Keeping America Safe

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday September 10, 2011 · 8:06 AM PDT

2011/09/10 · 08:06

On the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the current terror threat and precautions is yet another reminder (and reason) for a discussion about “keeping America safe”. The hundreds of billions of dollars spent on wars of aggression, and the tens of billions of dollars lost to fraud and waste in Iraq and Afghanistan - even tens of millions supposedly going directly to the Taliban and other insurgent groups - are more evidence of how our reaction to 9/11 not only failed to keep us safer but wasted precious resources that could be used to actually keep this country safe.

Republicans (and now a growing number of Democrats) in Congress – both now and over the past decade – are/were more concerned with writing blank checks for billions of dollars, not just putting this country at further risk, but ignore the real things that put American lives at risk and fail to keep us safe on a day to day basis. The threat of attack is nothing new – it goes back at least to the 1950s, where students had drills to hide under their desks and more recently in the 1980s with the Cold War.

But as a tremendously disproportionate amount of a dwindling pool of tax dollars is spent and wasted on “keeping America safe™” from a theoretical threat that is far less likely than, say, a plane crash, things are crumbling here at home while being ignored. Consider the following, just to name a few examples:

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday September 07, 2011 · 6:59 AM PDT

2011/09/07 · 06:59

(also in Blue)

*****

Ironically but not surprisingly, Sarah Palin and a good number of those on the right like to address their crowds, who have increasingly been playing dress-up as “patriots” (and not in the Tom Brady kind of way), as “Real Americans™”. They talk about “the tree of liberty”, “patriotism” and any number of cherry picked or out-of-context quotes from the Founding Fathers or the Bible. Yet when it comes to actions, what we see from her, Scott Garrett, Chris Christie, Eric Cantor, many on the right (and a growing number on the “left” as well) is just the opposite of what a “real American” is.

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday June 08, 2011 · 11:57 AM PDT

2011/06/08 · 11:57

Cross posted at/from Blue Jersey

********

As noted recently at Blue Jersey, the lead Iowa Republican funder who Governor Christie met with during “CopterGate” was Koch business partner Bruce Rastetter. There is a very interesting history between Rastetter, the Koch brothers, their business interests and Chris Christie – and given Christie’s history of rewarding his cronies with lucrative contracts, this more than bears watching closely.

Let’s connect some very big dots.

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday June 05, 2011 · 12:09 PM PDT

2011/06/05 · 12:09

For those of you not following the latest abuse of office by Republican ~~blowhard~~ "rising star" Chris Christie, you can read a lot here about his use of a state police helicopter to go from a meeting with Iowa Republican donors to his son's baseball game and back, not to mention a limo for the 300 feet from the helicopter to the baseball field - and then blaming everyone else. "CopterGate" has been a big deal because of the facade that Governor Christie has crafted which defines why he is so beloved by the fake hypocrites on the right.

********

Not that any of this is shocking to those of us who have seen his actions and heard his words up close since his Wall Street brother bought him his job as Bush US Attorney with hundreds of thousands in donations to Bush and the Republican Party in 2000.

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday March 02, 2011 · 6:50 AM PST

2011/03/02 · 06:50

I put “privatization” in quotes because it is really corporatization, and quite frankly is a much better term for the further theft of taxpayer dollars for the well connected corporate class.

The arguments that the right and the pro-corporate/”free market” crowd make are in direct conflict with the entire rationale for ~~privatization~~ corporatization of public services – regardless of whether it is the school system, toll collecting, motor vehicle inspection (all of which have been done/proposed in New Jersey), or taking it a step further, the fire department. It goes something like this:

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

Maybe you shouldn’t have supported trillions in unfunded wars

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 28, 2011 · 11:32 AM PST

2011/02/28 · 11:32

What “the great deficit debate” really boils down to is one thing: priorities.

Deficits weren’t a priority when nearly all Republicans and a good number of Democrats voted for the ill conceived and ill advised invasions and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq close to a decade ago. They weren’t a priority when tens, if not hundreds of billions went to waste or were just “lost” in Iraq – not knowing if they ended up in the hands of those who were the stated enemy. They weren’t a priority when billions of no-bid contracts were handed out like candy, with no accounting.

There were some in Congress, including my Representative, Scott Garrett, who weren’t yet elected when the first vote was taken to start the folly in Iraq. However, he, and his ilk have been present for all or most of the subsequent economy killing votes to continue funding these disasters with our children’s, grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s money. There wasn’t even a hesitation on most of this – even with the very basic premise that cutting taxes in conjunction with a war is unheard of and pretty much unprecedented.

