Screwed again!

I think Donald Trump has stumbled on to something.  His current heartburn is that, according to him, he's getting screwed out of his rightful Republican presidential nomination.  Practically speaking, he's right.  Technically speaking, he just got snookered.

The Donald is pissed because he has won the popular vote hands down, yet because of the way each state Republican Party writes their rules...and they are all different...they can award him fewer convention delegates than his popular vote count would suggest he should receive. 

Ted Cruz, evil as I believe him to be, is NOT stupid.  He knows how to play the game to get what he wants.  And it's this corrupt game that Donald Trump has exposed.

Us common folks have naively believed until now that the majority ruled, that our elections were based on "one man, one vote".  But now we find out that party nominating processes are not "elections" in the proper, legal sense, but are just a game a bunch of powerful, rich (mostly white) guys play to further feather their nests.  They can legally do this because they say the state primaries/caucuses/conventions are NOT elections.  The rules of fair play only apply to the official election on the second Tuesday in November.  Donald Trump obviously didn't read that memo.

They will NOT give us a candidate we want*, but only the one they want us to have.  Trump has exposed how the Republicans operate, but the Democrats no doubt have things rigged, too.  (Do "Super Delegates" sound fair to you?  It's just their way of denying The People's Candidate if they feel they can't control him/her.)

So why can't we just tell both parties to go f--k themselves and then nominate someone as a third party candidate who will truly represent us?  Because again, they have rigged the system and made it virtually impossible for a third party candidate to get their name on the ballot in all 50 states.  They have a monopoly, and they intend to keep it that way.  All the hoops a third party candidate would have to jump through, with each state (controlled by one or the other of the established parties) setting their own rules, is by their design impossibly Byzantine.

The parties only want to nominate candidates they feel are "one of them".  But this year, thanks to Donald Trump and to a lesser extent Bernie Sanders, outsiders are threatening their privileged positions, and both parties are out of desperation exposing their sly little built-in "fail safes".

Our Founding Fathers are no doubt looking down on us and thinking all their brilliant work is now officially down the drain.  And they would be right!

S

* Hypothetically speaking.  I am in no way intending to endorse Donald Trump.

Do as I say, not as I do

Surely there must be a special place in hell for those who hold up a Bible in one hand, quote Scripture, and then proceed to rip people off.  Christians seem to be especially susceptible to the theatrics the TV-evangelist-types use to gain our trust.

Here's a little tip....don't just listen to what they say, but WATCH WHAT THEY DO.

I mean, how could anyone doubt the sincerity of someone who quotes the Bible?

Surely they wouldn't lie to us, right? 
*love the tears, Tammy*

Which brings us to....

Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is running a hell-of-a-race (pun intended) to become the next President of the United States.  I've watched him rise up (pun intended) as a political creature and take him very seriously.  He's extremely smart, cunning, ruthless, focused, a champion debater, and a master of theatrics.  Half truths spew out of his mouth.

He is the son of a Cuban immigrant who has become in some quarters a prominent Christian evangelist, and he lets us know about it every chance he can. 

Cruz has studied the Tea Party from its inception, has identified their hot buttons, and has used them brilliantly as his vehicle to power.  Of all the original Tea Party candidates, he's the last one standing.  His road map to the White House was to sweep the deep South, rich with evangelicals, and ride that momentum onward and upward.  (They saw right through him, however, causing a major hiccup to his plans. Oops!  Desperate times now call for desperate measures.)

I've watched Ted Cruz for a few years now and found that his sleazy actions don't match his pious words. When he ran for the Senate he won by picking off...slandering...one opponent after another, his final victim being the sitting Lt. Governor of Texas.  When caught red-handed he will launch into typical politician double-speak, praising God all the while.  A politician lying is pretty much a non-event these days...we almost expect it, actually...but most don't masquerade behind a Bible, quoting Scripture the whole time.

Case in point:  Several months ago on the day of the Iowa caucus the Cruz campaign spread the rumor that Dr. Ben Carson was dropping out, and asked his supporters to switch their support to Cruz.  Later, of course, Cruz said it was just a boo-boo by one of his staffers and apologized.  Trouble is, by all accounts Cruz is a micro-manager.  No detail gets past him.  

He also sent out a very official looking mailer, so official looking the Iowa Secretary of State had to publicly declare it was NOT from his office, pointing out by name on a precinct-by-precinct basis (which means it was meticulously planned) who had a poor voting record.  To make amends, Cruz shamed many of them into caucusing for him.  Were these dirty tricks enough to give him his slim Iowa victory?  We'll never know.

