The Killing Joke

The political season is upon us. It gets earlier every election -- kind of like Christmas Marketing.

Jerry Fallwell died today at the age of 73. I felt a little surge of glee when I read that.

The Wall Street Journal reports that teen employment is at an all time low nationwide. It has dropped steadily since 2000. The article state that the jobs teens normally fill are not available to them because adults are taking those jobs -- as second jobs, one of two or three poorly paying jobs, whatever. There is a related article here. I tried to link to the WSJ but they want me to pay for the paper before I can view it online.

I know I'm getting paid less than I was in 2000. Yes, I've changed jobs since then due to a large corporate layoff but I'm very near what are considered a person's prime earning years yet my income has decreased in the last 7 years instead of going up. So what's wrong with this picture?

Does it bother anyone besides me that our current Administration consulted with Enron before rolling out their big energy bill during their first term in office?

What about the government contracts awarded to Chaney's Halliburton to rebuild the infrastructure in Iraq (after we blew it up)-- even though they haven't paid their taxes for a few years. I'd like to remind you that the contracts were awarded to them from "closed bids" (as in not public) due to "national security". Does anyone find it odd that Haliburton is now moving their headquarters to Dubai ? -- (No more taxes)

Gas prices are at an all time high, about 3.30 per gallon here in the Sioux Empire. That's almost as high as it is in California. I'm sure we've all asked why, oh why, do gas prices go up at least 50 cents once it gets warm out and then only drop 25 cents when it cools off. We're told it's because there's a larger demand in the summer and we don't have the refining capacity to keep up. OK. Sure. You bet. There hasn't been a new refinery built in this country since 1976 because apparently no one wants to live by one, yet we have John Morrells right in the middle of town. Go figure. So, we have one of those neat economic issues, a small supply and a large demand, right? I dunno. It seems odd to me that by not having enough gas to meet the country's demand, the oil companies have been pulling in Billion dollar record breaking profits. Exxon Mobil is #2 on the Fortune 500 list with 39.5 Billion (with a B) in profits. PROFITS -- as in after expenses. They were #1, and I'm sure they will be again, since right now Wal-Mart is #1 but once we buy gas to get to work, we won't be able to afford to buy anything else, not even discount items from that shit-hole, Wal-Mart. So why now? Why have the oil companies suddenly realized that they have this country by the short and culies? I mean, they know we have to get to work, right? They know we have to buy gas even if it is JUST to get to work. So why have prices gone up an average of $0.25 per year since 2002? Could it be because the president, vice-president, commerce secretary and national security adviser all have strong ties to the oil industry?

Lets go back to this chart for a moment. Notice the blue line. That line indicates what gas prices were equal to in 2005 cents. That means that in 1980 and 1981, gas was $2.99 per gallon if you were using dollars earned in 2005 to buy it. If you look at the actual pump price for those years, you'll see $1.296. I'm going to quit bitching about gas prices now because if you look at that chart another way, you'll see that a) gas was already this high once, and b) every dollar I have, every dollar I earn is worth less than half of what it was worth in 1980.

Like I said, the political season is upon us. I know a lot of people out there are thinking "It's time for a change" meaning "Let's put a Democrat/black man/woman in the White House". There are others out there that are going to vote a straight party ticket no mater what (and you're the dipshits that piss me off worse than people who don't vote at all).

It IS time for a change. It's time for people to wake the fuck up and really look at who we're putting in charge. We should NOT put someone in the White House to show how open minded and socially superior we are. We should not put someone in the White House because we're Left and they're Right and they've fucked it all up for 8 years so now it's our turn. We should not put someone in the White House because they go to a church we like and want to pass laws that make us feel all warm and fuzzy about trying to force our morality on others. It does not matter what sex, race, religion or political party our next President belongs to. They need to be there for the job, not for themselves and their own interests.

It's our job to really look at the candidates. I don't mean watch them on TV. I mean really look at them. Who donates to their campaign? What private sector entities do they have ties to? Which lobyists and special interest groups did they write bills for? Vote on bills for? Go to the Caymans with? We need to truely scrutinize the candidates. We need to look beyond the mud slinging and media sensationalism that will occur. It's time for us to change.

Don't forget to register to vote.

Oh.. did I mention that Jerry Fallwell died? HA!