Saturday, August 28, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Political Party Loyalty

The primaries are over and it now comes down to voting for candidates based on beliefs and party affiliation. The Lector dredged this up and dusted it off for consumption prior to the general election of 2010.

I do not know what happened to me, but...

OK, I had this politically epiphanal moment while driving recently. There was this realization that I have been all wrong in my lifetime condemnation of the Republican Party. My family and the state of the world warped me into looking at life only from the viewpoint of a Democrat.

It is not about the party. It is about the viewpoint of the candidate. My new mantra is... Vote for the candidate that fits your values not the party. I was just a blind follower of a political dogma that has become passé. R & D / liberal and conservative do not have the meaning they once did.

Here are the top ten political traits that I will seek in a candidate. I will assume that this person is not dedicated to the destruction of government by finding ways to disallow the provision of vital services by asserting that paying for those services through taxes is Un-American.

1. Must be willing to let a woman decide her own reproductive destiny;
2. Must be willing to separate church and state;
3. Must support the First Amendment;
4. Must appreciate the role of the working person and the value of collective bargaining to society;
5. Must have more concern for persons of color than how cheaply they will work;
6. Must be willing to provide some meaningful oversight to business and industry;
7. Must be willing to attempt to remove us from the strangle hold of the fossil fuel industry;
8. Must be willing to seek peace in a way that does not presume total annihilation of anyone who disagrees with the USA.
9. Must have enough intellect to be willing to accept the reality of evolution;
10. Must believe that the environment is more than an outhouse for humanity and a playground for development.

Should such a person exist who is registered as a Republican, I may vote for that person.

I am not worried about ruining my prior record of never having voted for a republican. I guess I set my standards too high.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?
Wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes

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Caveat Lectores on Inexperienced Politicians and Insanity

Today’s Caveat Lectores Rant is specific to Florida, but I am willing to bet it applies in the other 49 states as well. If it does not apply to your state, please let me know so I can start plans for the move.

We have heard this before. It seems when some of the public becomes disenchanted with the current political climate, the cry is… “Throw the bums out!” The Lector could not agree more when I look at many of the current crop of incompetents and easily corruptible nincompoops who for some reason want to devote their professional lives to harming the best interests of me and the general public. BTW, not all are rePuPlicans. The Democraps are fully capable of some, though not all, of the insanity that comes from the heart and soul of a right wingnut.

While I am just as frustrated with the political climate and incredibly poor policy-making as anyone else, the anti-incumbent mantra has some real problems as does the notion that term limits is the answer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a “career politician” unless that person is also incompetent and/or corrupt. Yet, this is the disparaging tag many are placing on incumbents as if experience is a bad thing. WTF is in their minds if there is anything at all?

Term limits are not the answer because it makes sure that inexperienced people will run government. Inexperienced people end up relying too heavily on cronies, staff and lobbyists for background to make good decisions. The very notion that someone who is incompetent can make sound policy decisions is insane. Who is at fault if the public keeps voting for the same bad candidates over and over again? Throwing the good elected officials out of office to get rid of the bad ones makes no sense. Term limits are fundamentally wrong because it is telling me who I cannot vote into office. It may not be unconstitutional but it is wide of the mark.

The notion that only inexperienced people with business backgrounds and no public policy experience will automatically be effective is naïve insanity. As soon as the neophytes assume office they become incumbents. If these people get elected and run government like so many businesses are run, we will go bankrupt for sure. If we start running government like GM, the financial industry or the textile industry, the country will implode in less than a generation.

In Florida, we have two candidates running for governor who, once we look at them, have “issues.” (There is a third candidate who does not count unless he decides to stay in the race and hurts Alex Sink.)

• My personal favorite is Alex Sink. She is a Democrat, competent and experienced. Her brief tenure as an elected official as the CFO of Florida does not qualify her as a “career politician.” She is from my home state of North Carolina which could be a negative since we both apparently are exiled in Florida. Her prior professional career was former president of Florida Operations at Bank of America. This has some baggage attached. Yes, she has vast experience in business, but it is an industry that I have lost all respect for because of the current mortgage fraud crisis that has threatened out economy. Was she a part of the problem or just incompetently ignorant of what was occurring? Even with her possible negatives, she is clean and energetic, rich but not too rich to take her daughter to a movie on a Saturday afternoon recently (I saw them), bright but not a nerd, shrewd but not a thief like some. We must not let the fact that she is not a dynamic public speaker get in the way of electing her. (She speaks with a NC harsh southern accent when she is excited)

• Rick Scott is the right wingnut rePuPlican candidate who came from nowhere and beat a career screw up by using his own money to buy the election. He touts his incompetence as a politician. He has promised to do everything in his power as governor to wipe out government, reduce service, lower taxes and annihilate that pesky government regulation that gets in the way of unlimited profit for corporations. That will make him the darling of right wingnuts, tea baggers, real estate developers, regulated corporations and anyone else looking for short term profit-making utopia. He is rich beyond imagination because of a career in an industry so dysfunctional and sometimes corrupt that it has condemned America to being nearly third world-like in its provision of healthcare. Scott was the CEO of a healthcare company that pleaded guilty to too many fraudulent practices charges to list here. “Scott was forced to resign in the wake of the initial fraud charges in 1997. ” http://www.forbes.com/2000/12/15/1215disaster.html His modern day political defense is that he was never personally charged with fraud. “He was the fucking boss. The question becomes. Was he a knowing conspirator with criminal culpability or an unknowing dupe with serious problems with his ethical accountability? Is he an unindicted criminal or an unsuspecting incompetent? Either way, he has problems that should disallow him from being elected to the highest position in Florida government …. Sure, he can run but surely no one would trust his ability to make good decisions. ” http://wjcarnes-caveatlectores.blogspot.com/2010/08/caveat-lectores-on-convenient-truths.html