And now there are only three...Trump, Cruz, and Kasich.  It's crunch time, winner take all, and I look for Cruz to dig ever deeper into his bag of dirty tricks.  No lie will be too outlandish, no slander will be too wrong.  

With most candidates you know exactly what you're getting.  When they turn out to be crooks, we barely even give it a yawn.  Not so with Ted Cruz.  He is NOT what he professes to be.  Watch him.  Don't "TrustTed".  He's dangerous.

S

    

Yes sir, thank you sir, may I have another

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his Primary Posterior Appendage, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).  (Where exactly is Cornyn's right hand?)

As an amateur political scientist I'm just giddy every morning when I get up and turn on the news and find out what dumb thing one politician or another said/did overnight.  It's just so knee-slapping funny!  How any politician can look us in the eye and say with a straight face "I'm here looking out for your best interest" shows the absurdity of our political system.

My topic here is, quite simply, that we need TERM LIMITS.  I've known some fairly big-time politicians in my time, and politics from the county level on up is simply a finishing school for liars and thieves.  It's all about building up credits with party elites, and this applies equally to BOTH parties.

Precinct chairmen are urged to hold neighborhood meetings to drum up support and raise money for their parties' candidates.  If they consistently do well they are "invited" to run for a county position, or are appointed to a springboard bureaucratic position. More ass kissing, and they're told they'll have party support (access to money) to run for a seat in the state legislature.  Still more ass kissing and a decade later, they might rise up the ranks to a leadership position.

Here's where the men are separated from the boys:  The most cunning and ruthless are pushed towards running for Congress.  When the party anoints a candidate, he's on the fast track to lifetime employment and "the good life".

When he arrives in Washington he's pulled to the side and essentially told that party loyalty and fund raising are paramount (which he already knows).  Do what you're told, vote how you're told to vote, and you'll have access to the most lucrative special interests, the most prestigious committee assignments, the best office space, the most exotic/high profile travel junkets, etc.  Buck the leadership, and you'll be working from a coat closet in the basement, and you'll be the junior member of the Pencil Sharpening Committee.  Oh, and next election cycle, good luck!

If they don't "go along to get along" as Ted Cruz or Bernie Sanders have consistently chosen not to do, they'll get no endorsements or party support.  Only because those two have some strong, pissed off, anti-establishment popular support back home can they get away with their waywardness.  Such rebels are few and far between.

Perks come from power, and power comes from longevity.  The longer they're there, the more favors they can toss out.  Whenever I see McConnell and his posterior appendages or Harry Reid and his butt kissers, I know that I'm seeing the crookedest of the crooks.  When faced with a choice between doing what's right for US or doing what's right FOR THE PARTY, we'll lose.  Of course they'll spin it to look like they're our champions, and this is where their "liars finishing school" comes in.

Bottom line:  To be able to sit at the cool kids table, they first have to get elected, and then consistently get re-elected.  If we could ever get term limits in place, then we'll have a chance to break that corrupt lifetime employment contract.  It will be an up hill battle, for sure.  The possibility is what gives special interests and established politicians sleepless nights. 

If politicians know they can't get re-elected due to term limits, they'll have no need to spend half their time fund raising and ass kissing.  If they know there is no reason to betray their constituents and kiss up to the party hierarchy, we just might have a chance to get some competent leaders.  Sure, we'll be throwing out a few babies with the bath water, but we'll be getting rid of an ocean of nasty pollution, too.  I think it's a fair trade.

S

Three Stooges + one

The Final Four....Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich

Did you watch the Republican presidential debate from Detroit last night?  Are you hoarse this morning from saying "Oh My God, Oh My God", over and over?  Is your neck sore from shaking your head back and forth while thinking "No!, No!, No!"?

Marco Rubio is obviously desperate, his Waterloo just over a week away.  Did anyone notice his claim that Donald Trump is rich only because he inherited $100 million dollars from his father, when at the last debate he said Trump inherited $200 million dollars?  Obviously he's making stuff up, and this is just the tip of his un-truth iceberg. 

Donald Trump might make a pretty decent dictator, but he has no idea how our government really works.  Try as he might want to, he can't build a thousand mile (?) long, 20' tall wall along our southern border.  The logistics are imposing, the costs immense, and he can't make Mexico pay for it.  He just can't.

