Cognitive Dissonance for Twits

Two year old Caroline Sparks in southern Kentucky was killed by her 5 year old brother when he got his hands on the Cricket .22 caliber rifle he had gotten from his parents for his birthday. Just like his parents, he undoubted thought that he knew what he was doing. August just won't be the same at the Sparks house after 2015.

It is sad how people blame God for their shortcomings when they cannot face the realities of what they do. They hand a toddler a lethal weapon then are surprised when that child kills someone with it. After the reality sets in, they have to say that someone else was at fault. God is a common victim in this blame-game because he cannot defend himself. A man rapes a 10-year old girl, pregnancy results and "it's a Gift From God." she can't abort that fetus and the news cycle makes a hullabaloo about the abortion while never mentioning the crime that was perpetrated against the child.

"It was God's will. It was her time to go, I guess," grandmother Linda Riddle told WLEX. "I just know she's in heaven right now and I know she's in good hands with the Lord." Little Caroline would have been in a better place before she died if the parents did not subscribe to the gun-culture they apparently did. She would not have needed the Lord's hands if there was no gun in the house.

Well now it will be God's Will that the parents suffer recrimination for the rest of their lives unless they adequately deploy Cognitive Dissonance and decide that their daughter is better off dead. This maneuver is appallingly simple. Blame God and you are all set. That allows you to keep up appearances, but there will be spousal fights, depressions and a high probability of divorce with their 5-year old going to live with Grandma. Once you decide that children being killed in this manner is okay and alright with God, you can absolve yourself of any further concern. I name all parents who give firearms to their children "Twit Of The Day."

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16 Warm Wet Noses and a Horse That Sweats

Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

With all due regards to Jim Stafford for writing the song of that title...

There conservatively are between 16 and 24 Republican Presidential candidates who will be vying for the GOP nomination next spring. Each of them will be trying to "out conservative" the others for the support of the Fox-manufactured electorate. That electorate will be demanding that their pet candidate be as far to the right as they themselves are, but no further.

The candidates are so numerous that the "debate" sponsor, Fox News Network, had to split the population into two portions. There will be the Big-10 who will bracket Donald Trump on the main stage while the remainder will be afforded the consolation stage and a TV slot ahead of Prime Time hours.

Irrespective of which stage a candidate is on the opportunity to engage in meaningful "debate" will be next to non-existent. These 2 dozen individuals will have just about enough time to utter 2 or 3 half statements that shows the one-half of the electorate of "likely voters" just how conservative he or she is.

The half statement will consist of the part they want to the viewing public to hear while the other unspoken half is the truth about what they really support.

Here is a list of the possible statements with the (…) to indicate the dividing line in the whole statement.

I am anti-abortion and will stop them entirely by defunding any organization that provides abortions…  regardless of all the other provided health services that benefit Americans.

I am Pro-life and will stop the murder of unborn babies… but once they are breathing air, they are on their own. My responsibility stops there.

I will stop illegal immigration and send all the illegal ones back to Mexico… without regard to the fact that many of them are Honduran, Guatemalan, Nicaragua, Columbian, El Salvadoran, Ecuadoran.

I will deport the 11 million illegal immigrants… even though many of them have children who are Americans and it would take 272,727 motor coach loads to move them to the US border.

I am against taxes… even though taxation built this nation and the national infrastructure is crumbling.

I am for individual freedoms and religious liberty… unless you are black, gay, unmarried woman, poor, old, sick or disabled.

I am for repealing Social Security and Medicare… because Wall Street doesn't have a big enough hand in managing the funds and taking profits.

I am pro-Israel and support continued funding… so that they may continue their genocide of Palestinians and take the land for radical Jewish settlers.

I am for a strong US Military at home and around the world… even though its line item is the largest portion of the Federal budget.

I am for attacking Iran for their desires to build an atomic bomb… even though the new proposed treaty will curtail those ambitions.

I support fossil fuel mining and drilling because America needs energy… regardless of the environmental degradation they cause, the fact that alternative sources are fast overtaking coal, gas and oil everywhere else in the world.