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes

7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Caveat Lectores on a Lesson from Martin Niemöller

I was having a productive day at my desk without serious interruption when it came time for lunch, and I made the mistake of going to Facebook. The first item on the list was an opinion piece by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC entitled: There is No “Ground Zero Mosque”. Naturally, I clicked on the hyperlink.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/38731398#38731398
The editorial comment was long and after watching the entire piece, I found myself in tears. I have made some comment on the Mosque issue but have been timid because public sentiment has been so seemingly overwhelmingly against the Muslim Cultural Center near the site of the 9/11 disaster. Many of my friends and clients are firefighters who have a very strong sentiment about the lives of brother and sister public safety personnel lost to terrorists that day. It is a sentiment I share with them.

The tears were from shame because I had failed to remember the saying I kept on my refrigerator door all through law school that was to serve as a reminder of why I left the fire service to become an attorney dedicated to the causes of working people and organized labor.

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

I encourage you to click on the hyperlink and reflect on what is occurring. For some of you, this is just Keith and Jeff preaching to the choir. For others there may be a lesson that is worth learning. A few of you may be so far gone nothing can help you. Maybe your God will forgive you. Such is life.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
Read at your own risk.

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Although he (Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984)) was a national conservative and initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler,[2] he became one of the founders of the Confessing Church, which opposed the nazification of German Protestant churches. He vehemently opposed the Nazis' Aryan Paragraph,[3] but made remarks about Jews that some scholars have called antisemitic.[4] For his opposition to the Nazis' state control of the churches, Niemöller was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945.[5][6] He narrowly escaped execution and survived imprisonment.[7] After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.[3] He turned away from his earlier nationalistic beliefs and was one of the initiators of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt.[3] From the 1950s on, he was a vocal pacifist and anti-war activist,[7] and vice-chair of War Resisters' International from 1966 to 1972.[8] He met with Ho Chi Minh during the Vietnam War and was a committed campaigner for nuclear disarmament.[7] (Wikipedia, of course)


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Public Pension Reform

Waaa, Waaa, Waaa! That is what I expect to hear soon from multitudes of firefighters, police officers, teachers and even more general public sector employees AND retirees who are about to be F*CKED out of all or part of their pensions. Never mind lack of pay raises or pay cuts. All that you have worked for is at risk. Wake the fuck up! Numbnutz!

I told you so will mean nothing to me in the way of a warm fuzzy feeling. I hate being right. Check these websites out for more doses of what I have been announcing to a deaf audience.

States Test Whether Public Pension Benefits Given Can Be Taken Away
Caveat Lectores on Strange Days in Oz
Caveat Lectores on Glenn Beck and Pensions for Public Employees
Caveat Lectores on S. 3194: Lies and Deception
Caveat Lectores on Underfunded Pensions

What this is all about is that state and local governments are looking for ways to save money. Public employee’s wallets are a convenient source of savings. Pensions, chronically underfunded in the past, are even more expensive today and only reward deeds of the past. Existing pensioners and future pension benefits cost money, and those receiving them provide no benefit to the employer. The mantra is…”So what have you done for me lately?”

Private sector pensions that were once part of the American dream have been destroyed along with much of the organized labor movement that negotiated them into the terms and conditions of employment we call a collective bargaining agreement. “Right to work” and “employment at will” are not your buddy.

The public sector worker is now being demonized and made a scapegoat by the right wingnut conservative politicians and media mavens. Is it just a matter of taking the punishment or can public sector workers do something about it? You had better hope you can do something about it, or accept that your financial future will be raped into oblivion.

What can YOU do to help stop the right wingnuts from raping you? Stop supporting them dumbass! That would do for a start. All the labor lawyers in the world cannot undo what you do when you vote for or support the people who will vote to end your dream if given the chance.

God, Guns and Gays seem to be the important topics of the far right wingnuts and tea baggers. Add reproductive rights to the mix and they have enough single issue hot button topics to fulfill the complete rePuPlican distraction. With the 3-Gs, rePuPs can stir up the concerns of the religious zealots, xenophobes, hyper-paranoids, racists, homophobes and pseudo-patriots all at once and get them so riled up they will support a faction that will target their careers and life styles for destruction. Real rePuPlican values only concern maintaining wealth in the hands of the few who deserve it, the wealthy. They do not give a crap about the 3-Gs.

By making fun of the tea baggers, right wingnut rePuPlicans and the 3-Gs, I recognize I am stepping on some working class toes here, but I would stomp on them if I could. I want to make some public employees so angry they will stop drinking the right wingnut Kool-aid long enough to really look at what real American values are.

Real American values are about more than 3-G topics and wealth for the wealthy. The right wing conservative leaders of the rePuPlican Party have co-opted the term so that it means little except an attack on anyone who does not claim to be a right wing conservative. This has become a spectacle of “you are with us or you are not a true American.” That is Bullshit!