Mexico won't do it, and he can't unilaterally impose a 35% tariff as punishment on products made there and imported here.  Many of those products are actually made by American companies who have (shamelessly) moved their production south to take advantage of cheap labor.  These same companies through their lobbyists give millions of campaign dollars to American politicians of both parties every year.  Congress, whose support a President Trump would need, would cave in a nanosecond.

And they all seem to think they can just go to Monster.com and pick up 25,000 new Border Patrol agents overnight.  Any law enforcement recruiter will tell you that it's like pulling teeth to find candidates who can pass a background check, psychological and physical exams, etc, and be willing to put their lives on the line every day they go to work.  Not gonna happen!

Ted Cruz is a weasel of the lowest order.  I watched his campaign for US Senate several years ago and saw/heard documented evidence of his lying and cheating.  (He rivaled the all-time Texas weasel politician, former congressman and state attorney general Jim Mattox.)  He is cunning, a master debater, and the king of gestures and silly drama.  His quoting of Scripture is blasphemous considering how different his true actions and deeds are from his pious words. 

There you have it, our Republican choices for president, Larry, Curly, and Moe.  *sigh*

Oh, wait....there's one more, John Kasich, the "adult on the stage" as he likes to say about himself.  His posture is worse than mine, he doesn't wear his clothes well, his hair is sorta funny looking, he makes this funny pucker when he talks, he's not a smooth orator, and he is definitely NOT charismatic.  But his pragmatic mind, and what he has accomplished both as a congressman and as a governor, is head and shoulders better than anything put forward by any of the Stooges.

Are we Americans so shallow that we can be seduced by liars and cheats and absurd promises while overlooking someone who might actually be able to LEAD?  Don't forget, once Cinderella cleaned up, she was pretty special.  I know he barely shows up as a blip in the polls, but we'd be wise to give John Kasich a second look. 

S 

I'll get the coat hangers, you get the marshmallows

I think many of us are scared to look over our shoulder, afraid of what we might see.  And as more evidence of the denial we are in (IMO), here's what nobody dares say out loud:  Our country is crumbling before our very eyes.  And worse, violence may not be far behind.

Things are near a boiling point.  For years the approval rating of Congress has been less than 10%.  Republicans and Democrats will almost never sit down and find common ground.  Republicans say "no" to President Obama before even hearing what he has to say, and if a President Trump is in our future, I'm sure Democrats will treat him the same.

African Americans feel they are being profiled and abused by the police, and many are quick to take to the streets.  The Donald has said, and apparently many agree, that Mexicans are thieves and murderers and rapists and should be kept out by a tall wall.  The threat of Islamic terrorism has us willingly (?) giving up our civil liberties.  Remember the Occupy Wall Street movement? 

Police are ambushed and killed somewhere almost every day.  It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to protect us when they must first think of protecting themselves.  There is little respect left for "law and order".  "Patriots" are occupying Federal property at gunpoint in Oregon.  The Second Amendment is sacred; guns are bad, blah, blah, blah.  There is no tolerance, and the chasm is getting wider.

Americans don't normally think in terms of armed revolutions.  Those things only happen in Argentina, Eastern Europe, and some of those far-away countries that end in "stan".  We're above all that, right?

I say "don't be so sure."

"Oh Scott, you're paranoid.  You watch too much TV, and you know how the media sensationalizes."

Really?  I live in Ted Cruz country, where 1.2 million people voted for him just yesterday.  He's brilliant and totally without scruples, I don't care how much Scripture he quotes.  I'm around many of his believers every day, and I can tell you that far too many of them are pissed-off knuckle-dragging zealots.  They are emblematic of the underlying anger simmering everywhere.

While it might be good politics to preach love and tolerance, it's unlikely to dissuade the guy hurling a Molotov cocktail at you or taking pot-shots at your car.

Sure, most of us just put in our 40 hours at work, watch a little TV, and coach the kids little league team.  We're not the problem.  But there seems to be no shortage of anger across the country, and it doesn't take many malcontents to set a few fires, randomly kill a few innocents, and intimidate the majority to send our society into a tailspin.  (Then multiply by 10 when you figure in the copycats and the publicity sicko's.)  That's what mobs do, and it works!

I'm just advising you to stay alert and take nothing for granted.   And hope I'm wrong.

S

Should bats be offended?

"My party has gone bat-shit crazy!"

