American Pork

Just the other day, a woman put Mitt Romney on the spot during a town hall meeting in Kalamazoo Michigan and demanded he take a stand on the abortion issue. His response: “We need people who recognize that pro-life is the way to go, and we’re getting more and more people joining our cause as time goes on. I’m a pro-life person, and I’ll be a pro-life president.”

Exactly what does this mean in real-life terms?

I hear it all the time: “Repeal Roe v Wade. Stop abortion now. We are a nation of baby killers.” Pro-lifers stand on their soap boxes and spew this kind of rhetoric time and time again, but not a one that I’ve heard, or heard of, or could find on the Internet, claims to have a solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancies.

A normal person would assume that Romney and Pro-lifers want things to go back to the way they were before Roe v Wade, when desperate women were forced into the hands of back alley butchers to get an abortion. Back to a time when both she and her doctor could be incarcerated for decades should it be discovered they’d aborted an unwanted pregnancy. Back to a time when women used coat hangers to do it to themselves.

Is this what Mitt Romney would have women do?

Abortion isn’t anything new. It goes back to Roman and Greek Empires where it was practiced freely. And the pros and cons have been debated ever since, by nearly every nation and every creed. In the United States, the death rate from illegal abortions created the need for anti-abortion laws to restrain women from subjecting themselves to a procedure that put their lives in such serious peril. Not to protect the fetuses, mind you, but to protect women from their own desperation.

What is the alternative to going backward in history? Should we force women to have unwanted children? Should we incarcerate and/or institutionalize these pregnant women to wait out the gestation period under state supervised medical care until the baby is born? Strip them of their rights as we strip any felon’s rights? Make them do things they don’t want to do?

Is this what Mitt Romney would have us do to our women, our teenage daughters?

And what about the unwanted children born into this system? Statistics range in the millions. According to the National Adoption Clearinghouse 500,000 people are waiting to adopt children. Should the state go into the business of adopting out babies, distributing babies? Or should the state set up a huge network of foster homes and orphanages? Who is going to pay for all this? We can’t even afford to educate the wanted and loved children we already have.

So then exactly what does Mitt Romney mean by his pro-life rhetoric? Remember, he was Pro-choice during his gubernatorial race in Massachusetts. Why the flip-flop now? Because he thinks he’ll get more votes from the pro-life movement than from the pro-choice people. He’s taking this stand for his own personal gain, not to protect unborn babies or women’s rights.

He’s a classic example of American Pork in action.

For those of you who want to know, here is a link to Roe v Wade, the actual rulings by the three judges. Don’t read the syllabus, read the words of the men who took on this debate and had nothing personal to gain by doing something about the problem of unwanted pregnancies. You’ll find no rhetoric here: Roe v Wade

I don’t know about you, but as an American, I am sick to death of hearing the Republican candidates and talk show hosts bash our President. Barack Obama was duly elected by the majority of the people, and he deserves the respect his office affords. He’s not to blame for the financial crisis, the housing market meltdown, the unemployment rate. He’s not to blame for the health care fiasco. He’s not America’s whipping post.

Everyone who points the finger at him and cries “Obamacare”, for example, doesn’t understand how the system works. Obama had a vision for this country, to eradicate the worst insurance company practices perpetrated against the American people. This is nothing new. Since the early 20th century, Presidents have been trying to reform our health care system, but they couldn’t get Congress to act against their most lucrative financial supporters. Obama did.

However, it was Congress who made health care reform into an 1100 page fiasco. I took the time to read it (well, most of it). Did you? Nearly every paragraph has references to ten other paragraphs; it’s next to impossible to follow. Congress convoluted health care so badly that everybody hates something about it, but guess who gets the bad rap for it:

Our President, Barack Obama.

This blame-game makes for great talk radio and debate fodder, to wit Glenn Beck. If it wasn’t for freedom of speech, this guy would be in prison for treason. He bashes the President. He bashes the country. He preaches our doom and how he’s been warning everyone for the past two years that the Obama administration is going to bring us to our knees. He sells a lot of books to people who will mosey up to his pig trough and gobble up the slop. Dan Caplis is another arm-chair politician who professes to know what’s best for this country. He calls our President “weak” and demeaning to the world. If he’s so damn smart, why doesn’t he run for President? Because he can make more money sitting behind a radio mike and bashing the man who has stepped up to take the whippings for health care, the bailouts, and the stimulus package that so horribly failed.

Was his stimulus package his failure? Congress passed the law to give us all some spending money. To get the economy going. I got my check. I spent it. Did anyone here send their check back to the government and tell them “no thanks?”