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION THAT WILL SAVE YOUR JOB AND PENSION?

• If you belong to a union, get involved in a hurry to try to make up for lost ground. Demand the leadership give you a job to help in the fight. The IAFF, PBA, FOP, IUPA, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, ATU and the other large unions know what is happening. Some are failing less than others in the war to save your future. They need your help. The dirty war has just begun. It is not too late.
• You and your union may have to decide whether to fight an all or nothing battle or to try and mitigate the damage by negotiating away some of the hard fought benefits you now have. This will not be easy and there is not a one size fits all answer.
• If you do not belong to a union, you are pretty much out of luck unless there is some sort of organization that can mobilize to build public support for public employees and lobby the politicos to try to curtail the slaughter. You may have to just stand by and hope a union brother or sister saves your ass. Some of you do not have collective bargaining rights, but you can organize in other ways for political purposes.
• Get off your lazy butt and fat wallet and support candidates who have not dedicated their political careers to destroying government and those who serve in it. Many but not all are Democrats.
• Understand that there are real funding problems in state and local government. This is not just something made up to screw with you, but the right wingnuts are trying to use it as an excuse to destroy government.

Public employees can make a difference if they choose to get involved. If the choice is to watch from the sidelines as the players in the game destroy their futures, they will deserve what they get.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
Read at your own risk.

Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
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Monday, August 16, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Why I Miss George Bush?

Jeez, I thought I would never say something so awful and I did not, but Michael Cohen wrote an opinion piece that laments the Christian moderation of the Bush man. He has some good points to make that the right wingnuts should consider.

http://www.aolnews.com/opinion/article/opinion-why-i-miss-george-bush/19594365

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
Read at your own risk.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Muslim Churches

I am having a hard time getting excited about the controversy over a Muslim church two blocks from the place where the World Trade Center used to be.

• Yes, I know 19 terrorists combined with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to affect jihad against the American people for occupying some Middle Eastern countries, supporting Israel and draining the natural resources from the region.
• Yes, I know about 3000 people died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in the Pennsylvania country side that day. Many were firefighters and police officers. Most were dis-involved enough with Middle Eastern affairs to be called totally innocent.
• Yes, I know the US declared war on terror and attacked Iraq to displace Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with the whole thing.
• Yes, I know that the site is now called “hallowed ground.”
• Yes, I know the US Constitution calls for religious freedom and restricts the government from getting mixed up in matters such as where a privately operated church can locate on private property.
• Yes, I can understand why the federal government is being cautious about getting involved.
• Yes, I am annoyed that yet another church is going to take valuable real estate off the tax rolls requiring private citizens like me who may not belong to that church to subsidize its existence.
• No, I cannot understand why ignorant people are calling the President a Muslim because he will not advocate breaking the law. (Maybe, in this one isolated instance, we could ignore the law to screw with some “ragheads.” What’s the harm?)
• No, I do not lump all Middle Easterners into the Islamic jihad mode.
• No, I have no more or less respect for Islam than Christianity, Judaism or Druidism.
• No, I do not care where Muslims decide to pray or how often or in which direction.

Yes, I am immediately fearful of anyone, other than possibly a preacher, priest, rabbi or maula who identifies himself by his religious affiliation. Whenever I encounter someone who wants me to know their religious beliefs as a part of their identity, I become cautious and make sure my wallet is firmly protected along with my religious freedom. I begin to worry about what this person will take from me because he or she will claim their God or Allah advised them it was OK. Experience has been a cruel teacher to millions victimized by someone claiming they were doing something vile in the name of a deity.

Is all this hubbub really motivated by respect for the dead or bigoted hated for the living?

BOHICA

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes

7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
Read at your own risk.
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Caveat Lectores on Convenient Truths and Revisionist History

I am working on a rant about the current demonizing of public employees. It is requiring some research and cooling down periods to avoid a total meltdown and blood pouring from my eyes. Today’s rant is on another subject.

The Lector had a conversation with a valued and trusted friend recently that concerned me greatly. This person is a very persuasive lobbyist with whom I do not always agree because she is required to adopt the political viewpoint of whoever pays the price, but I have never considered her delusional or susceptible to the bullshit that saturates the political marketplace.

The whole exchange occurred at a recent party where my friend was lamenting on the rePuPlican candidates for Florida governor. One is an outsider tainted by allegations of fraud both in the past and more recently. The other is a political insider for whom I have nothing good to say. We were in agreement that if required to vote neither of us could vote for the insider who looks and acts like Howdy Doody.

We parted company when she began to extol the virtues of the other loser. When I reminded her of his past involvement with the largest Medicare fraud settlement in U. S. history, she discounted any culpability he may have had and blamed the scandal on the government in a way that I still cannot fathom. Essentially, the argument was that the government is incompetent to avoid such fraud and any billing discrepancies were not the fault of the healthcare provider; therefore, her candidate is/was without culpability. WTF… over.

Here is an article from Forbes Magazine that predates the current political conversation. http://www.forbes.com/2000/12/15/1215disaster.html
I give it some credibility because of the source and the fact that is does predate the candidate’s entry into politics by 10 years.

Yes, all history is revisionist history. However, her candidate’s company admitted to all kinds of illegality. Such as:

The company admitted to systematically overcharging the government by claiming marketing costs as reimbursable, by striking illegal deals with home care agencies, and by filing false data about how hospital space was being used.