At least SC Senator Lindsey Graham is being honest.   He went on to say that if Tea Party spark plug Ted Cruz was murdered on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, no one would be convicted. *and he should know!*

Thanks Tea Party.  Because of you, the Republican Party has ceased to be a respected body of conservative thought, and has instead become a body of radical obstructionists.  They are no more capable of governing than Joe McCarthy was back in the 1950's.  Even those reasonable Republicans left in Congress are afraid to speak up against these extremists....except apparently Lindsey Graham.

It's ironic to me to watch Tea Party stalwarts pledge such strong allegiance to the Constitution, then eschew compromise.  It's "my way or the highway" they proudly proclaim.  They have no compunction about shutting down the government, even willing (so they say) to suspend retirees and disabled veterans Social Security and disability checks in order to leverage their coercion.  How shameful!

Do they not realize that the Constitution is itself a compromise?   When the populous states wanted representation based on population, and the less populous states wanted equal representation, they compromised....our Founding Fathers agreed to two houses of congress.  The House of Representatives is weighted in favor of more populous states, and the Senate allows for two Senators per state.  

Such pragmatism has worked for us for 227 years, but the Tea Party seems to think they know better.  Call me skeptical.  HIGHLY skeptical!

Those of you who live in Super Tuesday states, don't forget to vote tomorrow.

S

Ever wonder who "owns" your favorite politician?

Well, now you know.

Here is the list of donations to presidential candidate Super Pacs (minimum $10,000 per donation) for calendar year 2015.  Early in 2015 Jeb! Bush was the anticipated GOP nominee and it showed by the immense war chest he accumulated, 43% of it from Wall Street donors.  By the second half of the year he had fizzled, and he had no new donations.

Next came Tea Party wunderkid Teddy Cruz, the guy who wants us to believe he is NOT part of the establishment....except someone forgot to tell Wall Street, where a whopping 57% of his PAC money came from.  Or maybe they were just being kind to Theodore's wife, who is a partner at Goldman Sachs.  *shhhhhhh*

Surprising (to me at least) is Hillary Clinton, who came in 3rd.  I would have thought she and Bill would have had deeper tentacles into the Banking Class.

Last were The Donald and The Bernie, who had no Super PAC money at all.  And both are VERY serious contenders, which I'll betcha is totally chapping Wall Street's ass!  *snicker*

For those of you who have read my diatribes to date vilifying Rafael Edward Mother Teresa Martin Luther "Ted" Cruz and asked, "Why Scott, what do you mean he's not what he seems?  He's such a nice boy.  Just last week I got a nice note from God Almighty Himself endorsing Ted"....I say wake up and smell the raw sewage!

Only 3 state primaries/caucuses into the campaign, and look what he's already shown us:

Just days before the Iowa race he sent out a very official looking "voter violation" mailer calling out those voters BY NAME who he thought might NOT vote, hoping to shame them into going to the caucus representing him.  It was so official looking the Iowa Secretary of State had to put out a notice saying this was all bogus and did NOT come from the State.

Then just hours before caucus time in Iowa his staff sent out both a written message and a voice mail to their precinct captains telling them to spread the word that Dr Ben Carson would be leaving the race right after the caucus and that a vote for Carson would be wasted, and urge his supporters to come over to the Cruz camp.

So how many of the few thousand vote margin of victory for Cruz in Iowa could be attributed to these dirty tricks?  We'll never know.

Now in South Carolina Teddy ran a TV spot showing a 20-year-old +/- TV interview with the late Tim Russert where Donald Trump said he was "pro-choice", which is the kiss of death to a GOP candidate in evangelical-rich South Carolina.

Except he totally forgot to mention that The Donald had more recently publicly told of his epiphany when he came to become "pro-life", which makes this ad a blatant smear.  Trump's sharks sent a "cease and desist" letter and threatened a lawsuit.  Cruz said "bring it", he wasn't skeered, but in reality he's probably sweating it.  This was an obvious attempt to defame and he knows it.

And just yesterday the Cruz camp photoshopped a picture to seemingly show a smiling Mark O Rubio shaking hands with a smiling Brick O'Bama, celebrating their Rubio-Obama trade pact, never mind that there was no such thing. 

Aren't politics fun?  Every day is SO exciting!  I can't wait to see what dumb thing Trump will say next, or what fraudulent act Cruz will do next.  :)

S

Where have all the Good Guys gone?

Does anyone remember these two guys?  That's President Ronald Reagan on the right (naturally) and House Speaker Tip O'Neal on the left (both literally and figuratively).  

