing, whatever strikes their fancy, and patting them down??

Seriously, where is the outrage over this? All you people who live in that rat warren are fine with this policy? This is your reward for living/breathing the stink of 8 million of your fellows?

Digging up history on this stupid “policy” is hard…Google indexes so very much these days, it would take far more digging than I can dedicate to it to get to the origin of this “stop & frisk” policy. The earliest mention I have found thusfar is a report from Atty General Spitzer’s office (yeah, same ex-gov) from 1999 regarding an investigation into this policy. Do any of you folks know more about this? How exactly do they get away with doing this sans warrant or probable cause?

That is the only LOGICAL reason I can think of to keep us from drilling so many holes in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico that I can walk from Tampa to Galveston on the tops of the damn oil platforms.

State Representative Kathy Castor (D., Tampa) has proposed to make permanent a ban on all petroleum drilling within 125 miles of the coast of Florida. Ostensibly, this is to preserve our lovely beaches for the tourists. What she seems to not realize is that if the tourists can’t afford the four or five or six dollar a gallon gasoline to get to Florida in the first place, tourism is going to suffer anyway. What she seems to not get is that if the truckers (who haul every single thing to the beach front bars and restaurants and hotels) can’t afford to pay for the diesel, there will be nothing at the beach on which the tourists can spend their money. What she doesn’t seem to realize is that if utility prices keep going higher due to increased fuel oil prices, the tourists won’t have anyplace to come visit because the hotels and bars and restaurants won’t be able to keep their costs stable, therefore they either will have to close or charge outrageous sums just to keep the doors open. And the extra added wonderful news of all is that since the US seems intent on burning our food supply, there won’t be any food at those restaurants for the tourists to enjoy anyway; because the ranchers and chicken farmers and commercial fishermen who depend on diesel will have had to reduce the pace of operations or outright slaughter their herds before they go under.

But wait, perhaps this is all part of some plan to let the rest of the world run out of oil and natural gas, so that when the time comes, WE can all be driving around in Rolls Royce’s and have the solid gold bathtubs from the oil revenue. After all, the Saudis are floundering for their last little bit of oil just to keep production stable, not even to increase it.

Or maybe, Kathy Castor just wants to hold off until we drill ANWR dry. After all, even the people who actually live there seem to want to drill, despite the propaganda about Global Warmening^TM . Personally, I would drill through a caribou’s head to get oil if that is what it took. Fortunately for the caribou formerly known as “Lunch,” caribou herds are not only NOT dying off due to drilling in the great white north, but are prospering because of the added warmth the pipeline provides. Huh, the same folks who told us to look out for the coming ice age and that the ‘bou were all gonna die were wrong about something? Go figure.

Or maybe, just maybe, Kathy Castor wants to wait until the Bakken Formation has drawn people who need jobs out of Florida because she doesn’t want folks here who can’t afford to live the glorious Florida lifestyle. It just really seems strange that since the Fifties, oil estimates for Bakken have been much higher than those just released by the USGS. I guess the folks up in North Dakota just really want to keep quiet about how big the ocean of oil they are sitting on actually is.

I mean come on, Kathy Castor. Really. Are you blinded by party-line politics, dedicated to keeping Florida in the dark, or just congenitally stupid, um, I mean, terribly misinformed? Or are you indeed part of some all encompassing secretive cabal that is just biding time? If you are the latter, please inform the grand Poobah that the time is now, because it will take several years to build the oil platforms up to the safety standards that withstood a Cat Five hurricane called Katrina without so much as a spilled drop of oil on the coast of Louisiana. While you are at it, inform the Poobah (or as I like to call him, Bah) that we could use some nuclear power plants, a few clean coal burning electric power plants, and that we could use any excess power we sold to other states to help pay for other environmental causes like cleaning up the ‘Glades. After all, surely we could be more environmentally and economically responsible than the Chinese that are going to drill in Cuban waters, what , like forty miles off of Key West?

This means exactly what it says. No further explanation required. Despite what the Supremes say about McCain-Feingold.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

This means exactly what it says. What it should in practical terms mean is that if a firearm of any type can be conceived and manufactured by the minds and hands of mankind, I can have one and keep it with me.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

That means exactly what it says. Because King George III had a habit of forcing his subjects to feed and house their oppressors, essentially making a home into a prison for the owners or unlawfully removing a person of his property.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This means exactly what it says. Despite what the police in D.C. and Boston say.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

That means exactly what it says. Kelo ring any bells?

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

That means exactly what it says. But the “Patriot Act” is our federal government’s best shot at killing it, isn’t it.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

This means exactly what it says.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

This means exactly what it says.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

This means exactly what it says.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

This means exactly what it says.