I support banning GMO product labeling because it is unnecessary… due to the fact that people may not want to eat such foods.

I believe that climate change is a hoax… even though we are seeing significant changes already and it is inconvenient to the fossil fuels corporate profits.

I am against same-sex marriage because I believe it is a sin … and I find it icky even though there is no biblical prohibitions and the Constitution claims that all people will be treated equally.

I support "right to work" laws… even though that is fascist code for the ability of employers to pay less in wages and benefits.

I am against raising the Minimum Wage because it is anti-business and a job-killer… even though taxpayers subsidize all employers who pay below the poverty line to their workers. (Subsidizing businesses is okay, subsidizing people is not.)

I support the rights of everyone to possess a gun for self and family protection… even though most gun deaths are committed on one's self, a friend or family member, spouse or significant other. The fact is gun manufacturers need more sales and more customers.

... and Just Added:

I am for drug testing of Food Stamp recipients to not give taxpayer money to drug users... so that we can punish the children of low-income workers and reward the drug testing companies who need our support.

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This list could go on and on but like the debate time slot, space is limited. There will be no GOP candidate that deviates from the core in such a manner that he or she stands out from the rest. Nobody will have the chutzpah to venture outside the confines of the right-wing. Well maybe except for The Donald. He will say anything he wants to say because he is in the race for the race not for the finish or the ribbon. He will be the only highlight to the evening.

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Jumping The Shark: Donald's Next Show

While Democrats hold their sides laughing, Republicans are sweating bullets over the monster that they created from various parts of other conservatives, republicans and teaparty fanatics. He is like Chang McTang McQuarter Cat but nowhere as cute or interesting. He is an amalgamation of all the silly bugger shit that has spewed from the mouths of the 2 dozen other presidential candidates of his party. You guessed it the mystery man is none other than The Donald.

He has been a great listener, a listener to all the rhetoric that his competitors have already spoken. Without a platform of his own, he has been able to cobble together the "one part this" and "two parts that" to woo successively more single issue voter constituencies. While the likes of Rick Santorum says "gays are sinners", Mr. Trump yells it from his pulpit and associated them with Mexicans who have come to america to vote against Republicans and get all the good jobs, welfare and rape everyone.

He has tapped into the angers, fears and bigotry of dozens of small groups of voters who of course poll in favor of the man who will not be either a status quo Republican or Democrat. Even his threat to run as an Independent has garnered yet another following. This is the man who is a threat to every other GOP candidate because to the electorate he sounds like their second choice man yet far noisier and profane. The louder her speaks and the more profane he becomes, the better they like him.

The stable of Republican horses is screwed either way. If he gets the GOP nomination (which I seriously believe they will deny to him) or he actually does run Independent, they will have to contend with his power to split the votes. His favor is only in the eyes of "likely Republican voters" not in the eyes of Democrats. There may be a few Democrats in the poll numbers, but they are not significant.

His staying power is all that is in question. When will he jump the shark overstepping some unseen line or reaching around and grabbing the wrong issue? Today he is yet another reality TV show pandering to the least educated population of Americans like did Duck Dynasty, Honey Boo Boo, and the Duggar Clan. Back in the 1960s the Smothers Brothers though wildly popular have the distinction of having been cancelled from all three big networks of the time.

Donald jumped in early to capitalize on the front side of the rising tide of notoriety. But sometimes that early entry just means an early exit too.  He has to maintain his signature level of crazy for about 9 months to see if he will be nominated. Then he has a total of 16 months to keep it up until November of 2016. That will be a formidable task regardless of campaign and personal money to spend.

with his less than stellar attention span, I doubt that he will remain a front runner although he will do a lot of damage by his mere presence. He is showing Americans and the world who we are and who our Republican legislators are and what they stand for. That is not a pretty picture.