The company increased Medicare billings by exaggerating the seriousness of the illnesses they were treating. It also granted doctors partnerships in company hospitals as a kickback for the doctors referring patients to HCA. In addition, it gave doctors "loans" that were never expected to be paid back, free rent, free office furniture, and free drugs from hospital pharmacies.

He was the fucking boss. The question becomes. Was he a knowing conspirator with criminal culpability or an unknowing dupe with serious problems with his ethical accountability? Is he an unindicted criminal or an unsuspecting incompetent?

Either way, he has problems that should disallow him from being elected to the highest position in Florida government and trying to blame the government for the fraud is insanity that only politics can spawn. Sure, he can run but surely no one would trust his ability to make good decisions.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
Read at your own risk.

Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Birthdays

Today is mine and I am taking the day off.

wjc

And do have a nice Day?

a

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Caveat Lectores on John Keane and Being Fair

Guest column: Be Fair to Public Employees

Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/letters-readers/2010-08-09/story/guest-column-be-fair-public-employees

Myths, legends, reinforced messages and the negative images of public employees devised by public relations campaigns are hard to erase once they have been firmly planted in the minds of individuals.

We are painfully aware of this fact as we witness the unfolding local drama and campaign to demonize public employees in the media.

This campaign to demonize public employees is a theme advanced nationally by some politicians and the media as state and local governments grapple with declining tax revenues resulting from a severe and prolonged economic recession.

The success of such campaigns will allow politicians to balance the budgets on the backs of public employees.

One of the most common themes that are embraced by the camp seeking to demonize public employees is the notion that the benefit structure of public employees is overly generous and in need of reform.

Recognizing the emergence of a national campaign to advance this message in the minds of the public, the National Institute on Retirement Security decided to undertake a comprehensive study of public vs. private compensation.

The findings of this study would be very valuable from a public policy perspective in conclusively determining if the assertions of overly generous compensation for public employees were true or merely a myth devised as a tool by those seeking to advance their own policies and programs.

The report on this important subject was published by the Institute in April.
It found that local government workers earn 12 percent less than comparable private sector employees and that the pay gap has considerably widened in recent years.

The institute then considered the impact from the generally better employee benefit programs (such as health insurance and pensions) that are historically granted to public employees and found that the consideration of these factors in analyzing total compensation somewhat narrowed the advantage enjoyed by private-sector employees to 7.4 percent over the total compensation package to local government employees.

The study also found that jobs in the public sector typically require more education and unique special training than private sector positions, and that state and local employees are twice as likely to hold an undergraduate degree (48 percent public vs. 23 percent private).

Accordingly, the recently published study by the National Institute for Retirement Security represents another inconvenient truth for those wishing to pursue their campaign to demonize public employees.

John Keane is executive director-administrator of Jacksonville's police and fire pension fund.

There is nothing for me to say that would make this any truer. Now carry on.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
Read at your own risk.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Things that Piss Me Off

Here are a couple of things including, but not limited to, the following, which piss me off:

Wing Nuts (left and right), Tea Baggers, Right Wing Conservatives, Ku Klux Klan, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Moral Majority, Dixiecrats, Racists, Sexists, feminists, Gay Baiters, Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, McCarthyism, Fascism, Marxism, Communism, Socialism, Fundamentalists, Neo-Cons, Supply Side Economics, Trickledown Economics, Social Conservatism, Contract With America, Kirk's Six Canons Of Conservatism: A Belief In A Transcendent Order, Which Kirk Described Variously As Based In Tradition, Divine Revelation, Or Natural Law; An Affection For The "Variety And Mystery" Of Human Existence; A Conviction That Society Requires Orders And Classes That Emphasize "Natural" Distinctions; A Belief That Property And Freedom Are Closely Linked; A Faith In Custom, Convention, And Prescription, And A Recognition That Innovation Must Be Tied To Existing Traditions And Customs. Creationism, Anyone Named Jeb Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Peroutka, Jim Quinn, Dennis Miller, Ben Ferguson, Lars Larson, Sean Hannity, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingraham, Mike Church, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Larry Elder, Kim Peterson, Neal Boortz, Michael Reagan, Jason Lewis And Ken Hamblin, Former Immigrants Who Have Forgotten Where They Came From, Former Immigrants Who Cannot Leave Behind Where They Came From, John Burch Society, Compassionate Conservatism, Common Sense Conservative, Conservative Talk, Constitution Party, Neo-conservatism, New Right, Old Right, Reactionary, Reagan Doctrine, Tea Party Movement, Traditionalist Conservatism, United States Republican Party, RPOF, Neoconservatism And Paleoconservatism, American Enterprise Institute, The American Spectator , Cato Institute, Chronicles Magazine, City Journal, First Things, Freedom Works, Humanitas, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Leadership Institute, Modern Age, National Review Policy Review, Project For A New American Century, The American Conservative, The Heritage Foundation, The Weekly Standard, Townhall.Com, Florida League of Cities, War, Hawks and Doves.

Let’s not forget that I really get pissed off at people who think that they are the only ones who work for a living.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes

7312 Readers in 498 Cities, 46 States and 22 Countries
Read at your own risk.
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Caveat Lectores on Strange Days in Oz

There is a bizarre faction gaining form and focus in America politics right now that is brilliant in its concept but troubling in its direction. This movement wants to destroy government, and it is attacking the people who provide the services by demonizing them.