Congress, not Barack Obama, bailed out the banks and the auto makers. Of course they did. Big money begets big favors. He agreed to the bailouts because his advisors told him countless jobs would be saved. Countless retirement accounts would be salvaged. Mine was. Were the bailouts a failure? Not for me, but ask Beck. Ask Caplis. Ask the Republican presidential wannabes. They have the answer. The bailouts were a failure; blame it on Obama.

Congress is the pig in the room, folks. And we are the ones who put them there, so lay the blame where it belongs. Whip them and not our President. That’s American Pork.

Come on! “Do you feel the country is headed in the wrong direction?” What kind of question is that if not over-the-top sensationalism? It assumes that the country IS headed in the wrong direction, so when 75% of Americans answered yes, anyone with a shred of common sense should conclude the answer is subjective. An unemployed person’s vision of where the country is headed has to be different than an investment banker on Wall Street. A housewife, a single mom, a homeless drunk, a retiree, a factory worker, and an entrepreneur would all have different expectations from our government. Thus anything that works against those expectations would garnish a ‘yes’ answer and completely ignore the facts.

If you don’t want to buy health insurance and the government is going to force you to buy it, the country is headed in the wrong direction. If you are an investment banker and Congress is about to stick you with tougher regulations, the country is headed in the wrong direction. If you are a general in the army and you’re about to be pulled out of a combat zone, the country is headed in the wrong direction. If you’re a senior citizen listening to talk about cutting entitlements, the country is headed in the wrong direction.

The list of examples is endless, I’m sure, so this CBS Poll is actually meaningless. However, it gets one’s blood pressure up and the blame finger wagging. Never mind that seniors just got a 3.7% raise. Never mind that our troops are finally pulling out of Iraq. Never mind that Federal, State, and City governments are being forced to trim their budgets to operate within their means. Never mind that health insurance companies can’t deny you coverage anymore. Never mind that retail businesses are booming and consumers are spending more than ever. Never mind that the stock market has recovered more of its losses than experts predicted. This list of examples is endless, as well.

I’m fed up with Obama being blamed for everything that’s wrong in the eyes of the 75%. Fifty four percent of those polled said he doesn’t deserve to be President for another term. Never mind that he’s the only President who succeeded in any kind of health care reform. Never mind that he bailed out the banks and the auto industry and saved hundreds of thousands of jobs (and last I heard over 90% of that money has been paid back). Never mind that he got Osama bin Laden, Never mind that he’s ended the war in Iraq. And for everything the 54%ers say he’s failed to do, don’t forget he’s up against a Republican congress determined to undermine him at every turn in hopes of pissing off enough voters and regaining the White House in the next election.

So CBS, your poll is a joke. But worse, it’s a sham perpetrated on us for the sake of journalistic sensationalism. I’m sick and tired of all the whining. And for those doing all the whining (Occupy Wall Streeters included) move to another country so the rest of us don’t have to listen to it.

Oink Oink. And that’s American Pork.

On the eve of this country’s darkest financial hour, the Super Committee is no longer trying to reach a deal on the nation’s deficit. They are trying to decide how to tell the American people they have failed to come to an agreement. The sorry part about the whole fiasco is that the Super Committee was destined to fail from the start. And here’s why.

Any business that’s in financial trouble must do two things to recover. One: reduce expenses. Two: Increase revenues. This is business 101, folks. Anything less is certain bankruptcy. So as the United States attempts to solve its financial woes, it too must adhere to this strategy. Congress, having failed to reach an accord last summer, voted into law the Budget Control Act which setup a Super Committee of six Democrats and six Republicans. They had six months to find a way to trim 1.2 trillion dollars from the deficit over ten years. As the nation held its collective breath, what we didn’t know at the time was that the Republicans on that committee had signed a pledge not to raise taxes for any reason.

What “pledge”? It’s called the Taxpayers’ Protection Pledge, the brainchild of Grover G. Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. He is said to be the most powerful man in Washington.  Republicans running for office, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the President of the United States are forced to sign this pledge or suffer certain defeat at the poles. And if one should be so foolish to renege on the pledge they’d signed, the ATR would spend untold sums of money to inform that Republican politician’s constituents and get them voted out of office, essentially ruining his or her political career.

And here are the names of the Super Committee Republicans who sold out their country for their careers:

Jon Kyl – Arizona, Rob Prtman – Ohio, Pat Toomey – Pennsylvania, Jeb Hensarling – Texas, Fred Upton – Michigan, Dave Camp – Michigan

The entire list of shackled Republicans is here (PDF): http://tinyurl.com/7qxola8

So with their proverbial hands tied behind their backs, the Republicans entered into negotiations demanding cuts to Social Security and Medicare rather than risk their careers on any measure that would raise taxes. Mind you, the proposed increased taxes were not new taxes at all, but the monies recouped by simply allowing the Bush tax cuts on the rich to expire. Still, the Republicans held firm and demanded the Democrats approve a deal that would land the country’s debt on the backs of the elderly, the sick, and the poor. That’s not only unethical, it’s morally reprehensible.