Mr. Conservative and Mr. Liberal they were.  They had sharply different political philosophies, visions for the future, and constituencies, yet they also had respect for each other.  When one had the opportunity to completely crush the other, to politically destroy the other, he didn't do it.  They realized they needed each other.  

Sometimes Tip had to swallow hard and give in to something Reagan wanted, and sometimes their roles were reversed.  They both knew they couldn't just dump on a large part of the American population in order to get their way.  That would be what is called "winning the battle, but losing the war"....a long-term bad thing for the country, and they knew it.

Contrast them to the "leaders" (more like "hired guns") that we have today.  Reid, Pelosi, McConnell, Ryan, Clinton, and lets not forget the Tea Party faction led by Ted Cruz....they would rather eat s__t than give an inch to the other.  The Republicans, for example, recently agreed to a budget deal only because elections are upcoming and they knew polls showed the public held them responsible for past government shutdowns that harmed millions of people.  It was self-preservation, pure and simple.

They gave in not for the good of the country, but for their own political gain.  And under similar circumstances the Democrats would do the same.  They care about themselves, and no one else.  You and I are just pawns to them.

Bernie Sanders is saying a political revolution is coming, and he may be right.  I'm wondering if it will be limited to just being "political"?  Think about that.

S

What if they gave a party and nobody came?

Since I have been such a highly accurate *snicker* political prognosticator so far this election year, I'll swing my bat once more and go for the home run....or will it be strike three?

So far I've predicted the Tea Party would run its course in due time as they were just a bunch of radical extremists (redundant?), but they're still here.  I failed to take into account the American people's ignorance / indifference / gullibility (choose one).

I predicted Donald Trump's ongoing reality TV show would eventually flame out, but it hasn't.  Oops.  I predicted Ted Cruz would be unmasked for the pure McCarthyesque pot-stirring opportunist he is.  Double oops.  The rest of the field hasn't made a move, and might not be able to in time.

I predicted Hillary Clinton was a shoe-in for the Democrats as her only competitor was a life-long avowed Socialist.  He's smoking her....didn't see that coming, either!

So what's next?  IMHO....

The Republicans will nominate The Donald.  His star power will be hard to overcome.  The conservative special interests will line up behind him as they will see him as "one of them", despite his protests *wink*.

The Democrats will nominate Hillary C.  I don't think Iowa or New Hampshire are representative of traditional Democratic voters....both states are ''too white".  When the primaries move to states with sizable numbers of minorities, Hillary should climb back on top.   *heehee...not going there*  She might come across as a poor man's champion, but Wall Street owns her lock, stock, and barrel.  She would sell her soul to be elected president, and they know it.

If Trump is elected, will he appoint good advisers, and will he LISTEN to them?  And if he wins, and the Republicans have control of the House AND the Senate AND the White House, will they govern like a bunch of drunk sailors on shore leave?

If Hillary is elected will her presidency be doomed from the get-go?  Let's face it....she's reviled by many, and considered untrustworthy by even more.

So it's a choice between being stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Saturday Night Live should have plenty of material to work with.  That might be the only good thing about this election year.

S

They said WHAT???

Will somebody please explain to me what has happened to the Republican Party....the GOP....the party of Eisenhower and Reagan and all the Bush's?  (Yeah, 'ol George W is lookin' pretty good all of a sudden, huh?)

Why yes, yes I can get BOTH feet in my mouth at the same time.

Republican front runner Donald Trumph's most recent epiphany is that he wants to prohibit any/all Muslim's from entering the USA "until our representatives can figure out what is going on."  Now, I understand he's pretty much fed up with Muslims, and a lot of others agree with him, but he needs to learn when to keep his big fat pie hole shut!

Lets think this through:  We want to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria.  That by all accounts will require "boots on the ground".  We don't want those to be American boots on the ground.  We want the countries in that region....Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, etc....to put their boots on the ground.  So we just insult the hell out of them by lumping them in with the ISIS thugs, Muslims all?  Brilliant! 

I understand the concept of pandering for votes, but damn! 

 Our next Fuhrer?

And it gets worse....Candidate/Senator* Ted Cruz today said, "We will carpet bomb them (ISIS) into oblivion.  I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out."  Yeah, he said that!  

The last time I heard anyone talking about making the Mid East "glow", it was in a comedy routine on the Don Imus show.  That character was funny.  This guy Cruz is DANGEROUS!

