Egypt

All countries showing a concern for what is happening in Egypt regardless of which side they support is just just another self serving response to a  polital issue.  Humanitarianism from America only focuses on countries who have natural resources that American business has an interest in. China supresses and abuses its population but maintains a favored nation trade status with America. Totally business related.

Web page

I now have started a web page  http://www.afterthecoldrush.com/  come check it out. At the moment it is primarily a reposts of this site.

America still headed for collapse

Nothing has changed with the Wall St. bunch. They are still increasing CEO salries and giving out large bonuses.  N ow social security and medicare are being targeted.  They want to call these social programs. But what  is a trillion dollar bailout if not corporate welfare. Within the next ten months America will be faced with economic collapse and everyone down here on mainstreet is clueless.

ONCE IN A STORM

We made love during a mid-summer storm
a second story balcony, blanket shielded railing
two bodies reflectting moonlight, blended nakedness,
slippery wet pearls of rain and sweat'
We moved as one, each taking credit for the thunder.
A flash of electric zig-zag exposed a still photo
of ecstacy on her satin face
Pulling closer, tighter our spasms grew
 exploding in rythm with the storm
a menage-a-troit of sorts.
The storm dimished, as did we
and brought us to our feet.
Before I left I asked her name
I'm sure I did
She asked mine too....I think

Reality and Truth (the american tragedy) Part I

                                                        Reality and Truth

The American reality is forcing us to accept some harsh truths.  If there is any hope for this country it lies in our ability to examine the reality, face the truth and stop what is happening in its tracks.  Let’s star by making a list of realities that face America today and then we will match them with a list of truths that are responsible for creating and maintaining the realities as status quo.

I will start the list with a grocery list of immediate problems and then will deal with some issues that you may be on either side of depending on your ideology.  I will deal with each problem before moving onto the next even though some may intertwine along the way..

Unemployment: The reality is that unemployment is not a new problem.  It has been going up and down for decades and we have been losing jobs overseas since the 1980s’ when corporations were given incentives to move their manufacturing plants and jobs abroad.  The truth is that corporations wanted to take advantage of cheap labor, child labor, no benefit packages, no environmental concerns and no tariffs on their goods when they bring them home to sell to the people who used to make them. In the 1990s this practice became etched in stone by trade agreements that are unfair to Americans and that have created massive debt in the form of massive trade deficits or trade imbalances between the majority of our major trade partners and our country.  By the way, I am trying to place the events in time frame of decades rather than who was in office because this is not an attempt to challenge the left or the right because in the end you will see that Republicans and Democrats have been working hand in hand to reshape America to the desires of Corporate America and the ruling class who we never see in public office.  Back to unemployment. Manufacturing jobs are lost forever in this country at least at the levels they used to pay.  As unemployment went up and down in the last thirty years wages primarily went down. Most of the job creation was in the service sector and were not high paying jobs.  When our factories were being moved abroad we were told not to worry because the coming age of technology belonged to America and it would be the new Industrial Age and America would lead the way in this new field of high paying jobs.  Well the New Age of technology has arrived and these jobs have been outsourced abroad to cheaper workforce with no health care or retirement packages.   Over the past thirty years this mess was created by the cooperation of both parties.  During that period both parties along the way enjoyed the presidecy with a Congressional majority which would allow one of the two parties to do the right thing and rescue the American workers as the job market ship was sinking.  Both politacal parties regardless of their rhetoric helped corporate America abandon the laborforce that made them what they were at the time.  We will return to some aspects of unemployment as we discuss other realities of the American tragedy.