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

A blueprint for economic disaster

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 24, 2011 · 7:01 AM PST

2011/02/24 · 07:01

Make no mistake – the demonization of public workers is just the latest in a long series of distractions by the right wing and economic elite as they pick the pockets of the “other 95% of Americans”. This coordinated approach is nothing new, but the agenda of wealth theft is taking on a new form – and is being replicated around the country on a state and federal level.

Anyone following the developments in Wisconsin knows that this is a result of a falsely created budget deficit and an excuse to eliminate the freedom to contract by public workers – something that has absolutely no impact on the current budget. Indiana is going through a similar assault on public employees with legislation targeting collective bargaining. And no sooner was Andrew Cuomo elected as Governor in New York that he attached public workers.

Right here in New Jersey – a state whose public schools are consistently in the very top tier of the country, Governor Christie has attacked and demonized teachers unions, skipped out on the state’s pension plan payment in order to “balance” his budget last year, while cutting taxes for those earning over $400,000 and costing the state $1 billion in revenue. Most ironically here, Christie talked about “two classes of citizens” but instead of talking about those who can afford such things as heat, food and medicine all at the same time and those who can’t, he focused on health and pension benefits. Even more ironic is that these are the same people who either don’t think anyone should have “rich health benefits” or that you should only have if you can afford to pay for them. On top of this, while Christie is being hailed by those who don’t know any better, he too is looking to raise the estate tax exemption in NJ and give more tax breaks to the wealthy.

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

Setting the record straight on the social security tax holiday

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 07, 2010 · 7:17 AM PST

2010/12/07 · 07:17

Those who have read my writings know two things: (1) employment tax is my area of expertise and (2) I am no big fan of this Administration. And while I find a number of things very disturbing about the potential tax deal reached between Obama and Republican leadership, this diary currently on the recommended list (by a diarist that I both like and respect) has a false conclusion which should be clarified.

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 15, 2010 · 8:05 AM PST

2010/11/15 · 08:05

As many of you know, NJ Governor Chris Christie is one of the "new darlings of the right" and was campaigning for other candidates around the country, yukking it up with David Gregory on ~~Press the Meat~~, Meet the Press and hightening his profile. But this man is a joke - a charlatan - to anyone that even takes the slightest notice of his pattern of behavior.

***************

When Chris Christie first ran for Freeholder and was sued for defamation, it wasn’t his fault and he did nothing wrong.

When Chris Christie went from "not a candidate for US Attorney" to being appointed US Attorney after he was directly responsible for raising hundreds of thousands (and his brother donates hundreds of thousands) for Bush, the donations had nothing to do with it.

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 19, 2010 · 7:43 AM PDT

2010/10/19 · 07:43

There has (rightfully) been a major focus on the fallout of Citizen’s United and the impact on foreign government/corporate cash being funneled into buying attack ads and influencing elections. One other thing that I haven’t seen brought up as much as it relates to the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars being shelled out for political ads, and really hits the message home:

Instead of spending millions and millions on Republican political attack ads, why aren’t these corporations using the money to hire more workers?

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday August 28, 2010 · 11:51 AM PDT

2010/08/28 · 11:51

and yet somehow, it is a formidable army.

"Barack Obama is racist". "Barter chickens for healthcare". "I read all of the newspapers that are put in front of me." "I can see Russia from my house" (ok, fine that one wasn't her exact quote, but still). "Terrorist anchor babies". Birthers. Railing against high taxes when 95% of Americans received a tax cut - the biggest middle class tax cut in history. "Barack the magic..." well, never mind. An American where "freedom" means that you love the country so much that your spouse can join a separatist political party as you talk about how great this country is. Conspiracy theories about ACORN, about unions, about "big government", except when it was a few years ago and it was in the name of "freedom". And of course, "death panels".

I really could go on and on and on.

clammyc

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday August 27, 2010 · 6:24 PM PDT

2010/08/27 · 18:24

So criticism is not allowed - I remember, it was "almost a treason" to dare dissent here.

So now, once again, us silly dirty activists should shut our pieholes and marvel at all of the wonderful things that have been done.

Am I at 300 words yet? no? ok.

Newer
Older

RSS

Keeping America Safe

Real Americans and Fake Patriots

NJ's RGGI Pullout: the Latest Christie-Koch Wink-Nod?

Gov. Christie is the "bloodsucking public employee" he loves to hate

The basic fallacy of "privatization"

Maybe you shouldn’t have supported trillions in unfunded wars

A blueprint for economic disaster

Setting the record straight on the social security tax holiday

NJ-Gov: Chris Christie has lost the benefit of the doubt

How many jobs could corporate ad spending pay for?

An army of stupid

oooh, pretty pics and feel good slogans.