2009 October :slashingtongue

Archive for October, 2009

FOX attacks Judge Chen, proves Obama right

Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 8:45 am  
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Sean Hannity and Bill O Reilly have gone after Judge Edward Chen now. He is their their latest victim in their hit-list of Presidential Obama nominees. It is outrageous and stupid. FOX News has gone so far to the right that it is crazy and this time, hurtful.

Before I go about writing my views about this, I would have to declare that I am an Asian American. I would rather let you know about this now, rather than you guys finding out about this. It does influence my views, and yes, so will experience.

Had Bill O and Sean Hannity gone after Judge Chen over matters regarding policy or his time at the bench, there is nothing much wrong with that. If you were to Google about Judge Chen, you would see that some people are not happy about Judge Chen with regards to a case involving Symantec. They felt that he sided too much with the big corporation and that he fined the smaller one. Some also state that he committed fraud based on that case. I have no idea about the case and would find that to be a legitimate criticism if it is true.

However, that was not what the people at FOX went out to do. Here is the Judge’s quote from the O’Reilly Factor that makes him too left wing for the wackos at FOX: “One has to wonder whether the seemingly irresistible forces of racism, nativism and scapegoating, which has recurred to often in our history, can be effectively restrained.”

Of course his statement is 100% right! On the night of September 11, my dad said something along those lines. He said that had it been a North Korean agent that committed the crime, he would have feared for our safety due to racists that would put all Asians in the same boat and dish out their version of revengeful justice. Don’t you think Muslim parents and parents of kids from South Asian origin did not feel the same way?

Of course his statement is 100% right! Wasn’t Islamophobia born at that time? Aren’t we profiling people at airports. Didn’t American Sikhs die because there were crazy people who thought that Sikhs were Muslims and that they deserve to pay for 9/11 with their lives? Didn’t racial attacks on Muslims increased by a lot around that time?

I do not know if this is true, but I think that the Conservatives are really so white in their party, that they really do not see the perspective of other races. I really cannot imagine anybody that would not be viewing this in the manner that we did. Honestly, where did Monica Crowley get her PhD? I felt insulted with the statement and would have lost my temper on the set after hearing her claims.

And you know what is Judge Chen other big crime. He does not like the song “America the Beautiful”! Here is the quote that drives them mad: “Sometimes I cannot help but feel that there are too much injustice and too many inequalities that prevent far too many inequalities that from enjoying the beauty extolled in that anthem.

I bloody guarantee that the fact that that statement is taken out of context. We could clearly see that he was making a point about our country’s past. Again, I bet that there would be some far right people that still would not get the point and would think that I hate America. Even if he did say that he did not like the song: So? How is that hateful in anyway at all?

FOXNews has exposed itself yet again as the megaphone for the far right and the Republican Party. This plays to the hands of the White House claims. The part that the would not tell you though is that MSNBC does the exact same things for the far left and the Democrats.

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We are out of recession, but

Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 6:09 pm  
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It was slightly higher than expected, and it is the first growth the GDP has seen since the third quarter 2008 which would make some term this news as an end of the recession. Others, who believe that the recession started in 4th quarter2007; would say that we need another quarter of growth to say that we would be out of recession. But the one question on our lips is : When is the jobs coming back?

This should be the best news for us to hear but for a long time, but please forgive us for not being so optimistic. President Obama should be hailed as a savior of the economy, but please for give us, President Obama, for we do not give a crap for “technical mumbo-jumbo”, till we see the jobs coming back! I think that people genuinely feel that this increase in GDP is just because of the “fat-cats making money” while we are still suffering.

That is not true. The main reason that we are having a good GDP result is because the personal consumption expenditures has increased by about the same amount GDP has. In other words, people are more confident in the economy now than they were three months ago. That was the biggest reason that the GDP grew.

There were still losses in Private domestic investment in non-residential structures, government investment and spending in local government and most importantly, personal disposable income. This GDP figure does show the fact that we hold about 3.5% less money now than we had it a few months ago.

So where is the positive news coming from? The following show a double digit quarter to quarter growth. Personal Domestic consumption of durable goods, residential, exports and imports. The double digit in growth shows that trade is back, but the sad thing is that our imports (16.4%) are increasing faster than our exports(14.7%).

I think that you may understand what I feel about the GDP by the second paragraph in this article. I see no point in the economy growing when the job indicators show no good results. I also think that it would be the reversal of the job loss rate that would be the correct indicator of growth. Let me put it in numbers. We have lost at least 8.5million jobs since the recession began. Until and when we put at least half of those lost jobs back, then and only then, we talk of recovery.