Please God, just make them both go away!

S

* On behalf of all my fellow Texans I'd like to offer our sincere apology for not euthanizing Ted years ago.

A dirty little secret

But first, my Republican debate recap....

What happened to the sniping, and the jibes at The Donald's hair, and Ben's days as a juvenile delinquent?  NOTHING!  It never came up.  So boring!

Actually it was a fairly respectful exchange of real ideas.  For that I give credit to the moderators from the Fox Business News channel for doing an excellent job.  They didn't try to blindside anyone, they asked meaningful questions, and when the candidates gave rather soft, squishy answers, they followed up, "So to make this clear, you're saying you're NOT in favor, is that correct?"  Bravo!  They didn't let anyone do an end run as most politicians will do if given a chance.

Mark O. Rubio is IMHO the slickest of the bunch.  He is an excellent speaker, has good hair, was never rattled, but seemed to use too much "politician speak" to suit me.  He often speaks in non-controversial terms like "promoting family values" and "my parents were working people who loved us and worked hard to provide for us".  Well duh....who isn't for that?  He's definitely the voice of the Republican Washington establishment.  He did have some concrete ideas for immigration reform, though.

Carly Fiorina came across as the most hawkish on a stage of (mostly) hawks.  I'm thinking Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were watching at home saying, "Damn!  She's tougher than either of us!"  But she was almost scary looking....properly erect, glaring eyes, not smiling, almost gritting her teeth when she spoke.  Her demeanor reminded me of one of those bad boy Germans from the 1930's.  Her proposal for a zero-based budget is good, but the crooks inside the Beltway are not about to give up their slush fund.   Not going to happen!

Jeb did his best, but he still fell short.  Dr. C seemed in control, if not break-out hot, Donald Trump managed to muzzle his mouth fairly well except for one jab at Carly, Rand Paul....or is it Paul Rand?....is still wearing his tin foil hat, and even Ted Cruz (I almost throw up in my mouth when I say his name) made some good points.  Being the pragmatist that I am, I liked John Kasich, but as he's not one of the "beautiful people", I don't see him going anywhere.  So be it.

Now for my dirty little secret....

The Repub's talked much about tax reform, the common thread being the popularity of a simple flat-percentage tax and doing away with most deductions and loopholes, except the home mortgage interest deduction.  They argue it promotes home ownership and therefore good citizenship.  The truth is "The American Dream" of home ownership doesn't need to be supercharged by the gubment.

Here's why:  Roughly 65% of Americans own their homes, the rest for various reasons rent or live in mama's basement.  Of those who own, approximately half itemize their taxes and take the mortgage interest deduction.  The rest either own their home outright and have no mortgage (and therefore pay no mortgage interest), or are at that point in the life of the mortgage that they are paying mostly principle and very little interest.  For them the standard deduction (short tax form) works best.  That means only about 33% +/- of us actually take the deduction.  The 2/3 of us who don't take the mortgage deduction are subsidizing the 1/3 who are.

It's rigged.  This whole scheme exists primarily to benefit the lenders (bankers).  When they make a mortgage loan, it is front loaded with the interest, the principle paydown (the part that builds your equity) not coming until the final few years of a 30 year (or 15 year) mortgage.  In other words the bank gets their profit up front, then if you pay the loan off early (usually by selling it to someone else who gets a brand new mortgage), they don't care.  In fact they love it....they can start their front loaded money making scheme all over again!

To help them sell this ripoff, Congress years ago (1930's) began actively promoting home ownership via the newly created FHA, necessitating new mortgages.  Cha ching!  (If you don't think it's good to have friends in high place, just look at the bankers!)

Congress isn't offering us a mortgage interest deduction to help us.  (But of course they'll tell us they are.)  They're doing it to help their banker buddies!

My industry, homebuilding, goes all ballistic when anyone suggests the home mortgage interest deduction be eliminated.  "But nobody will ever buy a house again" they squeal.  That's BS.  Up until the 1980's (?) we could write off the interest we paid on credit cards and auto loans, too.  Guess what?  When the IRS phased those deductions out over a number of years, people didn't stop using their credit cards or stop buying new cars.  Not at all!

If we were to, over a decade or so, phase this deduction out it would bring in hundreds of billions of additional dollars to the Treasury every year.  If that money could be used entirely to reduce the national debt and not be siphoned off by Congress to fund other pork projects (like the Social Security Trust Fund was), imagine the effect on our financial stability.  