The saving grace may be that they are so disorganized. They are so diverse they have not been able to effectively organize, so far. They are not anarchists but do want to make sure they are affected as little as possible by government which might tend to get in the way of their ultimate goal which is money. Government reduces the potential profit a corporation can make when it regulates the way the corporation must operate and then further reduces the available profit further by requiring taxes to pay for services provided to all. This ain’t rocket science.

Corporations and business exists for only one reason and that is to make money. This is not evil. How do I know? I own businesses and stock in other businesses. The idea that a business exists solely to provide goods and services is naïve. The very idea that a business exists to provide jobs to a community is naïve beyond belief. Business provides goods and services that meet the needs of its customers so it can make a profit. Let’s keep the horse and the cart in the proper order.

Yes, I like to Rant and Rave about all kinds of things, but Caveat Lectores has making a profit as a goal. Otherwise, I could be drinking a Sunday afternoon beer right now and watching NASCAR. The services Caveat Lectores and Lectores Labor Consulting provide to its targeted market are designed to meet a need and hopefully provide profit to me. Yes, I believe my rants serve a worthwhile purpose, and I believe in what they contain. However, if I am spending all this time just getting things off my chest for the good of the order without receiving a little vig, I am what we call an extremist and need to spend some couch time with a shrink. (So far, we have made $7.41 from Google ads which are mostly anti worker garbage. Each click costs somebody money and makes a little for Caveat Lectores but please do not get me kicked off by over clicking. Some are interesting even though filled with lies.)

I love practicing labor law too, but if I did not charge for the service I would be called unemployed. (I put this in here because I just got an email from a prospective client who became incensed to find we actually charge for our services. Go figger.)

Some people look at any government regulation as oppression and any taxation as stealing from the rich to give to the undeserving poor. The poor are anyone not rich but needing service that costs the rich money. The buzz words popular today are “redistribution of wealth.”

The truly brilliant aspect of this movement is that they have found a way to use what is left of the middle class and other wage earner types to serve as the soldiers in the war against government.

The ruling nucleus of the anti-government forces is corporate America known as true Republicans. They are devoted only to the wealth that government robs from them and nothing else. They have built their partisan political ranks from a diverse group of Americans who frequently have limited single issue concerns, have little in common with the other and nothing in common with the rich. The rank and file Republican voter/soldiers are:

• Usually white, middle class or just people who want to better themselves but can only do so by dragging somebody down to their level.
• They are retirees who can be bought off by separating them from their working class roots by comparing them to modern workers who have it all and need to suffer.
• They are paranoid people who apparently lay awake at night in fear some unnamed government agency will separate them from their assault rifle so an intruder can sodomize and slaughter them before their family.
• They are afraid an immigrant, legal or otherwise, will take from them a job they do not want.
• They are people who know so little about politics, history and government their only response to it is to suggest we do what our forefathers would have done. Some of the most revered and admittedly brilliant owned slaves but never mind that.
• They are people who want to make sure we publicly pray daily to a Christian god and none other just like our forefathers intended, nearly all of whom were Deists who were very fearful of organized religion but never mind that.
• They frequently refer to salvaging the Constitution but have never read it or any history of it.
• They call themselves “conservative” but do not know what conservative means except not “liberal or progressive,” and they do not know what that means except some right wing TV or Internet pundit gave them a few sound bites to repeat.
• They are people who want to make sure a woman cannot end a pregnancy upon her choosing.
• They are people who want to make sure society can kill a criminal if desired.
• They want to protect cheap government by making sure unions do not infiltrate the same government they seek to destroy.

The right wing politicians and wingnut entertainment media, who people like me revile, are not the leaders, they are just the pawns and cheerleaders who keep the disenfranchised in constant turmoil over the possibility they may be overcome by the evil government and its even more evil government workers.

In an effort to disgrace these people and shame them into reality, I call them right wingnuts and tea baggers. All I want is for them to cease harming me and themselves. Caveat Lectores shows them the poisoned Kool-Aid their real enemy is trying to get them to drink to their own demise. The real tragedy is that these people are so troubled about their limited scope of concerns they will drink the poison from the paper cup even though they know what is in the Kool-Aid.

The Lector has a hard time accepting that.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7200 Readers in 432 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries
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Caveat Lectores on Politicians in Florida

This Rant is about Florida politicians and those outside Florida may not be interested. BUT you have similar politicans in your state.

Things have gotten so desperate in Florida politics that we have the following things occurring all at once:

• We have a Democrap candidate for the US Senate who some accuse of being a real estate swindler and mortgage fraud accomplice who profited richly off the debacle that has financially crippled our country. He whines that because he has not been charged with anything illegal he is clean. If he did not know what was going on, he is too stupid to be a Senator or maybe not. How brainless and detached from reality does a politician have to be?

• We have another Democrap candidate for the same office who, upon seeing his retired politician mother drive up in a new Cadillac Excommunicate SUV, thought nothing of it. Obviously, there is more to that story but there is only so much space. Do your own research. Anyone I have spoken to who actually knows this light weight says he is a …light weight. He seems a little detached from reality himself but is rumored to be a nice guy. Beaver Cleaver was a nice guy. Do you want the “Beave” as your next Senator in Washington?