So what’s next? Congress had included a measure in the Budget Control Act which stated that, should the Super Committee fail to reach an agreement, 10% cuts in spending across all government agencies would go into effect automatically… in January 2013, that is. In reality, Congress had simply given itself 13 months to rescind that measure, and guess what, folks, it’ll be business as usual in Washington.

Already I’ve heard my fellow Americans blaming Barack Obama for the Super Committee’s failure. Democrats blame the Republicans. Republicans blame the Democrats. But who is really to blame? Grover G. Norquist.  Here’s a link to pledge for Senators. (PDF) Read it and weep.

http://tinyurl.com/67aybgm  

How’s that for American Pork?

I’m worried that the Occupy Movement is doing more harm to this country than any good that could possibly come of it. It’s turning American against American, not just protesters against rich people, not just cops against protesters, but citizens against citizens.

Facebook is full of dissent: anti-government rhetoric, anti-establishmentarianism, pro lawlessness and pro civil unrest and disobedience. And for what? The rich shouldn’t be rich. The wealth of this country is in the hands of the few. Capitalism should be abolished for equal financial security for all… ah… as I recall, that’s been done before. It’s called Socialism. Its brother is Communism. If you don’t know what these government ideologies are, do some homework. http://www.diffen.com/difference/Communism_vs_Socialism 

Occupy protesters stand against social inequality. They offer no solutions (other than anarchy) and band together under the banner of free speech to break the law. For their efforts, they get clubbed and pepper sprayed and tossed in the slammer. As they well should be.

But wait. I must be wrong about that. At UC, Davis on Thursday, protesters erected tents on campus. They were told to take them down by 3:00 pm Friday or they would be removed by force. The protesters chose to defy the order. Police were called in. So protesters linked arms and blocked the sidewalk and grassy area to bar police from removing the tents. They were warned to disperse or they’d be forcibly removed and arrested. The vilified cop even paced back and forth in front of the seated protesters showing them the pepper spray canister he would use on them if they didn’t move. Still, they refused to comply.

What were the cops supposed to do? Say okay and go home? Kick back and have a beer (which I’m sure they’d rather have done). Hell no. They did their jobs. But to hear the outcry on Facebook and other blogs about police brutality and the end of free speech, the protesters become the martyrs. Not because they are martyrs (they’re criminals) … but because Americans are turning against Americans.

I’m not part of the 1%…far, far from it, but I’m also not part of the so-called 99%. I’m tired of these occupiers claiming to speak for me. They’ve hijacked the rest of us law-abiding Americans to tear down our country, raise hell in the streets, and make it look like the cops are at fault. Then an alarming number of fellow Americans sympathize with the protesters. I don’t understand how mob mentality can be tolerated. I hope I’m not the only one who feels this way. If so, it’s the beginning of the end of America.

And that’s the American Pork truth, as fat and dirty as it is.

People have asked me why I haven’t chimed in on the Penn State Sex Scandal. “Sex Scandal?” That couldn’t be further from the truth. This scandal isn’t about sex in any sense of the word most of us are familiar with. It’s about sexual assaults on boys that went unpunished in the name of football. The attitude that prevailed: there’d be no tarnishing Penn State’s shining star. Football brings a ton of money to the university, and if anyone knew that one of their coaches was a sexual predator, financial support for the team would suffer.

That said, it’s hard to find criticism with the apparent kneejerk reaction from university officials who fired Coach Paterno. He never assaulted anyone. Yet I have disdain for him, not because he didn’t call the police on Sandusky, not because he relayed McQueary’s observations to his bosses, Schultz and Curly, but because, after nothing came of the accusations, he continued to associate with Sandusky, even allowed him access to the university facilities, after knowing full well what the predator had done to a boy in the locker room back in 2002. That’s nearly ten years of silence from the head coach. It’s despicable. How could he even look Sandusky in the eye without vomiting? Paterno deserves to lose his job, deserves to be shamed, deserves his fall from grace because he put his job and the reputation of his football team above the welfare of a child.

 And so heads roll all the way to the top. What this boils down to is the old saying: “When you fly with crows, expect to get shot at.” Though they hadn’t participated in the crimes, Paterno, Curly, Shultz, and McQueary all conspired to protect the black raven of their flock, and now they are paying the price for their loyalty (and their cast-iron stomachs).  Did president Spanier deserve to get the axe, as well? It’s not hard to believe he knew what Sandusky had done, what he continued to do with immunity, and that the university had to keep a lid on it (cover up) or lose a ton of money. Spanier had to have known, and if he didn’t, he should have. These crimes against kids happened on his watch.