Defecit:  Deficit and national debt are two separate issue. One leads to the other. Deficit spending leads to the national debt.  Spending beyond ones means is only one way to incur debt.  This is where government budget differs from household budgets because in a household budget you are spending your money but in our national budget Congress spends taxpayers money.  You would wouldn't spend seven hundred dollars for a hammer but the government would.  You don't depend on contributions from the people with whom you spend money to maintain your position as head of household Congress does.  Congress alone has not created our massive debt but they do hold the purse strings.  The Pentagon is notorious for paying outrageous prices for goods.  They have also bought thing that were obsolete before they were delivered. We could go down a long road of the military industrial relationship, even as far as to suggest that the industrial complex is instrumental in causing wars.  But I am more concerned on showing how much this relatioship costs the taxpayer in fraudulant spending.  On the day before 911 Rumsfeld was on T.V. declaring that there was 2.3 trillion dollars unaccounted for at the Pentagon.  It was never investigated.  The next morning on 911 the portion of the Pentagon that housed the accounting department with all the hardware and software that contained all the financial records was destroyed by fire.  I am not going to pursue a conspiracy theory about what actually hit the penteagon so strategically as to destroy these records but I did want to show how easily they dismissed 2.3 trillion dollars at a time when the administration was reporting that Medicare and Social Security were in danger.  During the early stages of the Iraq War 9 billion dollars was unaccouted for by Haliburton that was taxpayer money entrusted to them by the government.  No investigation was done by our government.   Every department of government overpays and overspends.  Govenrment agencies that are budgeted attempt to spend every dime of their budget because if they were to turn money back in at the end of the fiscal year their budget would be cut for the next fiscal year.  That is the small reason for budget abuse the larger reasons are waste and fraud.  We have seen FEMA spend millions of dollars on trailers that we never inhabited, while paying for people to be housed on     cruiseships.  FEMA continues wasteful spending on their FEMA camps that have dubious purposes. Do a google search of FEMA camps for further details,  Homeland security spent millions of dollars to creat a color chart to show us the intensity of the daily threat of terrorism. Haliburton was paid billions of dollars for hospitals that never opened and an airport that never landed a plane.  Just the tips of the iceburg with Haliburton waste and fraud. Individual state budgets are fraught with the same waste and fruad as the Federa gov't but on a smaller scale.  The Ohio Lottery prints its tickets on rolls of paper.  I don't know who provides the paper and I am not going to research that for this article but if you play the lottery you will notice that the size of your ticket could be cut in half and still contain the pertinant information. So the supplying of this paper is a cash cow for some one who I am sure has ties to some government official. There are thousands of outlets in Ohio for lottery tickets and they all house a large supply of the paper rolls. I noticed when they load the paper how much is wasted in the process.  One girl told me that in essence they are encouraged to waste this paper in many of the processes involved in operating the lottery machine. And because there is a tax on winners above 600 dollars people are encouraged to play seperate tickets for every dollar played on the three digit number which negates the collection of tax on that winner and wastes paper.  We have covered the big picture and the small picture of spendind abuses .  It hasn't been an indepthexposure that could be done.  But nationwide these budget practices cost tax payers billions of dollars and again if either party had your and my interests at heart these would be easy practices to stop.

Speaking of stopping.  I am going to stop hear and continue with part II soon.  In part two we will look at health care with the reality that they will never fix the problem with the truth being that the health care industry is another large industry that owns politicians and that politicians don't have to worry because their health care is free and guaranteed to follow them into retirement. We will also examine foreign trade and immigration two other factors that impact unemployment and the deficit.  Feel free to post comments.

When the Wolf Comes to the Door

                                                 When the Wolf Comes To the D                                                   Mother Earth gasps for air 
as her breath is throttled
by massive hands of greed.
Large sums of green pleasure paper
erect barriers on a concrete globe
of absurdity, while lifes’ victims aimlessly
murder one another in futile pursuit of escape.
The terror of the powerful elite
is willingly abetted by the rich,
as it enslaves all others.
The fight is not in the streets, for
the enemy is not ourselves,
and the war is already lost, 
when we don’t identify our foe.
Resist the urge to hate and hurt.
Embrace your brothers and sisters
And stand together as one,
When the wolf comes to the door.