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Twit of the Day: Jindal & Perry

Gov. Bobby Jindal says, "Now is not the appropriate time to discuss gun control." this came in the wake of the Lafayette, LA theater shooting that left two patrons dead and 7 more seriously wounded. Says he, this is a mental health issue. His actions deny mental health services to thousands of Louisiana residents, but to the twit there is no connection.

He claims that gun control proponents are using this tragedy for political purposes while we ought to be praying for the families of the dead and injured. IRONY ALERT: By Jindal saying this at this inopportune time, HE is using this tragedy for political purposes.

I can't argue with you, Gov., and you know why. I can however point out that will never be an "appropriate time" to discuss gun control (or people control as it rightly should be labeled) if we agree to not discuss the issue anytime within 2 days of a major shooting in this country. I can see the Congressional debate going like this.

Congressperson: "Mr. Speaker I'd like to bring up the matter of guns in the hands of mentally unstable people."

Speaker: "The Honorable Congressperson has the floor..."

Congressperson: "This matter is of utmost urgency and while it has been 49 hours since the last mass shooting in this country, I believe you would agree that the moratorium on debating this matter has expired. This matter has been put off too long, and we have kicked that can down the road many miles and..."

Speaker: "Excuse me, Congressperson, I must interrupt you at this time and ask that you reserve your remaining comments until Monday. There is a report of a shooting at the Water Park in Katchizcatcan. We must turn to prayer for the 3 adults and 5 children who have had their day spoiled by a Lone Wolf White Man with with a Glock."

Congressperson: "But... but... this debate is very important."

Speaker: "You, Sir, are out of order. It is inappropriate to speak of these thing at a time like this." 

Congressperson: "If not now, when? "

End of Story. That story. The next chapter will be written tomorrow.

Then of course there is former Texas Gov. Rick Perry who lusts after more bloodshed in theaters, schools, bars, strip malls, and churches. Arm the citizens and let them take care of the "bad guys with the guns."

The Gov. said, "I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there's as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette," [emphasis added]

Perry believes that existing gun laws are sufficient to handle the problem, if they were properly enforced. he told CNN talking person. He also lowered his voice a decibel or two when he stipulated "well trained and background checked." So he does admit that to make a difference we need more laws such as "backgound checks" mandatory training and proficiency because there is no states consensus on these issues, especially in Texas.

Trained carriers who have been vetted should have the freedom to carry guns, Perry added, making it clear that laws are needed to "vett" prospective gun carriers. He like so many other gun violence apologists believe in the 2nd amendment as a right for everyone, but will not take action to stop the people who should not have one. He supports a vetting process but will not support a law to make one. For that he rises to the status of a Twit of the Day along with brother-governor Jindal. Two men sharing one brain.

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Republican Legislators are Out and About Shaming Low-income Americans For a Business Motive

While Republican Legislators are out and about shaming low-income Americans for their low incomes we must look at the magnitude and nature of the issue of the need for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments in the first place. First a bit of history.

SNAP aka Food Stamps as the original program was titled was a farm subsidy program that gave money directly to low-income people who could not afford the prices that farmers needed to be paid in order to grow and deliver food to the customers. The government wanted to limit farm prices and farmers could not live with that. Therefore, instead of curtailing all farm prices that would keep food prices down for everyone, they made the Food Stamp program to support the people who were the least able to pay the higher prices. After farming morphed into "agri-business" and factory farming, the business owners wanted the money paid to them directly. Republican legislators being the business-friendly people they are, made it so. Food Stamps which were a performance measured system that assured people could afford to eat was turned into a subsidy for business owners that has zero accountability or requirement that anyone actually eats.

Something else happened along the way. Businesses learned that by chipping a potato they could turn an 84ȼ potato into a $4 bag of chips. Of course the humble potato is only an example of the processing of produce into ready-to-eat food-like merchandise. Retail stores also found it useful to sell heated meals, e.g. hotdogs, burritos, pizzas, etc. The lines blurred between farm produced groceries and "convenience foods" that were popular but less nutritious. Sodas instead of milk, fat-free milk instead of whole pasteurized milk.