• We have a right wingnut tea bagger rePuPlican candidate who is so bad he gives the above mentioned candidates credibility. What we absolutely know about him is that he stands for devolving government into nothing, and he wants to do it from Washington. The job he did in Tallahassee is something of which he should be ashamed.

• Finally, for the US Senate we have a partial term governor who became an independent because he could not get the right wingnut tea bagger rePuPlican Party to nominate him. This guy has made a career out of standing for nothing by being willing to stand for almost anything that would promote his career. I actually like him as person. He worked hard early in his term as governor trying to get John McCain to nominate him as his VP choice. Imagine if you can, actively running for a job that has no duties except to break a tie in the Senate. I like his style. I might vote for him but he is not a Democrat and I am. I am not ready to die quite yet. Men in my family tend to die within two years of voting for a rePuPlican. I am not a bleeding heart liberal just a survivalist.

• All four of these political giants are vying to replace Mel Martinez who nobody has missed since he resigned midterm. When the Democraps took over control of the Senate, it just was no fun unless the right wingnut tea bagger rePuPlican Party could maraud and pillage at will.

• For governor of this fair state, we have a right wingnut tea bagger rePuPlican Party outsider whose only claim to have any qualification for office is that he is wealthy beyond imagination and has no experience. He apparently learned how to make money selling doughnuts and healthcare to government. Or something like that. There was that incident where he was shown the door and his company paid a big settlement to the gooberment. But he was not charged or convicted of a crime; therefore, he is clean kind of like the other great guy at the top of the page. Both of these guys were obviously smart enough to get out before it was too late, but I am not sure that is the only qualification required for governing the state of Florida. He wants to run Florida like a business. If he wins, we can only hope he runs Florida like others run their businesses not his. The only people in this state who have not been screwed by a healthcare provider are those who…. Well, somebody has not been screwed. I just cannot name them.

• For governor of this fair state, we have another right wingnut tea bagger rePuPlican Party guy whose claim to fame is that he has experience in government and was a tea bagger before tea bagging was an acceptable practice. Some say he looks like Howdy Doody. I do not care what he looks like. My problem is that he acts like Howdy Doody. No offense intended to Buffalo Bob Smith. He is in one helluva fight to try to see how he can be more of a right wingnut without wearing a white sheet and pointy hat. My biggest fear of him is that he actually knows how to harm me and the citizens more than the outsider.

• Finally, we have the Lector’s personal favorite. A female who has successful business and government experience. Alex Sink (where did she get that name) may actually be the most qualified for the job. JFTDC She is the only one remotely qualified. She is originally from my home state of North Carolina and talks like me. That is part of her problem, she talks like me. She is working hard and has some good talking points but lacks the pizzazz of a winner. Voters in Florida demand a certain amount of folly in their winners. Remember Claude Kirk? And how about Paula Hawkins? Where is Walkin’ Lawton when we need him? That “He coon walks at night” SOB is DEAD.

• I forgot about the “he coon pup” known as Lawton “Bud” Chiles III. He decided recently to throw his hat in the dog fighting pit. The problem with the Budman is that he has no identity without referral to the He Coon. If he becomes the spoiler who draws enough votes away from Alex Sink to cause her loss, he may need to move elsewhere.

There is lots more political idiocy in Florida but only so much bandwidth. More on another day.

BOHICA

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7200 Readers in 498 Cities, 45 States and 24 Countries
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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Caveat Lectores on 9/11 Healthcare Bill

OK…OK…OK. I Give Up. No matter how the Lector tries, I cannot compete with the really good stuff that comes from Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, the Colbert Report, the Young Turks or Lewis Black. When any or all of them out Rant me, it is better just to refer to their work.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/wed-august-4-2010-bruce-henderson

The failure of the 9/11 Healthcare Bill to make sure the first responders and others who risked their lives and long term health are properly taken care of is a disgrace for Democrats as well as rePuPlican right wingnuts and teabaggers who should never be allowed to politically outlive their stupidity.

It is time to get ugly. It is time to identify our enemies and punish them for their callousness. We must no longer encourage bad behavior among politicians or children by accepting it as normal.

BOHICA

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7000+ Readers in 432 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries

Read at your own risk.

Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
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Friday, August 6, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Glenn Beck and Pensions for Public Employees

• If you ever wonder how the public could become so down on public employee pensions and benefits, watch this.

• If you do not want to cause excess dain bramage by watching the whole thing, start a 4:30 into the program.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4303674/beck-bankrupted-by-the-pension-pyramid

• If you, after watching this are a public employee who supports Fox News and Glenn Beck and the other right wingnuts and tea baggers, you deserve all the bad things they will do to you if given a chance

BOHICA

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
7000+ Readers in 432 Cities, 43 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.

Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165

LectoresIT.com

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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Rand Paul in Kentucky:

The Lector finally got the differences between Ru Paul and Rand Paul straight and now this from David Corn.

Campaign 2010's Most Important Senate Contest

08/3/10 David Corn Columnist

The other day, I was wondering which of the 37 Senate races underway at the moment is the most important. The one in Nevada? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could be booted out of the top Senate position by former Republican state assemblywoman Sharron Angle, a Tea Party darling who has called for phasing out Social Security, who has scolded out-of-work workers seeking unemployment benefits as "spoiled," and who is doing all she can to avoid taking questions from mainstream reporters. Or is it the Illinois race? This contest features two weak and flailing candidates; Republican Rep. Mark Kirk has been caught fibbing repeatedly about his military service and employment past, and the bank owned by the family of Democrat Alexi Giannoulias failed and was seized by the U.S. government. Still, this is Barack Obama's old Senate seat, and whatever happens to it will carry much symbolic value.