That’s American Pork, my fellow football fans. It doesn’t get any sicker than this. Or does it?

Tied neck-n-neck with Mitt Romney in the polls as the Republican Party’s nominee to run against Barack Obama, Herman Cain is in for the fight of his life. Not a political battle over the problems this nation faces, not a battle at the voting booths over who is better to lead this country out of economic ruin… not in a debate over issues of grave concern to us all… but a battle in defense of his character.

Along come these anonymous women with unspecified claims of sexual improprieties by Herman Cain while he was head of the restaurant organization. Cain says these accusations are groundless and refuses to waste his time talking about them. So enter Sharon Bialek, a single mom with details of her encounter with Herman Cain 14 years ago. She wants him to come clean and admit his sexual improprieties. Just like that. Amazing how that happened: he won’t talk, she makes it impossible for him NOT to talk.

I don’t believe a word she has to say. Why?

She doesn’t come to the microphone looking like a victimized single mom. No, this woman is primped and primed for the camera, complete with glossy lipstick and studious glasses. I believe she came to tell her story looking like a hottie on purpose, to demonstrate that she is attractive to men. How could her story not be true? Cain could not have resisted such a looker, who by the way came to him for a job which she didn’t get. Smell a little revenge skunk in the sugar mill?

And worse, she read her account from a piece of paper. One with any common sense would know that if that alleged “sexual impropriety” actually took place, she wouldn’t have to read it to us. She’d have known the story by heart, engraved in her memory, and told it in a confident and smooth voice. Instead, she constantly referred to her paper and stuttered out the words, her voice cracking with deceit. It’s hard to remember a lie, folks, and she’s a lousy actress.

And the details of Cain’s “sexual impropriety” sounded as clumsy as a high school boy on prom night. Her alleged response to his hand going up her dress: “You know I have a boyfriend.” So…if she didn’t have a boyfriend would his advances been okay? And his response to her: “You want a job, don’t you?” Doesn’t get more clichéd than that. Remember, Cain had no history of attacking women. Only when he became popular in the poles did these claims come out of the woodwork.

And on Bialek’s left stood the high profile lawyer Gloria Allred, all serious and pompous looking. Somebody explain to me how a single mom can afford the likes of her. Somebody is paying her fee. I’ve read speculation that it’s the Obama camp. I think not. In this stage of the campaign, Cain is no threat to Obama or the Democratic Party. However, Cain is a threat to Romney and Perry. He may even be a threat to the Republican Party. He’s getting too popular. Those who want him discredited cannot beat him on his record or his ideals or on his vision to lead this country, so they go after his character. All they have to do is use the media to place a seed of doubt in the voters’ minds and Cain is history.

The tactic worked to derail Gary Hart’s bid for the presidency in 1988 and damn near canned Clarence Thomas’ 1991 Senate confirmation to the Supreme Court. Again, someone has reached into their bag of dirty tricks, and I believe their intensions are to keep another black man out of the White House. What do you bet?

This isn’t just American Pork, my friends. It’s lower than swine poop in the pigsty!

What did I tell you this “occupy” movement would come to? Rioting in the streets. And here you have it happening all around our country. The 99%ers are breaking the laws of our land. They’re setting fires and looting. Damaging property.  Attacking the police. The protesters have gone from sympathetic to pathetic. They are criminals and should be dealt with accordingly.

And when the authorities go in to restore the peace, the protesters have the nerve to think of themselves as victims in all this. What do they expect the rest of us to do? Let them have their way just because most of us agree with what they are protesting against. WE (“we” being the lawful people of our country) hire the police to protect us from lawlessness. We don’t want them to stand back and let these lawbreakers wreak havoc in our cities. Put up tent encampments in our parks. Clog our sidewalks. Stop traffic and blockade our ports. We want to live in peace. And if it takes tear gas and rubber bullets to send the criminals packing…then so be it.

The more these protesters force the police and our government to protect our American way of life, the closer they push our country to the brink of tyranny. Look at what happened in Libya. The people rose up against their government. Kaddafi was forced to fight back to protect his country. Sure he was a dictator… but not unlike the “corporate greed” these Occupy Wall Streeters have vilified. Now the Libyans’ country is in ruins. They have to start over with a new government and a new way of life. But they are free now…you say. NO THEY ARE NOT. Like Egypt after ousting Mubarak, they are now under military rule, and military rule has never ended well for anyone.

Is that what these protesters want America to become? A crumbled nation? Do they want a bloody civil war? Military rule? Because they believe they haven’t been given their fair share of the wealth? How pathetic is that?

It goes beyond American Pork, my friends. Way beyond common sense.