I was in line at the supermarket when the cashier told the woman in line ahead of me that she could not buy the fat-free milk because it was not for her children as required. The clerk was only following what the cash register was reporting about the purchase rules. The price was the same. I gave her my gallon and took hers saying, "meet me outside."

There is a reason that there is a SNAP program. In 2014 there were 22,699,000 households consisting of 46,535,o00 human beings whose access to income was so low that they needed my (and your) help to buy enough food. Most households that receive SNAP funds have at least one wage earner in it. This means that there are 22.7 million EMPLOYEES who are paid too little to be able to buy food along with all the other necessary things like rent, heat, medicine, telephone service, transportation, child day care and clothes.

If everyone who receives SNAP funds could get by with a second job in the household, the economy would need an additional 22.7 million additional jobs just for them. Then the household would need a whole another job to pay for the child daycare so that mon could work another 40 hours per week.  Maybe we need to define marriage as being among three adults (or four) to be able to live by work alone. Work that is as defined by the business owners who think they know the value of labor as did Henry ford in his day.

The average monthly household SNAP payment equates to $1.46 per hour based on a 40-hour work week. Let's just agree that nobody is getting rich on SNAP money.

So why is it that conservative politicians and legislators are shaming SNAP recipients for their need for subsidy when the businesses just want the money directly? Well there is your answer. The businesses want the money directly not through a process where they must perform to get it. Farm subsidies are like insurance. They get the money when the crop yield fails. They get the money when the government thinks that farmers are planting too much of something and they pay out to not plant. They get paid when there are too many chickens or too few.

The economy paid out $70 Billion in 2014 for SNAP payments. This means that a lot of families and children were able to eat as well as than if their employers actually paid a living wage.

We taxpayers pay one way or the other. We pay so people can eat or we pay so that businesses can be profitable. The act of shaming the person who must use the money to feed their family is unconscionable. After all the economy really doesn't care on what the SNAP funds are spent as long as the industry gets 100% of the money (less of course the bank's transaction fees.) It appears to be a struggle between the various "food" producers to get a larger share of the pie and the consumer is the scapegoat.

Prohibitions imposed by state legislatures include, shellfish, soda, condiments, meat, prepared hot meals, food at casinos or on cruise ships, etc. It is just like the Blue Laws ofyesteryear where a store owner wanted to be closed on Sundays and wanted to be assured that his infidel competition was not going to be selling similar products on Sunday.

With such laws stores variously could not sell spray paint or paint brushes but could sell paint in cans. Alcohol is still regularly not sold on Sundays. One could sell cigarettes but not sell matches. So stores began giving away the matches. The entire system was designed to limit the competition and assure a higher sales quota for those with the influence. It is the same way with SNAP purchase restrictions except that the buyer is disparaged as part of the plan.

Limiting SNAP total funding is a matter of Legislative debate and action. Limiting what can be purchased is a "gimme" to the lobby of the influential retail markets couched in the wrapper of being concerned about propriety of fund use and good eating habits of low-income people. Come on, when did a Republican legislature ever be concerned about the health and safety of any human population? Everything they do is economically driven for one business or another. 

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Non-sequitur ALERT!

Mat Staver: Kindergartners Will Be Forced Into Same-Sex Relationships Following Supreme Court Marriage Decision -

See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mat-staver-kindergartners-will-be-forced-same-sex-relationships-following-supreme-court-marr#sthash.1pNgrJ7I.dpuf

Mat Staver urged conservative Christians to engage in "peaceful resistance” to the Supreme Court’s ruling. Likening the fight against marriage equality to the fight for racial equality, Staver said, “This is the Rosa Parks on the bus. If they tell you to go to the back of the bus because your skin color doesn’t match what they want, don’t go to the back of the bus. This is the time for peaceful resistance, and this is the time to stand with people who are engaged in peaceful resistance.”