I feel rather angry about this. For example, when we exit a recession our number roared back to recovery with unemployment numbers increasing. Germany exited the recession with a growth rate of 0.3% but unemployment was down. France exited with a mere 0.2% growth but unemployment was down. Why are we bucking the trend?Why is the economy improving but the jobs are not coming back? Are we doing something very wrong or very right?

That being said, if President Obama really needs to have a pat on the back for the figures. He has lead the economy out in some manner. So I give credit where credit is due. I think that if this were the previous administration, they would be gloating about this and the President is not.

But the President is still under my sights for criticism. I do not care if the GDP shows a 20% growth in the fourth quarter; as long as the jobless numbers increases, you are failing! I would still give him time though.

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Rachael Maddow : How to screw an argument up 101

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 6:42 pm  
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Liberals are the losers in American politics. One of the furthest left wing person in America is MSNBC’s Rachael Maddow. In these two examples, I am going to highlight some recent issues she brought up that we might have agreed on in general BUT yet she is wrong.

Rachael Maddow claiming that the Public option bill is not enough:

She went against the proposition that Senator Harry Reid put on the floor, which is the public option with the option for states to opt out. I am all for this and I think that the Republicans really got no excuses here. I even went as far as to say that this means that health-care should not be a state matter with state level funding rather than a federal level.

However, Rachael Maddow disagreed. This is what she said : “ Thank goodness we have 60 Democrats in the Senate right! Of all the different things that (Leader) Harry Reid could have put forward… a really modest conservative version of the public option. … How well would this work? It is public option just for uninsured people and it probably won’t be available in some states? One of the main arguments for the public option is that it would be big….”

No Rachael, sensible people do not support the public option because it is big, people support it because it is an option! It is competition to the health insurance companies. I really do not care if it is big or small! As long as it can bring my cost down, by competing with the insurance companies, I am for it!

She said that it is only for people that are uninsured, this is misleading. It is only for the uninsured because the health bill does not kick in straight away. The rest of the population would have it around 2014. The uninsured get it straight away. It is as simple as that.

Thirdly, this is the conservative option? There were options being put out where people can buy across state lines, we have mentioned in the past that those methods would not work. But that is a more conservative option than the public option. We threw out ideas of starting a trade war between health insurance companies, opening up the industry to foreign companies as well as to give a federal reward to the company with the highest customer satisfaction. I guess these are all way too right wing for you huh?

Rachael Maddow claiming that Senator John McCain wants to rig the Internet.

Come on! To put it in simplest terms, it is customers right to view content vs Internet Service Providers to cut up the content to sell (think one plan for e-mail only, one plan for social sites only, etc). I agree with her position and I am all out for net neutrality but listen to what she has to say.

“The government say, the Internet should be free. Big companies should not be able to rig the Internet for their own purposes. (Senator) John McCain bill says that they should. That is the same Senator McCain who back in 2008, when asked if he preferred a Mac or a PC, said this: ” I am a(n) illiterate (who) has to rely on my wife for all the assistance that I can get.” ”

Oh, give me a break! Where did she get that Senator McCain has evil intention to want to rig the Internet? Why must it be that he is evil rather than Senator McCain just have a different opinion? That is what makes you a wing-nut. I disagreed with him on this issue and the Rape Bill recently, but I still maintain the respect I have for respect him.

And to rub it in, she gave a very mean spirited attack on Senator McCain, over his honest answer last year. I learned something this year that I did not know last year? Does that mean that I cannot comment on that program language I learned? So if Senator McCain was a IT-illiterate, does that mean that he must be stuck in that state forever?

These are the kind of instances that can turn an Independent like me off. It also make a news-shy citizen turn off too with those blatant lies. Don’t get me wrong, the right wing bullshits too. But they do not do it as stupidly as the Liberals do. Bar Bill Maher and Alan Grayson, I cannot think of one that can match the right wing in terms of attacks. Add this to the Democrats lack of spine and what do you get : L-O-S-E-R-S!

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ST’s view on CAIR attack

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 9:29 am  
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Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) came under attack from some Republicans for pushing for more Muslim interns in Washington, calling it the planting of spies. I can understand, but on the whole I think that this is discrimination 101.