#2 Limerick Break

Football is a game of confusion
Some players will suffer dillusion
for once you get hit
your helmit won't fit
if your head is all full of contusions

POLARIZATION...WHY

Recent discussion about vitriolic rhetoric has demonstrated that communication in this country has deteriorated to an all time low.  Debates ,discussions and media hype about social and political issues are are at best inflammatory and at worst downright volitile and ignorant. There are several indications when one feels he is losing an argument or has no valid answer. One may revert to name calling, loud interruptive speech, dismissing other party such as hanging up on them, changing the subject or commenting on ones physical appearance such as calling someone fatso. Have u ever heard that done on radio?  Talk radio has given us all the wrong rules of conduct for debate. The American people have been driven to polarization by the the politicians and the media. Look what they have done to our country while we were busy hating each other over social issues such as immigfation,abortion, race, guns, sexual preference and party affiliation. And it has come to the point that we would rather be dimissive to one another than carry on a logical even keel discussion.  We have been conditioned to hate the messenger not the messge. People are branded over their opinions. Those who disagreed with the Iraq War were labeled unpatriotic. Americans who oppose the failures of our immigration laws are deemed racists.  If we are to move forward in this country we need to learn how to communicate with one another and agree to disagree at times.  While we have been practising hate down here in the streets politicians and corporations have been stuffing their pockets with our money and laughing at our ignorance.

C'mon Americans

Okay, Sarah Palin did not influence this shooting in Arizona.  But the type of political mudslinging and vitriolic speech is definitely negatively impacting America.  And it is our fault because we tolerate this and in some cases embrace it.  We must be vocal and proactive in stopping the negativity that comes across the radio and television.  Americans must demand to hear political messages that demonstrate the solutions to Americas’ problems.  Most of the representatives from both parties have been in office for 20 to 30 years and have been a functional part of Americas’ problems.  The mudslinging, threats, intimidations and name calling do nothing to improve the quality of life in this country.  Americans suffer under the present struggle for power that dictates the rhetoric of the right and left alike. A message needs to be sent that we don’t want venom we want solutions.

We can deny votes to those who don’t provide a message of solutions and progress.  Unlike the big corporations we don’t have monetary influence over candidates. It is not hard to recognize the problems facing the masses.  Americans need good paying jobs, affordable health care, protection against predatory banks and credit card companies, secure borders, improved infrastructure, fair trade with foreign countries, a foreign policy that doesn’t require buying our friends and policies that encourage loyalty from corporate America.  In no way does a debate about any of these topics require mudslinging and hate speech. Now come the talk show hosts.  They make their money primarily by pandering to big business and the politicians who are corporate prostitutes.  They revert to schoolyard name calling and bullying of all who have differing opinions.   They are beyond entertainers and they are very short of being political pundits.  If these talk show hosts truly cared about you or this country the y would give up their jobs and take their money and run for office and put their agenda to work and prove to us that they are mire then talking heads.

Let’s stop singling people out to find a reason for the Arizona shooting.  There are more nuts out there who need to be identified.  These people don’t necessarily need a push to sponsor a tragedy.  What happened in Arizona doesn’t speak for the need for gun control as much as it speaks toward the need to treat and/or incarcerate unstable people.

Joe Scalise

Mass Animal Deaths/ Media

                                             WHY IS THE MEDIA IGNORING THIS STORY?

Let me run down a list of massive animal deaths over a short period of time and the you decide whether or not we should  continue to have media coverage at least until some credible explanation surfaces.  The list of occurrences spans the globe. And involve a variety of animal life or should I say death. Keep in mind until a plausible explanation is given these remain mysterious deaths.