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mat-staver-kindergartners-will-be-forced-same-sex-relationships-following-supreme-court-marr#sthash.AGZsS1RJ.dpuf

The big difference is that Rosa Parks stood AGAINST discrimination whereas Mat Staver and all Christian Conservatives who would listen to him and act in accordance are promoting and supporting discrimination. Are they really that ignorant? "If you are gay, get thee to the back of the bus."

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Twits Will Say Anything For Money or Attention

Twits will say anything for money or attention. Sometimes it is both. Other times they say their silly things because they actually believe what they say and THAT itself makes them a Twit.

A case in point:

"Carbon dioxide, Mister Speaker, is a natural byproduct of nature. Carbon dioxide is natural. It occurs in Earth. It is a part of the regular lifecycle of Earth. In fact, life on planet Earth can’t even exist without carbon dioxide. So necessary is it to human life, to animal life, to plant life, to the oceans, to the vegetation that’s on the Earth, to the, to the fowl that — that flies in the air, we need to have carbon dioxide as part of the fundamental lifecycle of Earth." ~Michelle Bachmann

She might have heard Mike Adams try to make his point that CO2 in important in the production of plane material, some of which we eat, some of which we wear, and some of which we use to build houses. While Mike's ascertains are technically accurate, he doesn't discuss the negative impacts of excessive CO2 in the atmosphere such as acidification of the oceans, heat retention in the atmosphere or how accelerated plant growth might be diminishing the quality of the plant products. While bigger more colorful pansies and petunias may be valuable, the food value of corn and wheat may not experience the same benefits.

Most physical systems respond in a Bell Curve fashion. Too much or too little of something is detrimental while the middle ground levels are the better numbers.

We can use the wind as another example. Wind is natural. It is a good and necessary force of Nature. We need it to feel comfortable on a Summer day. We need it to blow the air pollution elsewhere. Too much of it is a wrecking crew, tornado and musser of new hair dos. Too little of it and we get stagnation and pollutant buildups.

Rain is the same way. Too much and we get a flood and too little and we get a drought. Just right and the crops grow and can be harvested. Only a Twit would suggest that more rain is a good thing when the ground is already saturated or inundated from previous rainfall.  The problem is we have people who seek money and attention trying to tell the tale of a Corporate agenda that wants to push the conditions represented by the Bell Curve further off the center because that is where the profits are.

Days that are too hot or too cold sells natural gas and electricity. If we were all living in that center range of the Bell, energy consumption would be lower.

Other Twit-ness for Sale and Display

When it is open season on hiring Twits just about every topic will be addressed at one time or another. During this period of time in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential election, we are getting all the Twit out before the camera and the publics' eyes. While 25 out of 26 Republican candidates will fail to get the nomination of the GOP, they still carry the messages that their sponsors hand them along with the PAC check.

Too many live births leads to a growing population. Too few live births leads to a  collapse of the population. On the average the birth rate in the world seems to be just right. It is only when one looks at a specific sub-population that worrisome trends arise that makes political sponsors fret and sweat.  Too many Hispanic babies in the USA makes whites nervous. But too few white babies also leads to the changing ratio of whose population is bigger and more influential. Consumer goods and services providers really only care about the total population which translates into gross sales. They hire politicians and pseudo-celebrity faces to tout their positions.

Gay marriages are less likely to produce numerous new consumer-babies. Many new couples have waited decades to marry and Now are not going to produce new children. Even the "child bearing/producing" aged couples are more likely to adopt an existing child rather than make a new one. This doesn't sit well with the supplier of monetized services and the plethora of consumer goods that earn revenues for the businesses.

Therefore it is no wonder that Republicans are more pro-quantity-of-life while Democrats are more pro-quality-of-life".

Donald Trump is paid to say bad things about immigrants and he gets major attention when he does. Who does he think populates the housekeeping staff at his any every other hotel in the States? I suppose that he thinks that only undocumented immigrants crossing the Mexico border bring drugs, disease and rapists to America. He uses the Twit Portion of his brain to say such ignorant things and get a spattering of applause from other Twits who like what he says.

The examples of Twits saying Twit things way too numerous to keep going here. 

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.