Or the most significant Senate race could be any that produces an unforeseen GOP win that brings the party the 10th Senate pick-up it needs to seize control of the upper chamber.

But then I came across a short news item about Rand Paul, the libertarian ophthalmologist and Tea Party activist who won the GOP Senate nomination in Kentucky. He's had a rough ride since his primary election victory. He said he did not fully support the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He accused Obama of being "anti-American" for applying pressure on BP. Like Angle, after making a series of controversial (read: stupid) comments, he began ducking the media. But the latest Paul news is utterly dumbfounding -- and a profound cause of concern.

As reported by Details magazine, Paul, while campaigning recently in Kentucky's coal country, maintained that there should be no federal regulation of the mining industry: "If you don't live here, it's none of your business."

Asked about the Big Branch mining disaster in West Virginia, where an explosion killed 29 miners last April, Paul said,
Is there a certain amount of accidents and unfortunate things that do happen, no matter what the regulations are? The bottom line is I'm not an expert, so don't give me the power in Washington to be making rules. You live here, and you have to work in the mines. You'd try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don't, I'm thinking that no one will apply for those jobs.


I'm not an expert. Don't give me the power in Washington to be making rules. Ponder the implications of this. So members of Congress who are not oil industry engineers should not regulate deep off-shore drilling? Actually, by Paul's logic, legislators should not impose any health, safety, or environmental standards on any industry. And the answer to such tragedies as mining disasters is . . . well, nothing. The workers in unsafe facilities can simply quit their jobs -- that is, unless they've already been blown apart due to bad company practices.

Paul wants to become a senator so he can do nothing. No doubt, that's an attractive notion for some Kentucky voters; he's been leading Democrat Jack Conway in the polls. But when the economy is in the dumps following a crash of free-wheelin' Wall Street, when climate change is a continuing threat, and when U.S. global competitiveness is slipping, doing nothing ought not be a top-priority item. Worse, Paul is celebrating his lack of knowledge, while suggesting that no one in Washington is really capable of governing. As his comments about the BP oil spill suggested, he would have no problem granting corporations free rein -- even after they screw up. His motto could be "BP Knows Best."

In Nevada, Sharron Angle, who has called for abolishing the departments of Energy and Education and the EPA, appears to be losing credibility and is slipping in the polls. But Rand is running strong -- despite his libertarian extremism and steady string of outlandish remarks. That makes the race in Kentucky the most significant Senate face-off of this electoral season. If he wins, it will signal the power of know-nothing Tea Partyism.

While commenting about the Big Branch disaster, Paul said, "I want to be compassionate, and I'm sorry for what happened, but I wonder: Was it just an accident?" After the worst U.S. mining disaster in decades, Rand Paul would rather contemplate a possible conspiracy theory than consider government steps that could prevent another tragedy. Should a person with such priorities win a Senate seat, responsible government will lose.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
6500 Readers in 432 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Caveat lectores on The 7 Types of Republican Idiots

Posted by republicansareidiots on August 3, 2010 at 3:51 PM

I'm going to start with the most intelligent of the Republican idiots, then work my way down the list getting progressively more stupid.

The Educated Republicans:

These are the rarest of all Republicans. Occasionally you will run into one in public, or in a public-forum online. These Republicans are the smartest of the Republican idiots. They have learned everything their is to know about their position, from a Republican perspective. They've educated themselves on all the reasons why their position is correct.

The reason why this type of Republican is an idiot:

Anyone with the internet and 5 minutes can find something that thoroughly discredits their version of the "facts". Even with confronted with contradictory facts though they will continue to fall back on their original arguments, try to change the subject to something they are more comfortable talking about, or start expressing opinions with no factual merit.

What to Remember when debating them:

Keep them on-topic. Don't let them ignore your counter-points and then change the subject on you. They're masters of that, but if you can keep them on topic eventually they will just start expressing opinions to which you can say "do you have any facts to back that up?"

Fox News and Conservative Talk Radio Republicans:

These are one of the angriest groups of Republicans. They watch Fox News or listen to Conservative Talk Radio and they think it makes them an expert on politics. The only knowledge they have of politics is parroted talking points without any facts to back them up. When you defeat them in debate they will result to calling you names like "Liberal", or "commie" or "socialist" or "baby-killer" etc. They think all liberals are socialists that want to take their money and give it to people who don't deserve it.

The reason why this type of Republican is an idiot:

They have no idea what they are talking about. Usually they're just repeating things they have heard from Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. They think that liberals want to take away their freedoms and they clearly don't know what the word "liberal" means, or what liberal have done for our country and freedom. They think President Obama is comparable to Hitler for passing health-care reform. They accuse you of watching MSNBC if you don't agree with them. They call you a sheep but expect you to blindly believe everything they tell you, without question.

What to Remember when debating them:

Keep demanding facts from them to back up their assertions until they break down and call you any of the aforementioned names. Ask them to name specific freedoms that liberals have taken away from them. They have a tendency to become violent so watch their hands if you are debating them face to face.