These RIGHTS are not the government’s to give, they are OURS to keep. I took an oath to defend to Constitution from ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. How exactly am I supposed to honor that oath, an oath that I took TWICE and have never been released from despite being honorably discharged, when my government seems intent on flaying the Constitution and sucking out the marrow from its bones? How am I to seek redress of grievances when my senators or congressmen won’t even answer my letters, accept my phone calls, read my emails, sign for my telegrams, or even allow me an appointment in their home district at their home office? How am I to force the men and women whom I voted to elect to actually do the jobs they are being paid to do?

We flood them.

Flood them with phone calls and emails and letters. Show up at their offices in D.C. and in their home offices. Go where they go and let our voices be heard.

Sounds good, but it won’t happen.

We are a nation of people who would rather watch ‘American Idol’ than even think about how badly our own government is stripping our country of it’s very soul. We are a nation where people are afraid of being put on a watchlist somewhere, where our credit cards more important to us than actual credit rating, and where we allow the schools and the soccer coaches to raise our kids. We don’t join the PTA because ‘that bitch is on a power trip.’ We don’t go to city council meetings because ‘you can’t fight city hall.’ And we don’t write our congressmen and senators unless Rush Freaking Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck tell us to. We’re not really what you might call ‘joiners’ to fight the tide, but are all too ready to ride the wave and cuss about it when it dashes us against the rocks.

We are a nation that allows our hirelings to spend our futures. We are a nation that allows vital defense contracts to be filled by foreign companies, steel for the Freedom Tower to be produced by Luxembourg, and the microchips that are the backbone of our electronic society to be produced in China right along with the toys our kids play with the medicine our aged need to survive.

We allow porous borders to stay porous, because no one wants to pay five dollars for a head of lettuce, but have occasional show busts to prove that ‘we are really cracking down.’ Meanwhile the rolls of welfare recipients swell and emergency rooms close down.

We allow the very term ‘special interest group’ in polite society when it should be a black stain of shame. ‘Politically correct’ should have been left behind with the fall of the Communists.

We allow our hirelings to accept money from our enemies for travel to their countries, then act surprised when they speak our against our own.

The Bill of Rights is there to protect you. And me. And our kids. And our very way of life.

Have you ever noticed that every Amendment to the Constitution does one of two things (with the exception of the 16th): codifies exactly what the government is NOT allowed to do or improves the way our government functions. (The 18th doesn’t count because it was superseded by the 21st; another proof that some things just DO NOT belong in the hands of the federal government.)

Keep the 21st in mind for a minute. It shows that even though something might sound like a good idea, it might not be a good idea for the Fed to have a hand in it. Our hirelings in D.C. have no damn reason at all to try to legislate into OUR CONSTITUTION a ban on gay marriage, flag burning, or anything else that limits the liberty of any of our 300 million plus citizens. It doesn’t matter if YOU agree with them expressing their liberty or not, our nation is one of LAWS. Or at least it used to be.

Our Bill of Rights is there to limit our hirelings.

And I see that it may be time for more limits.

Limit one: If you decide to run for office, your life is an open book. You don’t get to hide your books, your preacher, your master’s thesis, your crazy cat eating aunt, ANYTHING. If we want to know what you had for supper ten years ago while attending a Klan rally, you better be able to produce a freaking menu.

Limit two: If you currently hold office and want to run for another one, YOU HAVE TO RESIGN THE ONE YOU HAVE FIRST. Your constituents are paying you to do a job. If you want to try for another one, you have to let someone else have the one you already hold, thereby not depriving said constituents of your full and complete attention. Our Big Three in this current slimefest are all Senators. If they represented me, I would be demanding their resignations immediately. After hearing these jackasses every freaking day for the last year, I don’t trust them to do anything other than pander; and I certainly wouldn’t think that these senators are doing one tiny bit of work for the states they are supposed to be representing.

Limit three: You must be able to point to exactly where in the constitution, either US or State, it is written that any legislation you propose is allowed, authorized, or assumed. (If it is assumed, you better be able to make a damned good argument why it would be necessary, not just nice-to-have.) If you want to spend money, it better be money the budget actually has, without raising new taxes.

Limit four: You serve ‘at will’. If more than a third of the people you serve think you suck at your job, your career is over. Further, you may never hold public office in any capacity ever again. That one-third margin of suckitude will be measurable by a yes/no box on the 1040EZ form. For States with no income taxes, it will be a box on the Property Tax form.

Limit Five: You can only spend tax dollars if you can get three fourths of the chamber to agree by in-person roll call vote. The other chamber can turn it down with a mere one fourth vote, and those votes can be literally phoned in from the home office of the hireling. If you are the President and want to spend money, one third of either chamber can turn you down. Three such lack of confidence votes results in your immediate expulsion from office, never to serve the public again.

I have no illusions that what I propose will ever make it into the books, at least not until common sense comes back to government. I am so damned disgusted right now I can barely write, so I apologize if this seems incoherent. Feel free to take the parts you like and pass it on. Perhaps to our hirelings at every level of government. Or you can write in to tell me it’s not as bad as I think it is. I hope not anyway.