Arkansas- thousands of birds – 100,000 fish

Louisiana- hundreds of birds

Chicago- thousands of fish

Florida- thousands of fish

Kentucky- hundreds of birds

Texas- hundreds of birds

Maryland- 2million fish

Italy- hundreds of doves

Brazil- over 100 ton of fish

New Zealand- Thousands of fish

Australia- thousands of  birds

Sweden- 400 birds

England- 40,000 crabs

Kazakhstan- 12,000 saiga antelope

These numbers reflect animals who met their demise in residential areas where they were easily counted what took place in fields and wooded forest has gone unreported. There was even a case of a neighborhood in Purcellville, Virginia where ten families reported their pets died of what appeared to be a stroke.  This took place over a few weeks apart with homes being no further than a mile apart.  It was mostly dogs and cats with one horse claimed to die of the same type of strokelike symptom.

There are questions beyond how and why this happened that can address future consequences and should be considered and at least asked by the media. The question of how and why have been hazed over by answers like fireworks caused the birds to panic or stressed them out and caused them to fly into houses, trees or wires.  Most of the birds showed signs of trauma with broken bones and internal bleeding.  Well they fell from the sky and stopped abruptly when they came in contact with the earth that is definitely bone crushing, blood-filled trauma.  We need something, pardon the pun, more concrete.  The other questions are relative to future consequences. Birds eat huge amounts of pesty bugs such as locusts, mosquitos and many other plant and people attacking insects.  Could more these unexplained animal deaths lead to consequences like famine or plague.

As I was growing up we seemed to depend on the media to find out these things for us.  But now the media only keeps us abreast of gossip and National Enquire type of information.  They steer clear of much of the pressure cooker type issues that puts heat on the government to provide answers to the public. 

I have no conspiracy theory about military testing or UFO involvement.  I just want follow up.  I don’t want the government to hide information from me because they think I am not mature enough to deal with pending chaos. There may be steps necessary for the population to take prepare for future events.  There may be meaningful changes we may need to make.

When a teenager goes missing on some spring break island and there is sign of foul play the media covers it for years. When movie stars have marital issues it gets reported with continuous updates.  Media people like Nancy grace make a career out of this type of news coverage. But the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the follow up to the Gulf oil spill, the whereabouts of Bin Laden, and the coverage of mass animal mysterious deaths go ignored.  No wonder life in this country is one big soap opera, Judge Judy, Maury Povich, Biggest Loser, Dancing with the Star, reality show.  The reality ois that we are too distracted to care.

Amanda Mean

                                                                 AMANDA MEAN

SHE COULD  PENETRATE A SUIT OF ARMOR

IF INSIDE BEAT A HEART TO CRUSH

THE MEN SHE'S KISSED SAVORED HER VENOM

UNABLE TO STOP THE LIQUIFICATION OF THEIR SOULS

SHE CALCULATES, POSSESSES AND DESTROYS

LEAVING ONLY STAGNANT DUST WHILE WATERING

HER VICTIMS' GARDEN WITH ADRENELIN SCENTED FLUID

HER STEALTH AND QUICKNESS ALLOWS ENTRY LIKE A

BREEZE SNAKING THROUGH THE CHARMS OF A WINDCHIME,

EMITTING A DEADLY MELODY THAT RENDERS HER PREY

SENSELESSLY TRYING TO IDENTIFY THEIR STIMULATION

IN AN INSTANT ALL THAT WAS SANE BECOMES FOREIGN

AND UNCOMPREHENSIBLY SPUN INTO A TROPHY TO

RESIDE ON THE MANTLE OF HER EGO, WAITING

THE ADORNMENT OF ASHEN COBWEBS.

Joe Scalise

A Limerick Break

There once lived a frog near the lake

and a bath this young frog would not take

He dated a toad who lived down the road

but she left him one day for a snake.