Imagine how much less the government would have to spend on debt servicing.  Imagine how much our country's credit rating would improve.  Imagine how much lower interest rates would be.  WE WIN!

All of us except the bankers, that is.  That's why this will never happen.  *sigh*

S

A train wreck in not-so-slow-motion

For the life of me I don't understand why so many in the world look to the United States for leadership.  We wouldn't know "leadership" if it bit us on the butt!  There may be a very few potential "leaders" lurking in our political landscape, but they either have no chance of getting the nod to lead, or THEY DON'T WANT IT!

It wasn't long ago I was pooh-pooing the "Young Guns" in the House of Representatives, those being Republicans Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy, their best-of-the-best.  Yes, the same Kevin McCarthy who just dropped out of the race to become the next Speaker of the House.  Back then I thought they were too rigid, too my-way-or-the-highway, too cold to effectively lead.  

Turns out McCarthy is now deemed not cold enough to please the 40 or so members of the Tea Party (now calling themselves the Freedom Party) who are bullying the rest of the Republican's.  They're like the Nazi Brown Shirts of the 1930's, sans the actual physical beating of opponents.  Current Speaker John Boner is looking like an absolute moderate.  Don't get cocky Democrats, you're no better.  Nancy Pelosi?  Really?  She's the best you have?

And the Senate....Oh dear God, we've hit bottom!  Mitch McConnell (R)?  Harry Reid (D)?  The Mafia should study them to learn the fine art of real organized crime.

Which leaves President Barack Obama.   Sir, please explain it to me again, slowly....what exactly is our foreign policy?  If it's to get run over, then I give you a perfect 10.  You say we're involved in Syria in order to help send Assad packing.  So who's going to take his place?  One of those flea-bag rebel warlords we're supporting now?  You know they're just suckering you, right?  They don't give a rats ass about working with us.  In fact they hate us.  They'll still take our money, but they hate us.  Why can't they hate us on their dime?

And who do we have in the wings?  Donald Trump, entertainer extraordinaire.  Dr Ben Carson, has no chance.  Carly Fiorina, ditto.  Ted Cruz, pond scum.  And a bunch of others who have less than no chance.  Hillary, too many skeletons in the closet.  Bernie Sanders, even his supporters say he could never be elected.  

*crickets*

What the hell has happened to us?  Our potential is limitless, our people incredibly dynamic.  Our compassion (excluding the Freedom Party) comforting, our power to do good beyond the reach of anyone else in the world.  And we're squandering it.  DOH!

You know that revolution we haven't had in 239 years?  Don't look now, but....

S

Drum roll, please......

 You may now kiss my ring.

This is a momentous occasion in American history, according to the esteemed junior Senator from Texas.  That's because he, Ted Cruz, aka "Mister Modest", "Scuz"*, and "Teddy the Turd"** (hereinafter referred to in polite company as simply "TT"), has announced his candidacy for President of the United States of America.

On a social media message today he asked us to look at his record, proving he's the one-and-only true conservative that can lead us to the Promised Land.  He's not a poser, he says, but a true conservative's conservative.  Go ahead, look at his record.  See for yourself.  

In the interest of political enlightenment I have compiled here his complete two-year record of Congressional accomplishment:





There you have it.  So if you want more TT (and there's plenty more where this came from), your time has come.   Oh joy!

S

*    Late night talk show hosts, feel free to use this.
** Late night talk show hosts, feel free to use this.

This is gonna be fun!

As a bystander who views politicians with contempt, it's going be fun for me to watch as the Republican Party devours itself this election year.  *Chomp...Chomp!*

The Republican establishment has actually uttered out loud that they would "destroy the Tea Party", while Ted Cruz & Company still feel they have the upper hand and are challenging numerous old school Republicans at the primary level.

Umm....what's that expression?

Screw modesty.  I've gotta blow my own horn:  TOLD YA!

Extremists, at ether end of the political spectrum, are losers.  The Democrats had their crash and burn moment back in the 1980's, and now the Republicans are having theirs.  

After that earlier Democratic fiasco we had a period of relatively smooth (in retrospect) sailing.  Looks like it's again time to add a little chlorine to the gene pool.

The catalyst for this post?  Tea Party darling Sarah Palin has called fellow Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's proposed budget "the definition of insanity" and a "joke".  The brainiac of the Republican Party?  Insane?  Ouch!

Popcorn....I'm gonna need more popcorn.  :)

S