Representative Trent Franks, Representative Sue Myrick, Representative John Shaddeg and Paul Broun all came out demanding an investigation on CAIR. The evidences on their side is an internal memo which states that CAIR want a lobby day, to lobby Congress on their agendas and to have interns serving in Congress and a book written by a crazy right wing nut named Paul Sperry called the Muslim Mafia. Actually, the memo too comes from the book.

Would there be Muslim intern spies if there were Muslim interns in Washington? There could be, the risk is definitely higher with more Muslim interns. However, would there be more Chinese spies if there were Chinese interns? Would there be more be more Israeli spies if there were more Jewish interns? It is the same thing.

Yes, I do understand the fear that the Muslim interns could give away intelligence to Muslim agents. This could lead to lives being lost on the battlefield. But, what makes us so sure that a non-Muslim would not do the same thing for money?

It is all the matter of the ifs and maybes. And we cannot make judgment based on that! I am an Asian. I would not be pleased if they were investigating me because they fear that I am being a spy for North Korea. I would feel insulted to the core, especially since I am born here and served in the army. That is discrimination, as simple as that.

It would be the same for the Muslims. They are just as Americans as you and me. It is not right, it is not American, to discriminate like that based on hunches. What would be the reaction if the politicians did this to AIPAC or the Black Caucus? Come on!

When is this islamophobia going to end? Why are we so afraid of Muslims? Are we afraid of Buddhist due to the Chinese? Are we afraid of atheists because of North Korea? There would be bad people in every race, religion, color and creed. Are we going to be afraid of all of them? Enough already!

The GOP politicians also would like to strip CAIR on its non profit status. This I say, lets see the figures. If CAIR is making profit, selling stuff, then they should be stripped of their non-profit status. It is as simple as that!

Lastly, there is the issue of Hamas, which would definitely brought up by critics. The FBI has severed ties with CAIR due to CAIR supporting Hamas. To these critics : Don’t you think that the FBI would have cracked down on CAIR if they were supporting terror networks? Do you think that the FBI is that ineffective?

Please remember people, that we are Americans. We are a country of immigrants. We cannot act like the manner the four GOP politicians have. If there is proof, lets whoop CAIR’s butt. Else, they are innocent!

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Health-care Wastes up to 800 billion a year!

Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 8:47 pm  
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This is the worst example of waste I have ever heard of! Thomson Reuters, the news mega giant and one of the 4 news real agencies in America, did this study and found that the governments waste up to 800 billion this year. Yes it is billion, with a freaking b!

37% of the waste is to have protection against malpractice suits. 22% is just wasted fraud, where are the Feds!? Aren’t they supposed to settle this? Having a rigid paper system alone wastes up to $60 billion a year! Administrative inefficiency and medical mistakes take up 18% and 11% respectively. What are we thinking wasting all this money away!

$800 billion. What was our government and our Presidents doing the last 10 years? Was President Clinton too busy with interns in the Oval Office? Was President Bush just too dumb not to understand how big $800 billion was.

$800 billion, that is close to the cost of the stimulus package, every year. $800 billion, that is higher than the defense budget. $800billion, that is more than what we gave out to corporations via TARP last year. It is bloody insane that this had gone unnoticed!

The best part is that Reuters reports that there is at least $505 billion in wastage every year. So we are wasting at least half a trillion a year! I really though that the President was exaggerating it when he said that we could save half a trillion in Medicare by cutting wastes, but he was proven right!

There is also the perspective of the national debt here. $500 billion may be today’s figure, but I bet that we have wasted $2.5 trillion in the last ten years. If we are to include long term interest, we are going to get the figure to be around $3trillion. And that is at the lowest end of the spectrum.

Do you know what does this mean? It means that all the while health care has all along been the huge component of the national deficit. All the while everybody, including me, had been ignoring these numbers at our own peril! We must wake up to this!

The report also suggests that $1 out of every $3 of our health care bill is a waste. $1 in $3! Can you imagine what would happen if this kind of wastage happens outside government? I sure know that my boss would fire me if I wasted that ratio of office funds!

Where in the world are the other so called news agencies in America reporting this? Where is FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, HLN, PBS and so on. Isn’t this the top news? What can be bigger than this? Hillary Clinton, Balloon Boy hoax, ACORN (guess which channel still runs that nonsense?) or the LA Dodger’s divorce? Why don’t they report this at all?

It is time that we hang place politicians feet by the fire! Having entire bodies of Congress ignoring this is next to treason to me! It really appalls and offends me! That being said, we should give credit where it is due and we would like to thank our President for bringing this up.

Please visit http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59P0L320091026?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 for further reading

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