Christian Republicans:

These Republicans are hypocrites. They do everything in the name of Christ, while simultaneously acting as un-Christlike as humanly possible. They support the right to carry assault weapons, are pro-War, and completely ignore the fact that the Bible depicts Christ as a Liberal who was opposed to capitalism and violence. They sincerely believe that this is God's country and that God loves us more than anyone else in the world. They think that anyone that is not 100% pro-Israel is anti-semitic. They hate everyone that doesn't agree with them and think the Bible tells them to, and they hate Gay people because they think they are sinners.

The reason why this type of Republican is an idiot:

They do terrible things in the name of their Lord. They think that anyone that doesn't agree with them is damned to hell or hates America. They believe that we are a Christian Nation even though the Founding Fathers made sure that they did not brand this country as a Christian Nation. The Founding Fathers wanted a country of religious freedom, free from religious persecution, but these Republicans will never admit that.

What to Remember when debating them:

There's a list of all the quotes that prove our Founding Fathers wanted a Country of religious freedom. The link is HERE. Another thing to remember is that the Christian Right is neither. Start asking them questions like "how would Jesus feel about war?", "how would Jesus feel about assault rifles?", or "do you REALLY think that America is God's favorite country, in the ENTIRE universe?". And of these questions should yield a response that thoroughly proves that they are hypocrites, and continuing to argue with them would be a waste of time.

Tea Party Republicans:

These Republicans are a dumbed-down combination of the previous 2 groups of Republicans. They think Sarah Palin is intelligent and it's the media filter's fault that she looks so stupid. They think Reagan was fiscally Conservative even though he tripled the deficit. They watch Fox News religiously, and think Glenn Beck is credible. They don't understand why people think they're racist while they're standing next to people holding racist signs. They protest higher taxes even though taxes have gone down for 95% of working families.

The reason why this type of Republican is an idiot:

They parrot Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin talking points. When you discredit one thing they say they immediately move on to the next subject. Anyone that doesn't agree with them is a socialist, even though they can't give you the actual definition of socialism. Many of them are on Medicare while protesting "socialism". They have never met a socialist, so they have no idea what socialists believe. They think liberals are socialists and socialists are Nazis.

What to Remember when debating them:

They have no idea what they're talking about. Ask them to prove what they are saying. If you ask them a question and they respond with a question refuse to answer their question until they answer yours. Don't back down. Remind them that taxes have actually been lowered for 95% of working families. If debating them in public be careful because they are known to carry guns in places they don't need them, like public parks and bars and churches.

Birther Republicans:

The birthers think that Obama was born in Kenya. No matter how much evidence you present them with that is contradictory to that they will continue to insist that he is not the legitimate President. They are sore-losers because McCain lost the election, and they will never support Obama, even if he paid off the entire National Debt.

The reason why this type of Republican is an idiot:

They think Obama was born in Kenya. They think that Orly Taitz, who grew up in a socialist country, is credible, and that Obama is a socialist. They think that Obama's birth announcements in Hawaiian newspapers were propagated over 40 years in advance of his election, just so that he could be elected someday.

What to Remember when debating them:

Don't waste your time. You could wave Obama's actual birth certificate in their face and they would still say it's a fake. They are sore-losers and they will never be happy as long as Obama is President. Make jokes asking to see their birth certificates, or Sarah Palin's birth certificate. This is the best way to get them to go away.

Racist Republicans:

[DISCLAIMER: I am putting this one almost last for a reason. I do NOT think that all Republicans are racists. I have Republican family members who are not racist. This section is only about the small percentage of Republicans that are ACTUALLY racist, because they do exist. I'm not "playing the race card" or "race-baiting", I'm just describing a small group of racists who also affiliate themselves with the Republican Party]

Racist Republicans hate Obama because he's black. They think that all Muslims are terrorists. They think Obama is a terrorist Muslim. Anyone with a name like Obama's is a terrorist.

The reason why this type of Republican is an idiot:

They're racist, but they think Obama is a racist. They can't understand why people call them racists when they post racist pictures or racist comments and then claim not to be racist. Whenever they possibly can they will call you a racist, to hide the fact that they are actually racists.

What to Remember when debating them:

They're racists. Racists are uneducated bigots. You would have a much easier time convincing an apple tree to start growing oranges.

Extremely Idiotic Republicans:

These Republicans are Republicans because they think it's cool. They have a Republican in one of the other groups listed, so they think they know what they're talking about. They have terrible spelling and grammar but they expect you to believe whatever they say because they are saying it to you.

The reason why this type of Republican is an idiot:

It's hard to tell if they ever made it past the 4th grade. Most of their posts are illegible. The don't know anything about their position other than what they have heard their friends say. They think that Republicans are fiscally conservative because they say that they are, and call anyone that doesn't agree with them sheep. They ignore all historical information that is contradictory to what they say. They are 100% blind to facts.

What to Remember when debating them:

No amount of facts or logic will ever convince them that their buddies are wrong. You could be a college professor and they will still think that your opinion isn't credible. Instead of trying to argue with them try explaining Algebra to your dog. I'm sure it will be much more productive.

I hope that this has been an informative resource for you. I hope you will remember some of the things I have said the next time you are engaged in a debate with a Republican idiot.

-Matthew Desmond

Admin and Creator of Republicans Are Idiots And Arguing With Them Is A Waste Of Time!