THE REAL MANDATE

President Barack Obama and Congress, remember November's election was not a mandate from the American people, it was merely a message from Fox News and a handful of propaganda puppet talk show hosts of the right sent via disgruntled and misinformed tea baggers, who represent a very small portion of the American population.
I believe that if you were to hear a mandate from the American public it may be as follows:
Bring our troops home, not only from the Mideast but from around the globe with the exception of the strategically placed bases that are absolutely necessary for monitoring our safety.
Stop foreign aid except for disasters, starvation and needed medical supplies and make that aid contingent on verification of delivery to those in need.
Do not extend tax cuts to the very rich. Past practice shows that it does not result in meaningful increased employment.
Do not touch Social Security or Medicare. As a matter of fact, Social Security contributions should not be used for any other expenditures.
Reign in those who practice out-of-control capitalism.Wall Street and the banks both demonstrated that they cannot operate outside the parameters of deregulation.
Do not give input to the energy companies in our energy policies. It is only self-serving on their part and hinders our ability to achieve energy independence.
Restructure our trade policies and return our jobs while eliminating our massive trade deficits.
Campaign reform is a must. The American people have the right to know who are bribing our politicians. Campaign ads need to be held to some standard of honesty and decency, and term limits have become a must. Career politicians spend their incumbent term running for their next term and not doing the public service.
It is time to start representing the American people, who in my opinion are not far from revolution. The American people are tired of getting fleeced by corporations, banks, Wall Street and politicians.
I am sure that I will draw criticism from the tea bag crowd, but I feel that only two types of people can be adverse to these changes: the crooks who have been profiting from status quo and the sado-masochists who seek to punish the disenfrachised Americans who support this country but have no meaningful representation.
Joe Scalise

COMING SOON THIS YEAR

I have a New Years' resolution for everyone that is easier than the traditional dieting or abstaining from cigarettes or alcohol - repeat after me, I will stop being fooled, mislead and manipulated by the federal government, large corporations and multi-millionaire propagandist talk show puppets. Politicians, corporate moguls and media contortionists are all getting wealthy twisting facts and rewriting history to fit their agendas.
America is no longer the leader of the free world. As a matter of fact, there is no longer a free world. All the principles and values that allowed and encouraged the "American dream" have been bastardized to tighten control over the working class. America is being ruled by large corporations. They sponsor our elections with astronomical amounts of money and ultimately own the system and most of the participants. The Supreme Court is allowing this corporate purchasing of power to overshadow our freedoms. Look up the definition of Fascism and you will see that we are at the doorstep of Fascism in this country. It is not the socialism that we are being scared with by the right wing. Fascism is corporate control over government which makes peasants of the middle class.
Americans are being exploited and being led down a one-way street. The farther we go down that street the less likely we are to return. Recently, the Bush tax cuts were extended. Peanuts for the working class and prime rib for the ruling class. The average household saves about $2,000 or less and that savings is already under attack at the gas pumps, grocery stores and by utility providers. Before the end of this new year you will see gas prices between $4.50 and $5 per gallon, which by itself should gobble up your tax cut. The very wealthy who got the huge tax cuts won't feel the cost of living increases, in fact they will profit from them.
What do you think follows when all the money reaches the top and there is very little here on main street? History shows us that life gets real ugly when fascism arrives.
I am not going to ask you to take to the streets and riot. Just be aware of what is happening in this country. Stop spending your money foolishly. Spend only what it takes to get by and stock up on necessities. Every dime the working man spends feeds our oppressors. And though I am not promoting civil unrest, it won't be long before we are forced to choose between our remnants of freedom and the dead end street. Strengthen your ties with family and friends. 2011 will prove the need to rely on each other and for a creation of bonds between families and friends.
Joe Scalise

Published

I want to post this poem I wrote to initiate my blog:

       Published

In bound pages I exist.

At least, until the stars and moon

No longer do,

Immortality of sorts…

Remnants of my mind.

Words bonded to paper by ink

Will survive beyond the heartbeat

that binds body to soul..

Brand Nw to Blogging

Hi guys, today is 1/12/2011 my first day with the blog.  I will post a variety of  writings from political, to helpful information to poetry or might just open a window into my life. Look for waard to growing this blog. Make yourself at home post anything you want.